My read on Peter going back to Earth is that he’s been running from accepting his mom’s death. It’s why he holds the music he listens to so dearly, it’s the last thing he has that links him to her. So when he gives the Zune to Rocket at the end, he’s ready to face it and go home to his family.
I love the scene when Petet is on Earth. It's surreal. Pete knows everything about the galaxy and all the aliens. Yet he is dressing normal cloth and looking like a nomral person.
One of the moments that I like that not many people have pointed out was Nebula’s reaction to hearing Rocket’s voice again. I felt her cry and remembered that the only person she knew that wasn’t snapped was Rocket. I remember Rocket grabbing her hand to comfort her in the beginning of Endgame and I realized that for 5 years, it was just them two(for what we know) and they clearly had become great friends in the absence of everyone else. You can feel that
When she found out he was alive and just stood there sobbing with relief, I couldnt hold it in anymore and balled my eyes out with her. She survived the snap with him but also she watched his files where he's getting tortured and experimented on so she connects to him on a level nobody else shares. They are cyborg freaks who just want a family 😭
Based off Gamora meeting back up with her ravagers, she has found a new family. They genuinely cared about her. I don't think it's necessary to force her back just because the other gamora was a guardian. It would take away from original gamoras death and it shouldn't be that easy for quill to replace her and not deal with that trauma.
@@DanMurrellMovies wondering how much trailers were at fault here. they kinda set up some misdirect or made me think that story is gonna be more important? (and I am glad it was not). also repeating myself but content warnings are super important and I wish more reviewers gave them
I think the flashbacks with Rocket were extremely important, however unpleasant they may have been, and they needed to be spaced out. They not only give relevant backstory, but they also keep Rocket in the film. He's really the main character in this one, but if those flashbacks were limited to only a couple, or clumped together, he'd basically be asleep most of the movie until the end. They serve a dual purpose of giving us important context while keeping our main character in the film.
I think the spaced out aspect makes us live the new characters more like slowly get to know em more. If it was one scene it woudnt hv been as impactful
100% agree i respect everyones opinion and everyones own experience is valid but i think trying to completely breakdown this movie on a technical standpoint would be wrong, again not to say this movie is perfect cause there were certain beats in the movie that were of and they couldve improved cwrtain thing but this to me was completely about the emotional trauma of the characters, it was about actually looking at these peoples flaws and in the case of rocket by the final flashback I completely understood why he is the way he is and it made me appreciate gis character even more
I think to me, it’s hard to view this movie in a vacuum. After a string of emotionless chores of superhero movies, this one stood out and that’s a big reason why I really enjoyed this film.
True. We all suffered a bit of fatigue after one Marvel flop after another. Both Thor, Ant-Man and Dr. Strange are dead to me, after Marvel dumbing them all down.
@@hugofernandes2930 Thank you, it’s like the people disliking wakanda forever, it’s like some people simply aren’t good at critiquing mixing with the legitimate criticism that’s deserved with ofc the sheeple that’ll say whatever the consensus is
There’s that line in the film where Adam Warlock’s mother says to the High Evolutionary something along the lines of “Adam Warlock was taken out of his cocoon early” and I can’t help but wonder if that’s a subtle way of saying that it was planned to not use the character until much later but maybe Marvel wanted him used now.
Your non-spoiler review basically prepped me for the animal cruelty and either that helped immensely or it just wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Either way I appreciated the head's up!
same thing. only, I was bothered very heavily by the animal cruelty and it impacted my enjoyment of the film. But I'm very appreciative to Dan for the head's up, otherwise I would have been even more disturbed. glad I went in forewarned. I would be hesitant recommending this to people without a caveat about that.
Best guess on the quill arc is that they wanted to respond to his Gamora trauma without just leading us to a moment where the audience is yelling "kiss the girl" and being disappointed when it didn't happen. Sending him home gives him a change of pace and a chance to pause and learn about himself, rather than being a fulfillment of some goal or destiny.
Agreed. I also think what Mantis said is true but now that he has the support of his found family he can finally confront his biological family and to get closure on something he's been avoiding for decades. Didn't feel out of nowhere to me or off beat like how Dan felt.
Yes! I agree. His arc was better this way. Find himself, not just try to win alt Gamora's heart. The same with Gamora, it wouldn't make sense to have her end up with him after all the time it took for original Gamora to fall for him. She wasn't a prize for him to win at the end, but a character with her own story. In fact, we only see her really be with quill in their first scene in Infinity war, when she's shown singing along with him. Those few seconds show a lot. Proof that the foundation of those characters was well established enough that we could tell how much time had passed and much closer they were in just a simple moment. It took time for them to get there. It would be a betrayal to her character to have them back together so soon.
Dan, I’m also very sensitive to animal cruelty and I really appreciate your warning. From the trailers I knew there was going to be a depiction of Rocket’s and his early friends’ suffering, but I would have assumed it to be a fairly short sequence. I totally thought this would be lighthearted and silly, like previous Guardians films. Therefore without your warning I would have gone in expecting an uplifting experience. Now I know to go on a day when I’m not already emotionally vulnerable (from a long day or other stressors). I realize the negative voices are loud and hurtful, but don’t underestimate how helpful your perspective is for moviegoers like me. Without your warning, not only might my enjoyment of the movie have been affected but also my mental health could have been affected. I don’t care if the rest of the Internet thinks I’m a baby. Imagery like this DOES affect me and you wouldn’t be doing your job if you had minimized it.
Thank goodness Dan gave a heads up on what was in the film regarding Rocket and the other animals. I cannot see myself going back to see this movie as much as I want to. I really liked the Earth, Wind and Fire song during the fight scene with Nathan Fillion and crew. I truly hope parents take the PG-13 VERY SERIOUSLY for this movie. CGI animals or not.
Perhaps never before has the Human Society's end credits "No Animals were Harmed" in this production, been as well worth the check to verify these were all CGI, anthopromorphic animals. THC collects this on virtually every movie, even if there are no animals featured.
this. 100% what @ellicel said. my sentiments exactly. I would've thought GotG3 would be more akin to GotG1 and a happy ending. having prior warning, I put this movie off. I waited. I went in more able to protect myself. and I still was pretty disturbed by this movie. I acknowledge it's good, but I have a lot of mixed feelings. but I really appreciate the warning! (I would recommend Secret of NIMH maybe instead, in this vein) but yeah, Dan, don't listen to the haters.
I quite like the idea for Nebula and Gamora. Gamora helped Nebula find a family in the Guardians pre Endgame, and so now Nebula does it for the new Gamora. Full circle.
Rocket's friendship with Floor, Lyla, and Teefs was so heartwarming. The movie did a really great job of showing how innocent and sweet Rocket was before he was hardened. The high evolutionary was a good villain. He was like if Sid from Toy Story grew up and found new ways to "experiment". The fake out deaths are really old for me, though. Quill's was especially jarring to me. They had him freeze (and bloat in the grossest way) and then magically just wake up. It was really awful. I could ignore Drax getting a hole blown in him more than that (simply because Drax isn't human). Same for Nebula. She is mostly robot, so she can go through a lot more and still be fine. But Quill? He lost his half-god side and is now just human.
