During the COVID-19 Pandemic, most production in film came to a stop. Even though Marvel Studios didn’t stop production for long, the quality of films through Marvel has greatly decreased since Avengers: Endgame (2019), one of their top-rated, highest-grossing films, and has declined to Eternals (2021), which earned 47% via Rotten Tomatoes. It was clear to everyone that Marvel Studios needed a revival and Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 was one hope to bring back the superhero/action film series we have all known and loved.

    This movie follows the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), who creates a new world to counter Earth which was literally named “Counter-Earth.” As Rocket (Bradley Cooper) explains, the High Evolutionary “didn’t want to make things perfect, but hated things the way they were.” Rocket, as many may know, is a raccoon, however, he was the High Evolutionary’s lab rat, being a raccoon with enhanced intelligence; even so, he was constantly abused, along with the other experimented animals. In an attempted kidnapping of Rocket from Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), hired by the High Evolutionary to retrieve his intellectual prodigy, Rocket gets severely injured and ends up hours from his death unless given a cure—which lies with the High Evolutionary. The Guardians then begin a search to find a cure for their beloved friend without knowing anything about his former owner’s psychotic tactics.

    Something that already differentiates this series of movies from others is its use of classic 70’s music and being an action movie while still displaying a great sense of humor; however, one thing that caught my eye about this movie, in particular, was the dramatics and the exemplary acting. One thing I already knew before watching this movie was how stacked this cast was—Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Karen Gillan, Vin Diesel, Dave Bautista, and Pom Klementieff. I already knew what to expect from this cast after seeing the first two movies, however, I had never even heard of Chukwudi Iwuji, the actor portraying the High Evolutionary and after seeing this, I hope that I see him in many future films to come. I was truly blown away. This character was already scary just by knowing that he experiments on animals and commits mass genocide whenever something unplanned happens on his new planet, “Counter-Earth,” so it was clear that he was the best part of the whole movie. But Iwuji ensured this villain was the scariest we would see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The cast’s incredible acting ensured we felt for the characters, specifically through Rocket’s morbid past. 

    Overall, this movie had many great additions but even without those, this movie still had a lot of heart, given the fact that it contains the original cast which is, as always, phenomenal.  I now know that James Gunn (director) made sure that his last film with Marvel before moving to DC Studios was one of his best. All of the theories, the hype, and the last six years since the last Guardians movie have led up to this.