My Thoughts on "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3"
Note:
This was originally written on Tuesday May 9, 2023, and it was posted on DeviantART on Monday May 22, 2023. This was one of the only two MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) movies that I saw this year. The other one was Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania 🐜, which I didn't really write a review for. I wrote a journal about people's reaction to Quantumania and how overwhelmingly negative it was, but that was about it. Most of what I had to say about that movie is in my 2023 New Year's Eve 2023 Recap, which I will either post on Saturday January 30, 2023 or Sunday January 31, 2023. It depends on how much time I have, and either or not I'm doing anything on either of those days. But, needless to say, while I did enjoy Quantumania when I first watched it in the theater back in February, my opinion on the film soured upon looking on it, and rewatching clips from it.
Speaking of which, 2023 was a pretty bad year for Marvel, and for Disney as a whole. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was their only big hit and critically acclaimed film this year, as it was hailed as the best film in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy (which hopefully stays a trilogy) and even as the best Marvel film in years, YEARS. Yes, I know Disney (and Pixar) had Elemental, but that movie only made $496.3 million 💵 at the worldwide box office against a massive $200 million budget 💵. How that movie is considered profitable and even a hit, when Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is considered a box office dud despite costing the nearly the same amount of money 💵 and making the nearly the same amount of money 💵 as Elemental is beyond me. I don't understand how people reconcile one with the other. The way a movie is considered a hit or a failure at the box office is confusing and strange, and a bit contradictory in all honesty.
Besides, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 way made more money 💵 than Elemental any way, despite costing way more with a budget of $250 million 💵 😱. It made $845.6 million 💵 at the worldwide box office, so there, take that Pixar! 😏 Even though you're owned by the same company. But still, one of your main rivals, Illumination still managed to kick your ass at the box office this year with The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Which also starred Chris Pratt coincidentally enough.
Every other movie that Disney and Marvel released this year, in 2023 was either a box office flop or a box office disappointment that failed to meet Disney and Marvel's perhaps unrealistic expectations. Yes, including Quantumania. They invested a lot into these movies. Massive budgets for so little reward. Probably, their biggest box office bomb 💣 this year was Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which had a budget of $295 million-$300 million 💵 and only made $384 million 💵 at the worldwide box office. According to the experts, the movie needed to gross at least $1 billion 💵 to be even considered remotely profitable because you have take into account marketing costs, which add onto the already massive production budget. But, it's tied with The Marvels as Disney's biggest box office misstep this year, which only made $205.6 million 💵 against a gross budget of $274.8 million 💵 or a net budget of $219.8 million 💵. Either way, 205.6 million is a pretty dismal box office take for a movie that costed as much as The Marvels.
But, it wasn't just box office that Disney took a beating this year from. A lot of those same movies that flopped or underperformed at the box office were also received mixed or negatively by the critics. The Marvels and Ant-Man & the Wasp: Quantumania 🐜 are probably the two worst reviewed MCU movies in years by critics. Disney's last animated film for this year, Wish received some pretty awful reviews from critics, and was a box office dud if there ever was one. So yes, by all accounts, by all measures, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was Disney's only real big hit this year, both at the box office and with critics and audiences alike. And I'm so happy to have contributed to that.
I've gotta be honest with you. When I rewatched this movie on Blu-Ray 💿, I sort of liked it less than I did when I saw it in the theater. Maybe, it was just my state of mind at the time, but the cracks definitely started to show upon my rewatch. The comedy wasn't as funny as I remember it, and I found nearly every character's stupidity more grating than charming.
It seems that James Gunn's idea of making a character likable or relatable is just making them stupid. Like, nearly every character in this movie is an idiot, even the characters that are supposed to be smart like Nebula, Ayesha, Adam Warlock, the High Evolutionary, and even Rocket Raccoon 🦝, even though Rocket is in a coma for most of the film. And most of the comedy in these films, especially 2 and 3, comes from watching a bunch of idiots bickering at each other.
Like, Adam Warlock wasn't an idiot in the comics or in the video games or cartoons, but he is the biggest idiot in this entire movie. I get that the idea with him is that he was just born, and therefore has the mind of a child, but Gunn took it too far, and just made him come across as complete moron rather than a child. You might say, what's the difference? But, not all kids are stupid. There's smart, or at the very least, average intelligent kids out there.