@@cameronmitchell8180 did YOU watch Guardians 2? After Ego was killed Peter lost his immortality and any of the cool god power stuff and is now just like everybody else. But then again, what's so wrong with that? Side note, loved the movie but totally forgot about the last Quill fake out death with him getting all puffy out in space. Why didn't that happen in 1st Guardians when he saved Gamora? lol either way, I'm glad marvel has another solid trilogy saved to its legacy so that was people have more reasons to go "see, some of these are REALLY good!"
@@TheDreamer2O8 A normal person genuinely does have a halfway decent chance of surviving space for the amount of time that Quill was out there, bloat and all.
While I spent half the movie in tears due to the cruelty of Rocket and his friends, I also was very aware this was the villain and it made him a much more effective villain when the audience is so emotionally involved. I couldn't hate him enough and it was all due to the way he was portrayed through his terrible and cruel actions. I thought it was perfectly done. If it was all in one chunk, you wouldn't have had that build up of anger and distress. It made sense to space it out every time we focused on the next stage of Rocket's possible demise. It definitely did not feel random at all, as it always happened after some sort of emotional beat, worrying if the ticking clock was going to run out or not. While it was hard to watch, it was done for a reason. It also made the ultimate destruction of the villains all the more satisfying.
My take on animal abuse: most people don’t like to think about it. But seeing its brutality makes some people wonder if factory farming and animal testing is as horrible as what this movie depicts. So exposing people to the horrors of animal abuse, even in fictional stories, actually raises awareness and brings us closer to its end.
For me, Peter's arc in this movie is Peter recognizing he's emotionally stunted in a lot of ways as a child and he's still carrying the guilt of his mother's death.Everyone in this movie is dealing with there trauma and Rocket and Quill have just kept running from there's He's from Earth, loves Earth culture, but hasn't gone back. That's where the end credit scene comes in, he's a kid again with his grandfather eating Captain Crunch.
I find it interesting and appreciate the different narrative suggestions but I think it’s vitally important for Adam Warlock to be the one to save Quill as it kickstarts his journey into a becoming a hero/guardian and shows that he’s taken Groots second chance line onboard. And I think Gamora’s narrative arch and relationship with the guardians is perfectly melancholic. While she gains a newfound respect for the group and finds them endearing with their ways and love for one another, she’s already found that dynamic with the ravagers, her new family that unfortunately beat the guardians to the punch.
He nearly killed Rocket at the start, so saving Quill at the end was necessary to show how far he came and why they'd trust him enough to let him on the team after hurting Rocket.
Something I think not a lot of people noticed.. I definitely think that Nebula is into Peter.. If you watch the movie again, there were a lot of instances where it felt like that's where they were headed. The arm grab at the beginning, her calling him Starlord like she was mad at him. She saves him from Gamora's punch and defends him, and at the end, Nebula gives a glance over to Gamora and Peter when they're saying goodbye.
I think that is just overall growth of her character, not necessarily anything between them. And it would be awkward - the sisters were always competing in the past. Having the same boyfriend would be weird even at different times.
Actually I'm happy with Gamora going with the Ravengers. It made sense for this Gamora's arch. She made it clear throughout the film that she was her own women and not Peters love mate. I thought it was great also, because she almost spoke to fans who want variants to replace the dead. I enjoyed Peter going back to his blood family rather than trying to force a bond and family onto Gamora. Which many men do with women; forcing them to fix their pain and past traumas. James Gunn told a great story though these three films.
I agree that Gamora shouldn’t have been forced back into the same role, and said so a few times. My issues were with how I felt the movie failed to set that up and some potential ways it could have felt more satisfying. I even said it could work with Quill returning to Earth.
Dan, please don't apologize for taking time off for being sick. Taking care of your health is far more important than a review. Glad you're feeling better!
7:12 this is so right on. The film makes you think that those two characters are near death, then they’re fine. To capitalize on that, as they drive away, we get a rocket flashback without warning. Every flashback up to that point was forecasted by showing rocket in the bed. After the organic planet if escape, it hard cuts to more trauma flashbacks.
And then they do the same with Rocket, and then they do the same with Quill. The Rocket scene makes some sense because it's the major story beat of the movie (and has the "heaven is real and Yahweh/God/Allah wanted the high evolutionary to torture, mutilate and traumatize you so that you could be the new leader of the GotG" revelation, which is its own kinda gross), but the pretend deaths of Drax and Quill were definite low points for me. Huge tonal shifts in both cases for the sake of tearjerking, and then they are completely fine and its never brought up again. I liked to movie overall because the goofy vibe from Vol 1 and 2 is still here and is still really strong and funny, but this movie didn't make me "feel" anything except slightly annoyed.
The scenes with the animals are supposed to show how cruel the High evolutionary is. You are not soft, you are empathetic. Love your reviews take care of yourself. 😀😂
The grandad stuff was my favorite part, maybe I’m trippin but in the early part of the film he retells the night his mother passed. And I felt the language used indicated Quill had misremembered, his granddad was so devastated but didn’t want her daughters child to see his mother like that. I rewatched the first one and it didn’t seem that his granddad yelled or pushed him or anything other try to protect him before succumbing to grief himself.
I appreciated your non-spoiler review - it helped me prepare (and prepare my wife) for the animal scenes, which were really, really tough. It also helped us decide to preview the film before taking our kids, which was absolutely the right call.
I went into the movie worried about how graphic the experiment scenes were going to be because of your reveiw, but then was suprised at how tame it was from compared to how it was described. I certainly didn't enjoy it but it felt far from excessive. I feel like I've seen similar scenes in other movies but with humans and it was treated with the same amount of importance. I feel the way they portrayed it made it easier to connect with as a human, since I'm not a raccoon myself.
You shared your own opinion, and everyone has opinions. Overall, I personally loved the movie and found Rockets' story very emotional and relatable because of the abuse I faced as a former foster kid.
Agreed. I know some people like this. They take it personal when you disagree with their opinion about a movie. I always have to assure them that it’s ok that we disagree. Opinions are are like butt holes; we all have ‘em. 😅
I wish at the end when Groot is talking to gamora he would have handed her a picture of them together from when he was a baby. This would be emotional for groot because gamora was really his mother and emotional for gamora because she would see that she really did have a family that she loved.
Yeah when she went through the backpack I thought she was going to find a photo of her original self with the gang which would have led to her having a flashback even though that wouldn’t make sense this is an alternate gamora I just thought finding a photo or something would have pushed her to acknowledge the feelings the original gamora felt or end up adapting those feelings but no it didn’t.
