I’m writing this because I understand that most viewers walked away from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 going, “dang, that was pretty good.” And I want them to understand why that was not my reaction, even after watching the movie several more times.
Guardians 3 finally came out last year and it had one job: deliver a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy we’ve loved since 2014. And while it checks a few of its expected boxes—vibrant visuals, killer music, and some great Rocket backstory—it just doesn’t hit the same as its predecessors.
It’s not that I hate Vol. 3, nor do I even think it’s a “bad” movie; no, I just think its execution was way lazier than the first two, and although it may look and sound the same as the other Guardians movies, the jobs done in the departments of writing + making sense on this one didn’t quite stack up to its predecessors.
1. It’s a James Gunn Goodbye Party
Look, I get it. Gunn is moving on to bigger things, so this was his chance to wrap things up on the characters he’s been crafting for almost a decade. So then why did he do such a bad job?
instead of focusing on the Guardians’ story, it felt like the movie was more about Gunn tying up loose ends in a rush.
The callbacks? They felt forced. Like the constant rehashing of ten-year-old jokes (Groot translations, anyone?) and overused tropes (another dramatic “save someone from space” scene). The comedy felt stale, when it’s normally a driving force in this franchise.
It reminded me of those later seasons of The Office—still entertaining, but you can tell the magic isn’t quite there anymore.
For fans who were there for the ride from the start, this probably feels like a nostalgic sendoff, and that’s fair. But for me, the recycled humor and overly familiar beats didn’t really hit.
2. Emotional Moments That Miss the Mark
The Guardians have always balanced comedy with heart. But in Vol. 3, the emotional beats also felt…off.
Lets list some of my (least) favorite:
- Star-Lord risking his life for an mp3 player was supposed to be touching, but instead, it felt absurd. Dude, you have rocket boots and a helmet—use them! Fans even asked Gunn why Star-Lord didn’t have his iconic space gear in this movie, and his only answer was that “Quill was in a hurry and forgot to bring it with him.”
- Rocket’s flashbacks, while brutal, leaned a little too hard into predictable tropes. Watching his friends get gunned down while Marvel’s stormtroopers conveniently missed him felt less like a tragedy and more like lazy writing.
- And Rocket’s afterlife reunion? It’s cute in theory, but the execution made it feel like a scene out of Toy Story 3.
- “Joob Joob.”
It’s worth mentioning that the only reason Star-lord still has his helmet after it being destroyed in GUardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is because the Russo Brothers brought it back without explanation in Avengers: Infinity War & Endgame. so gunn might be a bit annoyed that he has to explain this missing plot device when he didn’t intend to use it., which ties back to this being somewhat of a middle finger to the studio (whether it’s warranted is for you to decide).
Even Drax’s humor, which used to be perfectly balanced in my opinion, crossed the line into annoying. For the first time, I actually agreed with critics saying his shtick was too much. Gunn’s usual sharp banter felt duller here, and the bathroom jokes? Let’s just say I’m getting too old for this.
3. Adam Warlock: Wasted Potential
Six years of buildup, and this is what we get? Adam Warlock’s big debut started strong with his explosive entrance, but he quickly devolved into another goofy Marvel side character. I like Will Poulter’s take, but turning Warlock into a clueless man-child was such a letdown.
And that weird little elf-dog thing? Why was it even there? It didn’t add anything to the story—just more unnecessary bathroom humor. At least Morris in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings served a purpose. This thing just cried, screamed, and peed itself.
It’d be unfair to think the plans for Warlock haven’t changed over the years—especially with how many times this story probably got reworked (more on that below). But it almost feels like they got tired of trying to figure out where he fits in the story and just relegated him to another bad guy’s attack dog that has a change of heart somewhere in the film (a lot like Gamora, or Nebula, or even Yondu. Or Skurge in Thor: Ragnarok, or the Maximoffs in Age of Ultron. You get my point.).
Real, fleshed-out villains like Loki and Bucky Barnes set a high bar for this trope early on because it consisted of complex layers of storytelling to the “misunderstood” villains that were satisfying and relevant to the story you already knew, whereas it seems here that they hoped Adam Warlock would survive strictly on man-baby comedy.
The Sovereign had so much potential as a serious threat, but they were reduced to nothing more than comic relief in Vol. 3, and I just have to believe it was because of the fallout between Gunn and Disney. It’s clear that Warlock’s role was shoehorned in, just so Marvel could tie up loose ends from Vol. 2, but I really don’t think that was always the intent behind teasing the introduction of such a powerful, iconic character.
4. The Villain Problem (Again)
Speaking of villains, Marvel’s bad guy struggles continue with the High Evolutionary. While Chukwudi Iwuji gives a fantastic performance, the character himself feels undercooked. Why is he so obsessed with Earth? Why does he care about making a “perfect society”? What’s his actual motivation?