And Drax wasn't an idiot in the first movie. He was just consumed by his hatred for Ronin the Accuser, and his desire for revenge, and he didn't understand metaphors because he came from a planet that didn't have metaphors. But, over the course of the two sequels, Drax just became an idiot, who's only there for laughs. Just a big dumb meathead, the stereotype that Dave Bautista has tried so hard to escape from throughout his film career. I mean, to be fair, Drax did become the funniest character in these movies, but it came at the expense of his character and his personality, and he mostly became one note and one dimensional. This isn't even just a problem with James Gunn's writing in his MCU work, it's also a problem with his writing in his DC work.
Similar to the Guardians movies, nearly every character in The Suicide Squad is an idiot. They're dumb evil people, who aren't really evil, or so we're lead to believe. Like, James Gunn said interviews prior to that film's release that he wanted the Suicide Squad members to be genuinely evil, or genuinely bad people. He said that he wanted people to look at these characters, and fully understand why they were in prison and were put into this team, and he said that he didn't really want the audience to feel too bad when any of them die. But, that doesn't really come across on screen.
Sure, maybe with the first team, the A team (or B team), the team that Amanda Waller sends to distract the Corto Maltese forces and get slaughtered, while the real team, B team (or A team) with all of our actual main characters (besides Harley) lands on the beach on the other side of the island, and carries out the mission that she set out for them. But, for every other Suicide Squad member, the ones we follow for most of the film, it seemed that Gunn tried to give them redeemable qualities and make them sympathetic so that the audiences will like them, not hate them, even though he said that was the point, for the audience to hate them, but whatever.
They don't feel like villains at all, which is what they're all supposed to be. They don't even really feel like antiheroes either, they're just straight up heroes. I mean, if these guys are antiheroes, than the Guardians of the Galaxy are also antiheroes because the Guardians do many of the same things that the Suicide Squad team in that movie does. They behave, and conduct themselves very much the same way. And yet, the Guardians are considered "real heroes," beacons of hope throughout the galaxy, and are considered an Avengers adjacent team.
While, the Suicide Squad are considered a low-rent villain team or antihero team in-universe, and ultimately just a tool for the US government 🇺🇸 (more specifically, the CIA) to do their dirty work for them, and they're are not held up to the same standard or held in the same regard as the Justice League. In fact, they're sent to murder the Justice League in an upcoming video game aptly called Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. The idea that anyone in the Suicide Squad could actually realistically take on anyone in the Justice League and kill them is pretty laughable, but here we are.
Probably the smartest character in that whole movie is Amanda Waller, and she's the villain, the antagonist. Sure, Starro is the main threat that the Suicide Squad ultimately has to kill to save the day, but Amanda Waller is the "real bad guy" here, according to Gunn. Just like how Cynthia Ultrom is the "real bad guy" of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem 🐢🥷 🙄. What kind of message does that convey? That people can only be good if they're stupid and the people who are smart are bad? That seems like a pretty awful and potentially dangerous message if you ask me.
I haven't seen Peacemaker, the spin-off/sequel series to his Suicide Squad movie featuring his version of Peacemaker played by John Cena, who is also an idiot, so I can't say anything about that show. But, what I've heard about it, and given that it features one of the dumber characters from The Suicide Squad as the main protagonist, and given what I know about Gunn and his approach to writing characters, I'm guessing that none of the things that I had problem with in The Suicide Squad is corrected in Peacemaker. In fact, it seems like Gunn doubles down on everything I didn't like in The Suicide Squad in Peacemaker.
I mean, I always sort of questioned the necessity of this series, like I question why it even needed to exist at all. I mean, why even make a Peacemaker series in the first place? I mean, the fact that Peacemaker dies in The Suicide Squad should've killed any plans to make a series centered around him. Like, in The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker turned out to be a secret twist villain working directly for Waller.
Like he's literally a Waller plant that takes direct orders from her, and she embedded in the team to carry out the real objection of the mission which was to destroy all of the evidence of the US 🇺🇸's involvement in Project Starfish, that super shady Corto Maltese government project to both study Starro and conduct experiments on him, and use him to torture and kill political prisoners. Then, he kills Rick Flag, and tries to kill Ratcatcher 2 🐀, but then just gets killed by Bloodsport 🩸 instead.
So, given that he was a villain and he dies, how in the hell could you do a series about him that isn't a prequel? Because the Peacemaker series isn't a prequel, it's a sequel set after the events of The Suicide Squad. Peacemaker didn't just get shot in the throat, he also presumably gets crush in the debris of the collapsing Jötunheim. If he didn't die the first time, then surely he died when Starro broke out of the building and started rampaging through the island. How could he have survived any of that?