I think the found family aspect of Peter’s story is important but I think his ending was more about the responsibility of letting people (grandpa) who honestly love you back into your life that you couldn’t let in when you were in pain and letting people (gamora) go who may have helped you in your healing but can’t continue on with you on your journey through life.
I can’t thank you enough for cautioning folks about the animal abuse. It’s really disappointing people can’t look outside themselves and realize that type of information might be helpful to others. Sometimes people (even ‘’’strong’’’ people) have things going on where they can’t put more sadness on their plate. Thanks again for sharing that information even if you got backlash. It mattered to me!
@smallMind Ed a lot of the big circuses don’t have animal acts anymore. And many people haven’t rode horses before. Leave people alone. If you don’t feel the same, fine, but don’t try criticize how others are feeling.
I don't tear up when watching movies. Ever. And there are very few things that can evoke this kind of emotion in me but watching the scenes of Rockets origin had me on that line. True cruelty of any kind is something that troubles me deeply and to your point it's one of those things that my best friend sees and just says "Hmm" while I feel like I wish I were in the film to do something about it. People take to things differently and that's OK. Anyone who says otherwise is either lying to us, themselves, or is a psychopath.
For me, this was my favourite marvel film. I personally believe they hit the tone perfectly and I think it was an amazing concluding chapter for an incredible trilogy. I also adored Adam Warlock and his integration into the film and his potential future in the MCU. For me, it was perfect. I've already seen it 3 times with another booked. Completely respect your opinion and your review though and I understand why it wouldn't hit the spot for everyone
To make it even better you coulda had gamora jump out to Peter with a helmet mask what ever. And grab Peter then take it off her self and put it on him just like he did in the first then as she is dying looking at him. THEN Adam warlock shows up like yondu did to save them. And I agree about nebula as soon as she asked for the comm and said “I’ll do it” I thought she was gonna be toast. Would have been a nice ending for her.
Your ending for Peter and Gimora is really good and more satisfying. Peter basically lost his mom, his love and now gets to be an immature 45yr old man cutting grass and living with his grandpa who may pass away at any point due to old age. Then he will be stuck in a world that he has been apart from for decades. *yeah I see why he is returning for whatever marvel movie is up next. Lol
I like Dan’s idea of seeing a version where it is cut differently, putting all the backstory in one chunk like he suggested. If I had the skill and the tools to do it, I’d love to try to put it together. That way somebody should do it and bootleg it out. Release the Dan cut!
It’s been a while since I watched trailers for movies and I never did for this one, but everyone was raving about it. Saw it, enjoyed it, but was not 100% convinced. I’m here for the T and the T is what I’ve got! I absolutely love your HONEST analysis, thanks for the great work, Dan! Hope you are feeling better considering you jumped straight out of it 😊
The down note in Ogglecorp was a masterstroke of filmmaking because of the way the music controls the entire feeling, remember they cut off the oldies and go full orchestral when you think Drax is going to die, only to release the tension literally when Quill sends the Guards floating as Rocket did in the first 1, and the music comes back on to completely lift the mood to relief. I disagree about the backstory segments they were specifically paced out every time they show Rocket on his deathbed to remind you exactly what they are fighting for. And they had to be borderline macabre because the trilogy is really about friends dealing with trauma. And so the scenes had to also be very graphic.
Funny to see this comment, the "masterstroke of filmmaking" line, because in my own where I critiqued the score I chose that exact moment as an example of why the score felt so weak to me. It was forcing emotions onto the audience instead of supporting it, and as a result, the comedy beat immediately after what was presented as a very serious and dire moment feels like whiplash in the worst way, like the film was tricking you into believing that moment mattered, and in a way mocking you for buying into it.
Definitely the scene that gutted me was Floor just in pure survival mode gradually getting louder but just saying “ROCKET FLOOR TEEFS GO NOW”. Especially since watching it is painfully clear they aren’t going to “GO NOW”
Thank you Dan. You articulate some of what I felt about the movie better than I ever could. I loved the heart this story had but there were wild swings in terms of tonality and resolution - for better and for worse.
I don’t like the idea of sanitizing art so it’s more palatable or accommodating to an audience members feelings. A painting doesn’t have one tone or texture throughout, the downbeats were necessary for the stakes of the movie, and the character arcs.
That’s not what I said should happen at all, nor did I say a film can’t have down beats. It was all about the execution of everything and through my own personal lens. Never said Gunn should have changed anything to suit my tastes
I think something you missed with Warlock is that he underscores the influence of the High Evolutionary, that there are races out there that see him as a God and that God must be appeased even if you disagree with him because the perception of his power as absolute. And, while I don't think the movie plays it well, Warlock finally rebelling after his God killed his mother says significant things about both Warlock and the High Evolutionary as characters.
I don't understand how people can ask you to be objective and ignore the animal abuse sensitivity as long as you are forthcoming about it. You're being honest. If someone wants that perspective to be ignored there are thousands of other critics to also listen to
I mean get it being too much for some, but I don't know how you work around it? Like it was always implied what happened to Rocket, but since this about his backstory, would just explaining it rather than showing it be as effective?
Marvel movies have never been family friendly anyway. Limbs have literally been torn off in almost every MCU movie, heads cut off, enemies incinerated, etc.
@@Thomas-lk5cu By that definition, most movies aren't family friendly. In Bambi, Bambi's mom gets shot, in Little Mermaid, Ursula gets impaled by a ship, in Lion King, there's fratricide, etc. You can't get rid of bad things in a family movie or it isn't worth watching generally. It gives the mistaken impression that children are super fragile and is unrealistic to boot.
Nah, rocket's back story told in one single chunk would have been more like an exposition dump and broken the pacing. This way we stayed connected with rocket's story and motivation and remained continuously emotionally invested by seeing how evil the high-evolutionary was to rocket and his friends and to his current "experiments". Made me feel extra happy that rocket decided to free all the animals as well once the guardians had already evacuated the "higher intelligence species"
For me everything worked, this classic James Gunn. I teared up and laughed tearing up, that is something that does happen in life. The only thing I agree is the one dimensionality of the villain, but everything else mekes up for it in my opinion. He is a mcguffin to developing the guardians and their relationships.
Dave Bautista is the most talented actor who got his start as a pro wrestler. Apologies to Rock, Cena and Roddy Piper, but Dave is gonna make history when he gets nominated for an Oscar at same point. The dude's got IT. The opening scene from Bladerunner: 2049 will go down in history as one of the great movie openings alongside the LaPaditte farm scene in Inglorious Basterds and the bank robbery scene from The Dark Knight.
Hey Dan, the film's depiction of animal cruelty definitely affected me as well. However, while it did affect me, I didn't think they went too far, so I wanted to ask what specific scenes or moments in particular you thought went 'too far?'
Specifically, showing the dead and bleeding bodies of Teefs and Floor, and watching the life go out of Lylla’s eyes. On top of everything else, it was excessive for me. It’s not just that they’re animals, they’re also innocent and blameless in what happened to them. I understand tragedy is part of Rocket’s story. That was too much for me.