To be clear, all we know about The High Evolutionary is that he looks like he’s from Earth but he’s NOT from Earth, but he’s so obsessed with Earth that he’s trying to make his own Earth
We get no real answers about this character, which makes him feel like yet another throwaway villain—much like how Adam Warlock felt to me.
It actually blows my mind how much bad writing people are willing to ignore if it comes with a good acting performance. I don’t get how more people don’t have an issue with how two-dimensional this character was. Might as well have been Doctor Doofenshmirtz—just a bad guy with crazy access to awesome technology, trying to take over the world just for the sake of being evil.
Honestly, High Evolutionary might as well have been another Kang variant in the MCU. I’m not saying he should have been, but he’s got the colors for it.
But seriously, he could have been a Kang variant with how vague they were about everything about his background. I wonder if that idea was ever tossed around?
At least that would’ve tied into the MCU’s larger narrative. It’s frustrating, especially when you consider how much more powerful the film could’ve been with a well-rounded antagonist. You get a great, straight-forward acting performance with High Evo, but that’s about it.
5. Gamora’s “Story” and the Guardians’ Relationships
Gamora’s arc was one of the biggest disappointments. After being brought back as a different version of herself in Endgame, you’d think her journey would’ve been a central focus. Or at least an interesting story. Instead, she’s basically just “the Ravager with an attitude.”
Fans went into this movie with a thousand questions about Gamora, and it’s almost as if Gunn was like, “Marvel made this mess—they’re the ones that have to make sense of it now.”
Her relationships with Star-Lord and Nebula go nowhere. Gamora’s dynamic with Nebula is even more confusing—Nebula’s redemption and literal tears didn’t sway Gamora at all, despite Gamora’s willingness to change in the first film for far less than Nebula crying in this one. There was so much potential for this story, and it just felt so neglected.
6. The Rewrite Problem
Here’s the elephant in the room: this movie was likely rewritten several times during the public fallout between Disney and James Gunn. Remember when Disney fired him, then rehired him after fan backlash?
The movie feels like it was pieced together to keep the Guardians’ story aligned with Marvel’s bigger narrative, and that might be because that’s literally what Gunn had to do.
James Gunn had already written Guardians 3 before he was fired, but by the time he returned to the job, the MCU had moved forward without him.
If this film had come out on its original schedule, I bet it would’ve made a lot more sense. Instead, it feels like Gunn threw out what he originally made and wrote the blandest story he could to make everything fit.
I remember thinking Gunn rushed the writing process when he was posting about the process of making Guardians 3, but I bet his return to Disney was so conditional that he probably had deadlines to meet within hours of penning a deal with them for one more Guardians movie.
There’s even a scene in Guardians Vol. 3 where Star-Lord gives a recap in an elevator of how messy the Guardians’ story has become. I like watching that scene and thinking it’s Gunn’s subtle jab at the way Marvel handled his characters during Infinity War and Endgame (but I could certainly be dramatizing what is just a hilarious summary of just how silly the MCU has gotten).
I’m probably not, though. Go watch that scene again. It’s a great scene.
7. The Action Falls Flat
For all the hype around the action in this movie, most of it felt lackluster. Aside from the impressive one-shot hallway fight, the third act especially seemed rushed. The movie starts strong with Adam Warlock’s entrance, but after that, the Guardians don’t do much until the final showdown.
It’s disappointing because Gunn’s action scenes are usually a highlight in his Guardians movies, but here, they felt like another checkmark and even came across as a bit of an afterthought. It’s not a terrible point in the movie, but definitely something that felt lacking when the first two set a far higher standard for action.
What Did Work?
I really hate writing posts like this because it’s not like Guardians 3 is a bad movie. It’s fun! And everything was a miss for me.
The visuals are as stunning as always—easily some of the best in recent Marvel films. Gunn knows how to create colorful, dynamic space battles that pop off the screen. The music, as always, is on point, blending nostalgic hits with emotional beats.
Rocket’s origin story, while predictable, does give some much-needed insight into one of the MCU’s best characters. And despite the uneven humor, there were still moments where the quick banter and chaotic energy reminded me why I love this team in the first place.
Final Thoughts
At its core, Guardians Vol. 3 isn’t a bad movie—it’s just underwhelming compared to the first two. It’s fun, sure, but it leans too heavily on nostalgia and familiar tropes without giving us the depth we’ve come to expect from these characters.
Then again, literally all the friends I follow on Letterboxd gave this movie 5 stars, so I’m probably the outlier here. (I still gave it 4).
For die-hard fans, this might feel like a touching farewell, and I can respect that. But for me, it feels more like James Gunn wrapping up his time with Marvel than the Guardians getting the proper sendoff they deserved.