I mean, I guess there's an after-credit scene that shows that he somehow survived everything and is in a hospital, but I've never seen it in any of my viewings of that movie. Besides, that doesn't explain how he survived. I don't even know if the Peacemaker series even explains how he survived and was rehabilitated back to his normal self after being shot in the throat, and being in a collapsing tower that would've surely turned his body into chunky salsa just like The Thinker after Starro threw his body into a window. Readers, if any of you have seen Peacemaker, do they explain any of this? I would really like to know, so if you can leave a comment telling me, that'd be much appreciated.
But, the fact that they decided to keep him alive, and made an entire series about it makes me kind of upset. Like, I'm against that show existing at all, and I've refused to watch it. I mean, I've thought about watching it a few times, especially after I saw the Blu-Ray 💿 of the complete series (or complete first season as it said) at Best Buy, but I never did buy it and watch it, despite all of the good things I've heard about this show from all the movie and TV reviewers, and superhero and DC fans on YouTube.
I mean, I understand that the whole point of the show is to be a redemption arc for Peacemaker, where he learns to not be a murderous racist right-wing asshole, but still, I'm still against the idea of them keeping him around. Besides, I'm sure he still kills a lot of people in that show too, and he's still working for Waller, just not apart of Task Force X, which is the official name of the Suicide Squad. So, he's still a killer and still a US government lapdog 🇺🇸, he's just not racist, or sexist, or ageist, or nationalistic about it. So, did he really learn his lesson? In the words of Rick Flag, "Peacemaker, what a joke."
At least, it's better than Marvel's Secret Invasion, another show I refuse to watch, from what I've heard. Like, it has a similar premise to Secret Invasion, and tackles a similar concept of an alien body snatcher type invasion with humans being replaced with alien doubles and it's all a paranoia thriller with the humans trying to figure out who's who, and foil this invasion plot. I mean, that's probably the biggest spoiler that I've could've gotten about Peacemaker, but in my defense, you can blame all those comments on the Honest Trailer video for Secret Invasion.
I would say this has worried how the DC films will turn out with Gunn being the head of DC Studios, and essentially being the Kevin Fiege of the next DC line-up of movies, but as long as he remains in an executive role or in a producer role or executive producer role, then maybe everything will be fine. Just let the filmmakers make the movies the way they want, and don't try force his own vision or his own sensibilities onto them.
Needless to say, but there's a reason why I don't rewatch most MCU movies after I see them for the first time in theaters, and they come out on Blu-Ray 💿. But, regardless of how Gunn writes the characters in his comic book movies, at least the soundtracks are still sweet. The soundtrack for Vol. 3 is excellent, is arguably the best one of the trilogy. It's tied with the second film in terms of the best soundtrack. In fact, I mainly like the Guardians movies for their music, and I believe I say in the review, and if not that, then I say it in the 2023 New Year's Eve Recap. I may question Gunn's character writing skills, but I definitely don't question his taste in music, or his ability to use music in his films effectively. With that out of the way, let's get on with it.
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Guardians of the Galaxy is probably the best thing to ever come out of the MCU. Even while the rest of the MCU faltered, and while I've pretty much lost interest in most of the MCU, Guardians of the Galaxy was always the one thing that I was always looking forward to. So, when it finally came time for the third and possible final movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, I had no doubt in my mind that James Gunn was going to deliver, and he did. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is probably the best MCU movie in a very long time. It's definitely leaps and bounds better than Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania 🐜, and I didn't even hate that movie like a lot of other people did. It was a perfect finale to the trilogy, it wrapped things up pretty well.
Every character gets their time in the shine, and they all get closure. Even Kraglin gets his own character arc, and has his own bit of closure in this movie, as he learns to control Yondu's legendary arrow, and uses it to great effect against the bad guys. And while Cosmo doesn't really get that big of a role in this movie, we do see a lot more of her in this movie than we did in the Holiday Special 🎄, and what we do see of her in this movie is pretty good. And if the ending is anything to go by, we might see more of her in a bigger role in the future, but more on that later. But, this is ostensibly Rocket 🦝's movie.