@@DanMurrellMovies But these scenes also depict exactly how evil The High Evolutionary really is, because he’s willing to kill everyone he doesn’t like.
@@DanMurrellMovies I also think just *looking* at all those characters was continually upsetting outside of actual acts of violence against them. The spider-rabbit was nightmare fuel--what happened to her face? How does she eat? The walrus's wired opened eyes were painful to look at. Rocket's engineering is visually less upsetting in design.
@@DanMurrellMovies For the exact reasons you described, I cannot watch this movie again, and I loved it. Showing the bodies and blood is so dark that I truly hope that parents take the PG-13 VERY SERIOUSLY. It's an "R-movie -Lite" IMHO.
I was crying like a damn fool with every flashback in the movie. The scene that cut through my heart the most is 4 of them little friends laying in their cells, planning a beautiful life togehter. I figured what was coming and I completely broke in tears in that moment, even before the scene where H.E. shot Layla... And flashbacks being scattered throughout the movie emotionaly kicks harder.
Saw this one with someone who was a little more affected than I was. I thought it struck a good balance between drama and fun, while the other guy thought it was leaning perilously close to too much darkness. And that's OK.
yeah same. I think I ride the fence between both. sometimes I think it's exploitatively cruel in an emotionally manipulative way. and that Secrets of NIMH handled the topic better. and/or I also (begrudingly?) think it's a really good film with good realistic healthy endings for the characters. ...it's not the movie I wanted, but it's a movie that made sense for these characters and honored them. but it was borderline too disturbing for me. I can't handle animal cruelty... so yeah, I straddle complicated feelings for this movie.
I have some issues with the movie, but I’ll easily take it over a majority of other modern blockbuster-type movies due to its weird creativity, heart, and singularity of vision (plus nobody does needle drops better.) You’re a great reviewer Dan, sorry to hear about your pet.
This actually convinced me to go see the movie. It sounds like the type of character building movie I was missing from the mcu. Besides, I loved these characters back in the day and I want to see their stories wrap up.
I appreciate the nuance of this analysis I thought I was really missing something based on other reviews but this one tracked very closely with my experience and I needed that!
We don’t know what’s in store for Gamora. We could see her come in contact with the soul stone in some way and see her old soul return with her memories. I don’t think her and Quill’s story is over.
About your point about Peter and his family. I fee that it was great that he realized his desire to meet his grandpa. Daily isn’t just your blood and it isn’t just your friends. It is both. And this film shows that. He assumed his grandpa was dead at this point. His mind has been focused on other things. So when he thinks it’s possible he wants to explore it. I love that. That’s how life works at times.
@@andrewmintzer9430 It’s the worst Guardians never-mind top 5, that’s just silly. This review we all just watched arguably didn’t even like it…There’s people that are excited to see the Marvels, doesn’t mean they’re the majority.
I feel the same way about Adam Warlock in Vol 3 as I do Baron Mordo in Dr Strange MoM. Both characters teased as being a next level threat for the heroes but then ignored most of the film and retroactively turned into allies. Even if they get around to the bad guy Mordo, no one will even care. Disney Marvel has a real tendency for dragging along characters that are not killed and making them less important than their respective comic book counterparts. In the long run the MCU will have an unbalanced amount of heroes than villains
I loved the movie (especially compared to recent MCU output). I think the tone was spot on and balanced light hearted scenes with more serious themes pretty well. Much better than how Thor Love & Thunder approached the cancer scenes. I think teasing the death of each team member at different times for a meta joke as everyone has been speculating for months which one dies. Although was a bit heavy handed with Peter’s “death” scene. Overall a great movie and easily my favourite MCU movie since Infinity War.
TBH they were trash. Like instead of pacing out Rocket's scenes every time he is on his death bed, just to mash them all together not only would not make sense, but you never want to cram a bunch of anything into the middle of your movie. This guy is clearly not a writer and I hate when people review what they wanted something to be instead of what they just watched.
I don’t have most of the issues you have with the movie (although I do agree the animal abuse could have been toned down a bit) but agree so much with the Gamora complaints as that was the biggest thing in this movie that did not work for me. I was real excited to see Gamora find her way back to the Guardians and was disappointed that didn’t happen. Your what-if sounded so great and while I’m glad Nebula was alive I think that choice would have made the movie stronger
'find her way back' But the Gamora in this film is from another timeline/universe/'just make something up to cover up the plothole' . From her point of view, she doesn't know these other characters apart from her own version of Gamora. If anything it's more empowering for her to not become 'OG Gamora stand-in'.
I agree Gomora keeps them sane lol otherwise they would be mad and she made them complete neubula is ok but they could have got Gamora in on it to the group could of been Quill, groot, rocket, drax, Gamora, Nebula and mantis I would of loved that
Appreciate your review Dan. The comment section can be a frustrating place. If it bothers you as well than I am OK as it bothers me too. You’re a professional. Love your channel. I loved the movie overall. I had some of the same issues besides your take on animal cruelty and Gamoras end story but that’s ok. We all have different perspectives. If it touched on sensitive areas for me than I would be annoyed as well. We all got your back though because we hold you in high regard and respect your opinion
Dan, even though I’m occasionally not quite on the same page as you on certain movies, I *always appreciate your perspective on things, because that perspective is always multifaceted. For example, the intensity of Rocket’s backstory didn’t hit me *quite as harshly as it did for you (I found it to be really heart wrenching, but not past the level of egregiousness), but I appreciated knowing it was a thing to kind of be aware of. Totally agree with some of your critiques on certain points, but yeah - for me, best MCU movie in recent memory because of the things it focused on. Keep doing your thing man!
yeah I definitely thought that Nebula would sacrifice herself on the ship and that Gamora will save Peter (since he saved her in the 1st movie), because it just felt natural to me to these characters and how they progressed in this movie, and I dont know why, but Will Poulter's behaviour and expressions looked very similar to me as in We're the Millers :D
I get what you say about Gamora, it not only felt unearned because of a lack of information about her relationship with re Ravagers at the beginning, but also because it seemed her whole deal in this movie was the cold-blooded lone wolf that didn't get the importance of a family until watching the Guardians interact, when she could've ended the discussion with "I get it, I have one too, but it's not you". Besides, the Ravager that was killed in a "funny way" by Adam for protecting her was never discussed again. No revenge plot or mention about her "family member" ever again (which felt in line with the not-at-all-close vibe that she and the Ravagers gave at first). Your take on Nebula and Gamora works way better. True, Adam Warlock was a waste of time, character, and a good actor. Nice, humble, objective review. Thank you.
