Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3 Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs
James Gunn ends the Guardians trilogy on his own terms.
The time has finally come - almost a decade after James Gunn blew the Marvel Cinematic Universe apart with his irreverent, groundbreaking Guardians of the Galaxy, the third and apparently final entry into the franchise is here.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 arrives at something of a perilous time for the MCU, given the critical and commercial under-performance of so many big-screen offerings since Avengers: Endgame released back in 2019.
And while it's hardly Gunn's greatest work or destined to pull the MCU out of its creative doldrums of late, Vol. 3 does deliver a mostly satisfying, deeply emotional finale for the beloved heroes, and one of the more entertaining MCU films in recent years.
Again, it's not without its issues and in its ambition lacks the consistency of the two prior Guardians movies, but nevertheless pays off a decade's worth of character-building in worthwhile fashion.
Though critics have generally been a little cooler on it than its two predecessors - likely in large part due to its darker narrative bent - most fans should find Vol. 3 to be a fitting conclusion.
But before we get to the praise, here's first what doesn't quite work...