He's the first character we see in the whole movie, he's the one whose backstory gets the most exploration, and the whole plot of the movie is centered around him. The movie's about the other Guardians trying to save his life, after he is mortally injured and put into a coma by Adam Warlock, a genetically engineered super being 🧬 created by Ayesha, the leader of the Sovereign, and the High Evolutionary, a cruel and unusual mad scientist who is the "creator" of Rocket 🦝. In fact, Rocket 🦝's critical condition was instigated by the High Evolutionary, who is desperate to get him back after he escaped from his laboratory all those years ago, and wants to use his brain 🧠 to create "the perfect society."
That leads me to me one of the biggest strengths of this movie. As many people have already noted, this is one of the most self-contained MCU movies in a very long time. The same could really be said about the entire Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, but this movie is especially self-contained. There's no references to other MCU movies besides the previous two Guardians movies, and the last two Avengers movies, Infinity War and Endgame. No mention of Kang, or the multiverse, or the Skrulls, or the Marvels, none of that. This movie just tells its own story, explores its own characters, and doesn't worry about what's going on in the rest of the MCU. And that in and of itself is something to appreciate, but beyond just being a self-contained story, it's a very personal movie.
The Guardians movies are all personal tales that are meant to explore one of the characters, or even the whole team, and seeing them grow. Vol. 2 was all about Peter meeting his father for the first time, and this movie is all about the Guardians trying to save Rocket 🦝's life, after he was badly injured, and is on the edge of death for most of it. You can't really get any more personal than that. There's no grand multiverse-level threat like Kang, or any of that stuff involving the Eternals. I mean, the High Evolutionary is a huge threat, and he's pretty evil, we literally see him blow up an entire planet full of animal people that he created.
And he does plan on creating a colony somewhere on another planet where he can build his perfect society, using the intelligence gathered from Rocket 🦝's brain 🧠. But, he's not a multiverse-level threat like Kang. He's a comparatively smaller-scale villain, but he is arguably creepier and more intimidating. Speaking of which, there's some really sci-fi stuff in this movie, such as the biotech facility in space that's made of organic material that the Guardians have to infiltrate to get information they need to save Rocket 🦝's life.
There's also the crazy creatures that the High Evolutionary and his cronies created, such as those two cyborg guards that sort of reminded me of Bebop and Rocksteady from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 🐢🥷 franchise, or those other cyborg things referred to as "Hellspawns." And the idea of the High Evolutionary turning animals into people Dr. Moreau-style, and putting them on a duplicate Earth 🌎 called "Counter-Earth 🌎" is a really interesting and unsettling idea. The animal people on Counter-Earth 🌎 are played for both for laughs 😄, and also a bit for creeps as they are portrayed somewhat creepy and unnerving.
Like, you just feel uncomfortable looking at this freak-show animal person society that the sick and twisted High Evolutionary created, and quickly discarded just as someone might discard a bad batch of cookies 🍪. That's how completely detached and out of touch the High Evolutionary is, and that's how much humanity he lacks. He's a mad scientist with a God complex, and those are definitely the worst kind. In addition to the Island of Dr. Moreau influences, there's a bit of Universal Soldier in this movie as well, as Adam Warlock is this super being created to be the ultimate weapon, but he has the mind of a child, just like the Uni Sols in Universal Soldier; the first one, not the sequels.
The action in this movie is pretty good too. It goes back to what a lot of people have said about how this is the best MCU movie in a while, since one of the things people often complain about when it comes to the MCU is the action. This is a whole franchise built around action, superheroes and supervillains beating the crap out of each other, and superheroes laying waste to the supervillain's goons, and yet it's become one of its weakest aspects. The main thing people dislike about the action in most MCU movies is that it's extremely cookie-cutter. The action scenes in a lot of MCU movies look and feel too similar to each other, and is extremely formulaic and boring. In fact, as it turns out, the action scenes in MCU movies are in fact often copy and paste jobs, like they just reuse the same action choreography and staging from previous MCU movies, especially the climax. Even Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania 🐜 had this problem with its climax.
But, the action scenes in this movie look and feel more dynamic. They look and feel more inspired, and like the filmmakers actually used their imagination and came up with some unique and inventive action sequences, and had fun putting them together; writing them, storyboarding them, choreographing them, filming them, and editing them. There are action sequences in this movie that are completely unlike anything you've seen in the past few MCU movies, and are in fact, much better than anything you've seen in the past few MCU movies. This is what happens when you get visionary filmmakers who have passion for the material, and the studio gives them actual creative freedom to do whatever they want, instead of trying to constantly make this interconnected cinematic universe cohesive by making all the movies as uniform as possible.