I understand your POV. I was also shocked at the the level of 'dark' James Gunn went for, but ultimately embraced it as I these themes are mostly lacking in the MCU movies (or superhero movies in general). Felt like the Rocket origin story was a self contained drama at times and, for me, really well executed. How many fully CGI generated scenes have made you feel this way? I was blown away how good he made this work and really floored at the end emotionally. That in and of itself deserves all the praise imho.
I kept wondering why the hell Quill didn't have his helmet or his rocket boots. He just get rid of them between movies? They are kinda useful. Wouldn't have needed anyone saving him at the end there.
GOTG 3 did a lot of things well, but I thought it was weird that no characters were able to die. I.e. Drax, who took one shot to his chest and then one to his back, but somehow he survived and 5 secs later he was back up and running. Or Mantis, whom had her arm broken by Warlock, but one scene later she’s perfectly fine. It really made me wonder, because throughout the movie it seemed like they were going to kill at least one main character.
Mantis had her broken arm healed immediately because she used some type of advanced medical pack on her arm which snapped it back into place. Drax is not human so his species can take much more powerful hits than a human can. The gun appeared to be less than lethal but if applied enough to one target does appear to have the capabilities of killing most species. Just my thoughts on it.
I think G3 is Gunn's most mature work as a director. But it is rather dark the way Burton's Batman got a bit darker than the targeted demographic. My bigger issue is that while it feels long, there are character beats that feel missing. Also, the Quill fake out death was unnecessary only to immediately revive him. It was if someone at Disney saw the Mario Bros box office and vetoed that decision, lol. In think Gunn had a few more Guardian movies in him, but he resolved the story as best as he could before saying farewell. Gunn's Guardians are among the best family dynamics depicted in comic book movies, rivaling the Incredibles.
I think you’re overthinking the flash backs a lot. Rockets essentially in a coma so I felt the film set up pretty clearly that his flashbacks are happening in his head. Didn’t take me out of the film at all. Putting all his stuff into one big chunk would have made the pacing infinitely more clunky, and would have felt like two different movies playing in front of us
I loved the movie. I hear some of what your saying. However movies are suppose to tug on your heart strings. Yes some of those scenes were darker but I felt it gave the movie more of an emotional layer.
I totally agree with your thoughts about the High Evolutionary! I really enjoyed his characterization, but I was also left wanting something more. I think that they could have leaned into where he gained his "god-like complex" and/or found a way to humanize him. I think this would create a little bit more conflict for the audience because he is not just "the guy that kills everyone and is cruel to animals."
This is a good review. I am more positive on this film overall, but I appreciate your perspective. I think the things that mattered to the primary story, Gunn nailed. I do feel like Warlock was a bit of fish-out-of-water (pun intended), because yes Gunn set him up but I think he is such a big character that Feige likely has plans for what to do with him next. A future installment might make his role in this film make a bit more sense, but if this is all we got I was left wanting. Virtually everything outside of Warlock's overall treatment though I enjoyed. I want to watch it again because I already started to notice threads in the previous films that paid off big time, meaning Gunn has a very good finger on the pulse when it comes to these characters (making sense given that these are his adaptations).
I thought the film was an e.otiknal rollercoaster, with equal highs, lows, scene stealing performances, fight choreography and a nice subversion of expectations on the Quill / Gamora storyline. Very satisfied, I wept several times and was in stunned silence through the credits.
one aspect of the last two guardian films is that, once the team splits up the story diverts into exploring different themes and ideas. The attempts to bring the different stories back can be hit and miss, particularly in this film. I began to feel the movie's length right around when everyone gets back together on the High Evolutionary's ship for the final act. Granted the hallway fight scene is excellent and rescue mission do work quite well for what they are, part of me wants to see the film really come together for the home run stretch. The "endings" of the 3 films I enjoy vol. 2 the most. With that said, vol. 3 has some elements that are probably the best of the series. I enjoy the moment when Rocket's friends die because that's an emotional moment that is pretty undiluted by anything else and it marks yet another turning point for Rocket. I would really give vol.3 the best of the series if the movie concludes a little better a la the unleashing of power stone at the end of vol.1. Still I am mostly pretty happy with this film and feel sad to see the "conclusion" of the series. The highs of this series are the absolute highlights of the entire MCU by far and I am definitively wanting more.
I really liked this one, I liked the darker tone and I've been missing this in the MCU for quite a while. I understand the animal abuse can make you feel bad, and everyone reacts differently to different kind of abuses depicted in movies. For me, it landed right, especially considering the line from Nebula where she says that Rockets abuse is worse than hers. Without dismissing Dan's love for animals, I can't help but to think of the torture Murphy goes though in Robocop, and I wonder if Dan would think that movie would be better by toning down the hyper violence. That being said, me comparing MCU with Robocop says a little about the level of disturbing images in this movie 😁 Ps, thanks for a great review that encourages discussion!
I think Murphy’s death scene is one of the most disturbing scenes of onscreen violence I’ve seen - and I love that movie! I think a key difference is that Murphy eventually survives that ordeal and regains his humanity, though he pays a hefty price. Also, the graphic violence in Robocop is in many ways satirical, a commentary on the excesses and hypocrisies of the 1980s, as much of the rest of the movie is. So it also ties back to the point I was making regarding depiction and intent.
@@DanMurrellMovies Plus, in terms of graphic/bodyhorror violence, this is the same franchise that had Nebula, being held in mid-air, and having her body _including her actual head_ being pulled apart while she screams in pain and distress.
Loved your takes! My personal view of the Peter going back story is that he discovered his real family, made them strong, but all the guardians were running from something, and had to confront those issues within. Through this learning true family is together even when apart
I actually liked how they wrapped up Gamora's story because it helped to encapsulate why Peter needed a break from the Guardians (even if his destination was a bit odd). The film lightheartedly playyed off how his image of their relationship wouldn't happen but even so he was still pushing the line of continuing things with this Gamora by pulling her into the family when she is truly a completely different person with a family of her own. As for my other main thought coming out of the movie, the tonal shifts with all of the fake out deaths really bothered me, pretty much everyone but Groot had at least one instance where you thought they'd be killed off without the movie actually comitting on any of them. Having one or maybe two could be okay but they were so many throughout the film.
While this may be a case where I agree to disagree with your points, I always appreciate your honesty and the manner in which you break down your rationale for WHY you feel how you feel about movies as opposed to other "critics" who just hating it just to hate it for views. Keep doing you, Dan despite what the more passionate in my direction may say in regards to opinions of this film. You're one of the realest in the game right now.
It wasn't as dark as I was expecting, given the impression from your initial review, but I totally see how it could be a deal breaker for anyone sensitive to images of animal abuse (at least half the movie is like centered around this). Upon reflection, I think the reason near deaths like Drax, Quill, Rocket, etc are teased out (like in the opening shot with drunk Quill being carried) is because this might be Gunn's most subtle joke of "which Guardian will die?" and the punchline being "no one". Lastly, as for the way things ended, I think it was some compromise between what Gunn ultimately wanted and what the actors wanted post-Gunn. I had my share of nitpicks and quibbles with the film, but otherwise I loved it.
