A FAREWELL TO GUNN AND THE GUARDIANS

A spoiler-free review of James Gunn’s final production for Marvel

It’s been nearly a decade since James Gunn’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and now the trilogy finally ends.

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” delivered everything it promised and more. Once again, Gunn’s style fits the characters perfectly, and the movie feels like his final goodbye to the “Guardians” movies and Marvel.

In 2014, James Gunn entertained audiences with his unique brand of fun, lighthearted characters mixed with dark themes in a way that appealed to all audiences. Since then, Marvel has attempted to recreate this style by interjecting jokes and quippy one-liners into every movie, which sadly causes tonal clashes and makes the movie less enjoyable. Gunn returns one last time to the big screen to show Marvel how it’s done. The movie has a consistent tone, the character’s actions are believable and the fun characters don’t interfere with the story Gunn wanted to tell. He once again allows the story to stand on its own, not requiring the audience to watch four different movies and three exclusive Disney+ TV shows to understand. I recommend watching the first two “Guardians” movies first, but one can still enjoy the movie without watching them.

The pacing in the first act is a bit rough, but after the conflict kicks into action it’s smooth. I could tell how much effort was put into the 2nd and 3rd act action scenes, they are unique and a breath of fresh air from the rapid cuts of most Marvel movies. Without spoilers, my favorite fight scene in the movie was one continuous shot, utilizing different frame rates and panning between characters to show the impact of every action. Gunn fixing all of the most common criticisms with modern Marvel movies felt like him sticking it to Disney one last time before he takes over as the ultimate creative overseer for everything DC.

James Gunn moving on to lead DC gives me great hope for the future. He’s rebooting the entirety of DC and starting fresh. Marvel has gotten complacent in their dominance of the box office, leading to lower-quality movies that they know audiences will pay money to see regardless of the quality.

by Aidan Brown

James Gunn whipping DC into shape will give Marvel a run for its money, forcing it to clean up its franchise or risk being left behind by Gunn’s DC. The first DC movie that will be one hundred percent under Gunn’s creative vision will be “Superman: Legacy” coming in 2025.