And while there were a lot of people predicting that the movie was going to have a major death, just like Vol. 2, no characters actually die in this movie, or at least, no main characters die. The only one that comes to close is Rocket 🦝, who literally walks towards the light, along with his dead friends who were also experiments of the High Evolutionary like Lyla 🦦. So, this movie sort of confirms that there's an afterlife in the MCU. And also Peter when he escapes from the High Evolutionary's ship, and ends up in the cold vacuum of space, and almost freezes to death 🥶; before he's rescued by Adam Warlock. But, come on, did anyone really think Peter was going to die at that moment? I mean, I already had the movie spoiled for me already, so I knew the ending, and Peter survives. But, even if I didn't, I probably wouldn't have fooled by this very obvious fake out death.
Speaking of Adam Warlock though, I feel like he's got kind of a bad rap from a lot of fans. Mostly because their expectations were way too high, and they expected him to be this big deal, and to do all these crazy things. But, as someone who doesn't know anything about Adam Warlock, and doesn't really care, I thought he was fine in this movie. He's a pretty funny character, and he does get a decent arc. Going from this mindless killing machine who's only purpose is to be the ultimate weapon, and to retrieve Rocket Raccoon 🦝 for the High Evolutionary, to this kind-hearted, if a bit stupid and naïve guy who ultimately does the right thing in the end, and learns to love and care about others.
I can sort of understand why Adam Warlock fans, or Marvel fans who really like Adam Warlock, and wanted him to be the overpowered godlike character he is in the comics, would be upset by this version of the character. And for what it's worth, I do think the video game version of the character from that Square Enix game from a couple of years is better than the version in this movie.
But, he's still not a bad character, like it's not a complete travesty like some fans are making it out to be. It's not like M.O.D.O.K. in Quantumania 🐜 that's for sure. It's an interpretation that works for the version of the Guardians of the Galaxy that James Gunn crafted. Same goes for Cosmo. I like the video game version of Cosmo more, but the version of the character in this movie and in the Holiday Special 🎄 works for the James Gunn version of Guardians of the Galaxy.
But, while none of the characters die in this movie, it does end with the Guardians of the Galaxy breaking up. Peter basically disbands the team, and all the members of original team go on their separate ways. Peter goes back to Earth 🌎, Gamora goes back to the Ravagers, Mantis goes off a journey of self-discovery, self-determination, and self-actualization, and Nebula and Drax stay in Knowhere, taking command of the space station, and helping raise the children they freed from the High Evolutionary's ship. It's just Rocket 🦝 and Groot left to pick up the pieces, and form a new Guardians of the Galaxy team. A new team that we see in a mid-credits scene, consisting of the likes of Adam Warlock, Cosmo, Kraglin, Adam's pet, Blurp, and one of the rescued children from the High Evolutionary's ship, who has learned English, and has been given the name, Phyla.
The existence of this new team, as well as the little title card in the end credits saying, "Star Lord will return," has made some people think there will be more Guardians of the Galaxy movies in the future, or at the very least, the Guardians of the Galaxy characters will be appear again in the future in the MCU, like in Avengers movies. They've started speculating what those movies, or appearances would take the form of. But, I personally don't think there should be anymore Guardians of the Galaxy movies, at least not for a while, and not with the original team. I mean, let the original characters retire, and ride off into sunset so to speak. I mean, they let the original Avengers characters retire, they even killed two of them off (Iron Man and Black Widow 🕷️), so why can't they let the original Guardians characters retire?
This movie was marketed as the final film in a mostly self-contained trilogy, the last hurrah for James Gunn and for these actors and their characters in the MCU, since James Gunn is leaving Marvel to go work at DC, and all the actors' contracts have expired, and they are no longer contractually obligated to appear in anymore MCU movies. So, why can't we just let it be the final film? Is any sort of finality just not allowed in the MCU, even when it's something as self-contained as the Guardians movies?
Besides, if James Gunn isn't going to be working at Marvel Studios anymore in any capacity while he works as the CEO of DC Studios, I doubt that the actors will be on board with making any Guardians movies without him. Especially considered how unwilling they all were to make Vol. 3 without James Gunn, and how hard they all pushed to have him reinstated after Disney fired him over those controversial tweets 🐦 from his past. No James Gunn, no Guardians movies, that's essentially the situation that Marvel has found themselves in. And I think for moment, they're willing to let the Guardians retire, and leave that side of the MCU aside. But they've left a little bit of a door open in case James Gunn, or any of the actors are willing to make any more Guardians movies, just a crack 🤏.