One of the issues I think that's obvious with the problems of how the characters are written is that most of the cast won't be returning. The fact that Gamora, Drax, and Mantis' actors are all leaving means they have to have a semi-permenant send off in a way where if they don't show up in the next guardians associated movie or cameo fans and people watching them won't be badgering or asking "well why wasn't _____ there?" That kind of puts the kibosh on the truly satisfying endings where you can look at the cast and go they'll adventure together one day... or find their way back to each other eventually. Gunn can only really promise new iterations of the Guardians with a new roster of characters and actors who aren't looking to leave the MCU behind by now. As much as I agree with your comments on a lack of emotional satisfaction on how their arcs were executed if not their actual destination. I feel like A it was vital that the old Gamora was dead, and any kind of "she could join the Guardians again" would have been cheapening the fact that the original Gamora died. This is a new character essentially. And B that even with all that she's enough like the original by the end of this movie she can see why they used to be her family. It's just too soon to rejoin them because the shadow of her previous life would shade all their interactions going forward. Quill tries to address this but they need time apart to figure out where they stand now as functional strangers. Quill's arc is better seen as the arc through all 3 of the movies. I appreciate it in light of the overall journey rather than the specific mini arc he got here. Still I do like the idea that even with the family you find along the way there was some part of him that never faced going home, maybe seeing his mother's tombstone, and yes even his grandpa. It's not bombastic or perhaps as satisfying but it gives Star Lord a chance to have something left to do if he still has to show up in the future. Otherwise I imagine he'd adventure around with the Guardians forever at this point and it's one last thing to check off before he can leave Earth behind for good when he eventually does hang up the cape. Finally, the rocket origin sequences are some of my favorite scenes in all of MCU now, because they're visceral and also deadly efficient and effective. If they had been softened I feel like it would have robbed the film of a lot of what distinguished it from the more bland marvel affairs we've been getting. I blame the tonal and pacing stuff primarily on Adam Warlocks inclusion and crowbarring him into the narrative. I absolutely agree with your take that Gamora should have saved Peter at the end just to have a coda on the spirit of their relationship if not an actual relationship.
I went in expecting to have to look away from the screen because of your review. Luckily I found it to be very tastefully done…only what needed to be shown to get the picture. I didn’t see an exposed skull, just Rockets shaved head. The flashbacks worked for me because it helped us get familiar with the group of friends. If it was all done in one truncated flashback it wouldn’t have been nearly as impactful to me.
Great review Dan, also it is great that you like to have debate about a movie, it is great that you respect your viewers. I liked a lot the movie, I cried, laugh, and had a great time with it.
I think the main problem I have for this movie is they put Rocket on the sidelines for 90% of the movie when he should have been the main protagonist of the film. This should have been his revenge journey where we see how his past affects him now as he grapples with responsibility to his new family while seeking vengeance for his old. There's no reason why a threat to his life should have incapacitated him.
Wow! I just love your videos and how you break down the plot and what makes good and not so good writing. I learn so much about what film criticism is with you!
I have two theories on why seemingly, if not actually, every character has a near death experience. 1- It was a joke because everyone knew this was going to be the end of a trilogy and assumed someone was going to die, but they never do. 2- It has to do with an overarching multiverse storyline. Like there now exist universes where each or all of the characters have died. I think something like that could be interesting to use in an upcoming movie.
I appreciate your opinions so much Dan! Doubt you will see this but my favorite part of your reviews is that you support your opinion in such a professional and fair way. You don’t pretend to be pretentious and lift the positives of a film even if you don’t care for it. I adored Guardians 3 for feeling like the first Marvel film since Infinity War to feel like a whole film disconnected from the nonsense we have seen the last few years in the MCU. No side plot setting up the next film, no cameos from other projects, no multiverse, just ending the arcs of these beloved characters. My only complaints about the film was some editing choices like the Rocket scenes intercut into lighter scenes (honestly the cuts weren’t too jarring because his backstory was so excellent even if morbid) and Adam being underutilized. The Adam Warlock portrayal bothered me most because he is one of my favorite comic characters and the film made him a plot disrupter and I am biased since his portrayal in the 2019 game was amazing. That being said the film hit all the right notes and gave my favorite group of comic book characters such a beautiful goodbye without resorting to cheaply killing them off. If you had told me a week ago that no main characters die in the film I would be disappointed that the movie didn’t have stakes, but I thought the decision to keep the characters alive with smart conclusions like Drax finally taking on a father role, Peter seeing his grandfather and Rocket becoming the leader actually had me emotional. The final 15 minutes had me crying like not many recent films because it was so poignant and earned.
I appreciated (and continue to appreciate) your flag about the animal cruelty. Things like that stick in my body and mind for months (the scene in in Arcane with the salamander thing messed me up for weeks even though it was just a flash of an expression from a fictitious creature). Seeing trusting animals experience terror and betrayal sucks viscerally and I'm glad I didn't go into the movie blind.
Speaking of Gamorah, i didn't mind her ending up with the Ravagers. Yes i thought it was a bit weird, but i accepted it by rationalising that our Gamorah died in Infinity Wars. I truly believed however that she would be the one to save Quill. I was very surprised when it was Adam Warlock who saved Quill, because as soon as he did my question then became, why did he wait till the last second to do it? I think they didn't want to give people hope about Gamorah and Quill and the Guardians getting back together because Zoe Saldana is done with the character
I had set myself up for worse too, despite still crying. I think it was very effective because the characters were so well executed, the darkness, the cages...
With Gamora being able to understand Groot, does that establish that people understand him only because he ALLOWS them to understand him? Is it like a block he has on them until he’s ready to unlock it once he trusts them?
Hey Dan, while I watch all of your stuff; I rarely find the time to comment. You’re simply the best at this stuff. I mean that from the heart. Expressing your opinions is no easy task and even more difficult in the climate of the internet. You always do so with conviction and an earnestness that can’t really be duplicated. While I thought this movie overcame some incredible obstacles with its production and franchise baggage, I think it allowed me to be a little more forgiving in my own viewing. I also think you prepared me for how difficult the cruelty and experimentation scenes were going to be. Movies of our childhood would have cut away from a lot of the body horror elements of this film and left more to the imagination. It will make repeat viewing difficult even though I appreciated the story. I think some of the weaker choices , like Adam Warlock serve the greater narrative far more than the film. I also think this to a degree feels like Gunn’s Temple of Doom. The story is dark and I wonder if the world we live in and even some of his own experiences; like being removed as director greatly effected the film’s tone. He comes from horror and gore, but there was a cynicism in this film that I don’t know I generally associate with Gunn. I hope you and Mara are doing well.
My read on Peter going back to Earth is that he’s been running from accepting his mom’s death. It’s why he holds the music he listens to so dearly, it’s the last thing he has that links him to her. So when he gives the Zune to Rocket at the end, he’s ready to face it and go home to his family.
I love the scene when Petet is on Earth. It's surreal. Pete knows everything about the galaxy and all the aliens. Yet he is dressing normal cloth and looking like a nomral person.
One of the moments that I like that not many people have pointed out was Nebula’s reaction to hearing Rocket’s voice again. I felt her cry and remembered that the only person she knew that wasn’t snapped was Rocket. I remember Rocket grabbing her hand to comfort her in the beginning of Endgame and I realized that for 5 years, it was just them two(for what we know) and they clearly had become great friends in the absence of everyone else. You can feel that
When she found out he was alive and just stood there sobbing with relief, I couldnt hold it in anymore and balled my eyes out with her. She survived the snap with him but also she watched his files where he's getting tortured and experimented on so she connects to him on a level nobody else shares. They are cyborg freaks who just want a family 😭
Yah but then no reaction when they actually together. Tht lessens tht moment for me
@@piusdoe8984 IDK, that seems in character. She doesn't advertise her emotions to others.
Based off Gamora meeting back up with her ravagers, she has found a new family. They genuinely cared about her. I don't think it's necessary to force her back just because the other gamora was a guardian. It would take away from original gamoras death and it shouldn't be that easy for quill to replace her and not deal with that trauma.
I don’t necessarily disagree with the decision there, my issue was with how it was set up (or not) in the movie itself.
@@DanMurrellMovies wondering how much trailers were at fault here. they kinda set up some misdirect or made me think that story is gonna be more important? (and I am glad it was not).
also repeating myself but content warnings are super important and I wish more reviewers gave them
Gunn took her character into a different direction way too much and didn't even explain it.
@@WL1264 'way too much'
'didn't explain it'
What do you mean, more specifically?
@@Tao_Tology when the guardians wanted to go back and save the children she didn't want to.
This is completely out of character for gamora.
I thought it was very touching that we understood Groot in the end.
I think the flashbacks with Rocket were extremely important, however unpleasant they may have been, and they needed to be spaced out. They not only give relevant backstory, but they also keep Rocket in the film. He's really the main character in this one, but if those flashbacks were limited to only a couple, or clumped together, he'd basically be asleep most of the movie until the end. They serve a dual purpose of giving us important context while keeping our main character in the film.
I think the spaced out aspect makes us live the new characters more like slowly get to know em more. If it was one scene it woudnt hv been as impactful
But.. he was asleep most of the movie 😅😂
I agree
100% agree i respect everyones opinion and everyones own experience is valid but i think trying to completely breakdown this movie on a technical standpoint would be wrong, again not to say this movie is perfect cause there were certain beats in the movie that were of and they couldve improved cwrtain thing but this to me was completely about the emotional trauma of the characters, it was about actually looking at these peoples flaws and in the case of rocket by the final flashback I completely understood why he is the way he is and it made me appreciate gis character even more
Totally agree
I think to me, it’s hard to view this movie in a vacuum. After a string of emotionless chores of superhero movies, this one stood out and that’s a big reason why I really enjoyed this film.
True. We all suffered a bit of fatigue after one Marvel flop after another. Both Thor, Ant-Man and Dr. Strange are dead to me, after Marvel dumbing them all down.
@@Thomas-lk5cu doctor strange 2 was a flawed movie but I don’t think they hurt his character agree on the other 2
@@hugofernandes2930 Thank you, it’s like the people disliking wakanda forever, it’s like some people simply aren’t good at critiquing mixing with the legitimate criticism that’s deserved with ofc the sheeple that’ll say whatever the consensus is
Vacuums are also not that big, so it'll be quite cramped in there!
“Emotionless chores” perfect way to put the post endgame MCU.
There’s that line in the film where Adam Warlock’s mother says to the High Evolutionary something along the lines of “Adam Warlock was taken out of his cocoon early” and I can’t help but wonder if that’s a subtle way of saying that it was planned to not use the character until much later but maybe Marvel wanted him used now.
Your non-spoiler review basically prepped me for the animal cruelty and either that helped immensely or it just wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Either way I appreciated the head's up!
same thing. only, I was bothered very heavily by the animal cruelty and it impacted my enjoyment of the film. But I'm very appreciative to Dan for the head's up, otherwise I would have been even more disturbed. glad I went in forewarned. I would be hesitant recommending this to people without a caveat about that.
Best guess on the quill arc is that they wanted to respond to his Gamora trauma without just leading us to a moment where the audience is yelling "kiss the girl" and being disappointed when it didn't happen. Sending him home gives him a change of pace and a chance to pause and learn about himself, rather than being a fulfillment of some goal or destiny.
Quill and Rocket both had traditional hero journey arcs.
Quinn
Agreed. I also think what Mantis said is true but now that he has the support of his found family he can finally confront his biological family and to get closure on something he's been avoiding for decades. Didn't feel out of nowhere to me or off beat like how Dan felt.
Seemed to me that Quill needed a reason to go back to Earth without the rest of the Guardians cast so that he can be further part of Phase 5.
Yes! I agree. His arc was better this way. Find himself, not just try to win alt Gamora's heart. The same with Gamora, it wouldn't make sense to have her end up with him after all the time it took for original Gamora to fall for him. She wasn't a prize for him to win at the end, but a character with her own story. In fact, we only see her really be with quill in their first scene in Infinity war, when she's shown singing along with him. Those few seconds show a lot. Proof that the foundation of those characters was well established enough that we could tell how much time had passed and much closer they were in just a simple moment. It took time for them to get there. It would be a betrayal to her character to have them back together so soon.
Dan, I’m also very sensitive to animal cruelty and I really appreciate your warning. From the trailers I knew there was going to be a depiction of Rocket’s and his early friends’ suffering, but I would have assumed it to be a fairly short sequence. I totally thought this would be lighthearted and silly, like previous Guardians films. Therefore without your warning I would have gone in expecting an uplifting experience. Now I know to go on a day when I’m not already emotionally vulnerable (from a long day or other stressors). I realize the negative voices are loud and hurtful, but don’t underestimate how helpful your perspective is for moviegoers like me. Without your warning, not only might my enjoyment of the movie have been affected but also my mental health could have been affected. I don’t care if the rest of the Internet thinks I’m a baby. Imagery like this DOES affect me and you wouldn’t be doing your job if you had minimized it.
Thank goodness Dan gave a heads up on what was in the film regarding Rocket and the other animals. I cannot see myself going back to see this movie as much as I want to. I really liked the Earth, Wind and Fire song during the fight scene with Nathan Fillion and crew. I truly hope parents take the PG-13 VERY SERIOUSLY for this movie. CGI animals or not.
@smallMind Ed yes. Not everyone is okay with such things.
Agree completely, I was very appreciative of the warning.