The soundtrack for this movie is great as always. James Gunn never disappoints when it comes to the soundtrack for his movies, or at least, his comic book movies. Unlike the soundtracks for the previous Guardians of the Galaxy movies, which mostly had 60s and 70s songs, the soundtrack for this movie is more open. There's songs from pretty much every decade except the 60s. There's songs from the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, the 2000s, and even the 2010s. And it's because there's no cassette tape or Walkman this time, Peter has a Zune (Microsoft's answer to the iPod), and thus, has access to more songs than just the ones his mother listened to. The soundtrack to this movie is a lot more comparable to the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special 🎄, which just featured songs from the 80s, 90s, and the 2000s; all them Christmas themed 🎄 of course.
One thing I appreciate about James Gunn and the song choices in his movies, particularly the Guardians movies, is that he picks songs that are lesser known or haven't been used in a movie before. In the first movie, he highlighted the song, "Come and Get Your Love" by Redbone, which was never used in a movie before (to my knowledge), but was used in the trailer for that adult animated sitcom series, F is for Family, which came after the first Guardians movie.
Then, in the second movie, he highlighted the song, "Wham Bam Shang-A-Lang" by the one hit wonder band, Silver. That song hadn't really been heard before, even by people who like listening to 70s music. And in this movie, highlights a few different songs like "Dog Days Are Over 🐕" by Florence + the Machine, "San Francisco" by The Mowgli's, "This is the Day" by The The, "Poor Girl ♀︎" by X, and "Do You Realize?" by The Flaming Lips, which are all songs that either had never been used in a movie before, or had flown under most people's radar prior to being featured on the soundtrack to this movie.
Even when he does feature songs by more well known artists and bands like Earth, Wind & Fire, Alice Cooper, and Beastie Boys, he doesn't go with the obvious or most overdone choices. Like, he could've picked any Earth, Wind & Fire song he wanted like "September," "Boogie Wonderland," "Let's Groove," "Fantasy," "Shining Star," or even "After the Love is Gone," but he chose "Reasons," which I doubt anyone was expecting, even if they're into Earth, Wind & Fire and wanted an Earth, Wind & Fire song on the soundtrack for a Guardians movie.
He could've picked any Beastie Boys song he wanted, like "Sabotage," which was used in the Kelvin Timeline Star Trek movies, or "Sure Shot," or "Rhymin' and Stealin,'" but no, he chose "No Sleep Till Brooklyn," which I hadn't even heard of until it was featured on the soundtrack for this movie. I'm admittedly not really that familiar with Alice Cooper's music, the only song I really know of his is "Teenage Lament '74," but I'm sure the song, "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows 🌈" wasn't the most obvious choice when it comes to Alice Cooper songs that could've been featured in a Guardians movie. But, it's my least favorite song on the soundtrack, and the one I listen to the least, so make of that what you will.
He also featured the song, "Creep" by Radiohead, and used it as the main theme for Rocket Raccoon 🦝, which was already a fairly popular and well-known song before it was featured on the soundtrack for this movie, but wasn't really used in a mainstream movie. Although, he did use the acoustic version, rather than more popular and well known electric guitar version 🎸. He probably used the acoustic version because it's the clean version of the song, and doesn't have any F bombs like the original version does. They were only allowed to have one F bomb in the movie since it was PG-13 rated, and they didn't waste it all on the song in the opening credits. And also probably because it does admittedly fit the scene better than the original version does.
The most obvious songs he did use in the movie were "In the Meantime" by Spacehog, and "Crazy On You" by Heart, which was not only kind of an obvious choice, but was also a song that a lot of fans were requesting to have on the soundtrack of a Guardians movie. I guess, a more obvious choice of a Heart song to use in Guardians movie would've been "Magic Man," or "Barracuda," which is a song that's already been used a bunch of movies.
"In the Meantime" by Spacehog, wasn't really that obvious of a choice, at least at first since a lot of people were predicting that Vol. 3 would stick with a mostly 60s and 70s soundtrack just like its predecessors. But, once you hear it, once it appeared in the trailer, it makes total sense why James Gunn would use that song in this movie. Not just because the song is by a band called Spacehog, but also because the original album it featured on was literally called "Resident Alien," and features an alien 👽 on the cover. And it's perfectly used in the scene that it was used in.
In addition to using lesser known songs, or songs that hadn't previously been used in a movie before, James Gunn also uses songs in a very creative way. Rather than simply having the songs be background noise for a scene, he actually uses the songs to help tell the story. Like, the songs sort of inform us about the characters, or give us a sense of the mood of a scene. And because of that, all of the song choices are very specific. They aren't random, and they aren't simply there because James Gunn thought they were good songs and he liked listening to them.
They're there because he thinks that they're the song that fits that scene the best, and tells the most about the characters, or sets the right tone. Some of the action scenes are even sort of choreographed to the songs, they were filmed and edited in a way that fit the song that plays during them. This was the case with the scene in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 where Yondu, Rocket 🦝, and Groot escape from the Ravager ship, which was set to the song, "Come a Little Bit Closer" by Jay & the Americans 🇺🇸. And it's the case with some of the action scenes in this movie, such as final action scene which is set to "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" by Beastie Boys. It's a true inspiration, and I would definitely do the same thing I ever made a movie, and I decided to have a soundtrack with pre-existing songs in it.
I don't know successful this movie is, since I haven't checked the gross, but judging by how many people were in my theater when I went to see this, on its fourth week in theaters, I'd say it's probably very successful. Marvel had a lot of confidence in this movie to release it in May, and have it kick off the summer movie season, and they were right to since this movie has all the signs of being a smash hit. I don't think it'll make a billion dollars 💵 or anything, but I think it'll be at least as successful as its predecessors. Guardians of the Galaxy made around $773.3 million 💵, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 made even more at $869 million 💵 🤑.
The movie has also received some pretty rave reviews. Marvel also had the confidence to allow early screenings of this movie for critics, which is something they didn't do for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania 🐜, the movie that kicked off Phase 5 and that they had advertising as a "game-changing" film in the MCU. A lot of the reviews of this movie said that it was the best MCU movie in a long time, some saying that it reminded them of an MCU movie of old, back in the Infinity Saga. They also said it is the best Guardians of the Galaxy movie, and is an entertaining and emotionally satisfying conclusion to the trilogy. All things that I tend to agree with.
Of course, you had some butthurt DC fans trying to rain on Marvel fans' parade for liking this movie. Saying that anyone who likes Guardians of the Galaxy or any other MCU movies are just "MCUtards." Well, I like Guardians of the Galaxy, and I make no apologies for it. Honestly, DC fans, or at least DC fans on Twitter 🐦 have pretty much become parodies of themselves, and pretty much exactly what they accuse Marvel fans of being.
I mean, I can't think anything more pathetic than shitting on people liking the MCU, or certain movies in the MCU, making memes about it on Twitter 🐦, reposting them. While also crying about a cinematic universe that doesn't even exist anymore. Zack Snyder is not coming back to DC, and the Snyderverse is not happening, get over it!
This is the reason why I stopped associating with these people because all they do is complain about Marvel and Marvel fans, while praising anything DC does, or at least, praising anything Zack Snyder does because to them, he was only good thing at DC. Bunch of dumbass fanboys really 😒. They hate the DC movies that were made after the Snyderverse, and they hate it when DC movies try to be funny and comedic like the MCU, or even they perceive the movies as trying to be like the MCU. They especially hate that James Gunn, a "Marvel guy" is taking over DC, saying that he's going to "Marvel the shit out of it."
They're not even willing to give his new DC cinematic universe a chance just because he's James Gunn, and he made movies in the MCU. Yeah, well, he made some of the best movies in the MCU, and he made one of the best movies in the DCEU, or what's left of it rather. I have a feeling he's going to fold The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker 🕊️ into his new DC universe, and completely divorce them from David Ayer's Suicide Squad movie, which was apart of the now dead DCEU; even though the movie that was released in 2016 was not Ayer's cut, but a Frankenstein mishmash of his cut and the Trailer Park cut.
But, regardless of what some ridiculous DC fans say on Twitter 🐦, this is still a very fun movie, and it is a breath of fresh air for someone like me, who was getting tired of the MCU and was no longer as invested in it as they once were. I'm glad that I saw it, and I saw it in theaters, and I'm glad I wrote about it after writing about the previous two Guardians movies. I saw this whole trilogy through to the end. And you know what? I might just check out this new DC cinematic universe that James Gunn is putting together, just to spite those idiotic DC fanboys who hate everything that isn't directed by Zack Snyder, and isn't apart of the Snyderverse.
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