Perhaps never before has the Human Society's end credits "No Animals were Harmed" in this production, been as well worth the check to verify these were all CGI, anthopromorphic animals. THC collects this on virtually every movie, even if there are no animals featured.
this. 100% what @ellicel said. my sentiments exactly. I would've thought GotG3 would be more akin to GotG1 and a happy ending. having prior warning, I put this movie off. I waited. I went in more able to protect myself. and I still was pretty disturbed by this movie. I acknowledge it's good, but I have a lot of mixed feelings. but I really appreciate the warning! (I would recommend Secret of NIMH maybe instead, in this vein) but yeah, Dan, don't listen to the haters.
I quite like the idea for Nebula and Gamora. Gamora helped Nebula find a family in the Guardians pre Endgame, and so now Nebula does it for the new Gamora. Full circle.
Rocket's friendship with Floor, Lyla, and Teefs was so heartwarming. The movie did a really great job of showing how innocent and sweet Rocket was before he was hardened. The high evolutionary was a good villain. He was like if Sid from Toy Story grew up and found new ways to "experiment". The fake out deaths are really old for me, though. Quill's was especially jarring to me. They had him freeze (and bloat in the grossest way) and then magically just wake up. It was really awful. I could ignore Drax getting a hole blown in him more than that (simply because Drax isn't human). Same for Nebula. She is mostly robot, so she can go through a lot more and still be fine. But Quill? He lost his half-god side and is now just human.
Did you watch GOTG 2? Quill’s dad is a god. He’s part human part celestial. But the fake deaths were super annoying.
@@cameronmitchell8180 did YOU watch Guardians 2? After Ego was killed Peter lost his immortality and any of the cool god power stuff and is now just like everybody else. But then again, what's so wrong with that?
Side note, loved the movie but totally forgot about the last Quill fake out death with him getting all puffy out in space. Why didn't that happen in 1st Guardians when he saved Gamora? lol either way, I'm glad marvel has another solid trilogy saved to its legacy so that was people have more reasons to go "see, some of these are REALLY good!"
@@TheDreamer2O8 A normal person genuinely does have a halfway decent chance of surviving space for the amount of time that Quill was out there, bloat and all.
Whatever happened to his space mask and jet boots? Did that stuff get busted in Infinity War and he just never bothered to replace/fix them?
@@cameronmitchell8180 In GOTG 2 Quill killed Ego and lost his celestial side. He's just human now.
While I spent half the movie in tears due to the cruelty of Rocket and his friends, I also was very aware this was the villain and it made him a much more effective villain when the audience is so emotionally involved. I couldn't hate him enough and it was all due to the way he was portrayed through his terrible and cruel actions. I thought it was perfectly done. If it was all in one chunk, you wouldn't have had that build up of anger and distress. It made sense to space it out every time we focused on the next stage of Rocket's possible demise. It definitely did not feel random at all, as it always happened after some sort of emotional beat, worrying if the ticking clock was going to run out or not. While it was hard to watch, it was done for a reason. It also made the ultimate destruction of the villains all the more satisfying.
My take on animal abuse: most people don’t like to think about it. But seeing its brutality makes some people wonder if factory farming and animal testing is as horrible as what this movie depicts. So exposing people to the horrors of animal abuse, even in fictional stories, actually raises awareness and brings us closer to its end.
For me, Peter's arc in this movie is Peter recognizing he's emotionally stunted in a lot of ways as a child and he's still carrying the guilt of his mother's death.Everyone in this movie is dealing with there trauma and Rocket and Quill have just kept running from there's He's from Earth, loves Earth culture, but hasn't gone back. That's where the end credit scene comes in, he's a kid again with his grandfather eating Captain Crunch.
I find it interesting and appreciate the different narrative suggestions but I think it’s vitally important for Adam Warlock to be the one to save Quill as it kickstarts his journey into a becoming a hero/guardian and shows that he’s taken Groots second chance line onboard.
And I think Gamora’s narrative arch and relationship with the guardians is perfectly melancholic. While she gains a newfound respect for the group and finds them endearing with their ways and love for one another, she’s already found that dynamic with the ravagers, her new family that unfortunately beat the guardians to the punch.
He nearly killed Rocket at the start, so saving Quill at the end was necessary to show how far he came and why they'd trust him enough to let him on the team after hurting Rocket.
Something I think not a lot of people noticed.. I definitely think that Nebula is into Peter.. If you watch the movie again, there were a lot of instances where it felt like that's where they were headed. The arm grab at the beginning, her calling him Starlord like she was mad at him. She saves him from Gamora's punch and defends him, and at the end, Nebula gives a glance over to Gamora and Peter when they're saying goodbye.
I think that is just overall growth of her character, not necessarily anything between them. And it would be awkward - the sisters were always competing in the past. Having the same boyfriend would be weird even at different times.
I totally got the same feeling. Oh well.
Actually I'm happy with Gamora going with the Ravengers. It made sense for this Gamora's arch. She made it clear throughout the film that she was her own women and not Peters love mate. I thought it was great also, because she almost spoke to fans who want variants to replace the dead.
I enjoyed Peter going back to his blood family rather than trying to force a bond and family onto Gamora. Which many men do with women; forcing them to fix their pain and past traumas. James Gunn told a great story though these three films.
I agree that Gamora shouldn’t have been forced back into the same role, and said so a few times. My issues were with how I felt the movie failed to set that up and some potential ways it could have felt more satisfying. I even said it could work with Quill returning to Earth.
Dan, please don't apologize for taking time off for being sick. Taking care of your health is far more important than a review. Glad you're feeling better!
7:12 this is so right on. The film makes you think that those two characters are near death, then they’re fine.
To capitalize on that, as they drive away, we get a rocket flashback without warning. Every flashback up to that point was forecasted by showing rocket in the bed. After the organic planet if escape, it hard cuts to more trauma flashbacks.
And then they do the same with Rocket, and then they do the same with Quill. The Rocket scene makes some sense because it's the major story beat of the movie (and has the "heaven is real and Yahweh/God/Allah wanted the high evolutionary to torture, mutilate and traumatize you so that you could be the new leader of the GotG" revelation, which is its own kinda gross), but the pretend deaths of Drax and Quill were definite low points for me. Huge tonal shifts in both cases for the sake of tearjerking, and then they are completely fine and its never brought up again. I liked to movie overall because the goofy vibe from Vol 1 and 2 is still here and is still really strong and funny, but this movie didn't make me "feel" anything except slightly annoyed.
The scenes with the animals are supposed to show how cruel the High evolutionary is. You are not soft, you are empathetic. Love your reviews take care of yourself. 😀😂
The grandad stuff was my favorite part, maybe I’m trippin but in the early part of the film he retells the night his mother passed. And I felt the language used indicated Quill had misremembered, his granddad was so devastated but didn’t want her daughters child to see his mother like that. I rewatched the first one and it didn’t seem that his granddad yelled or pushed him or anything other try to protect him before succumbing to grief himself.
I appreciated your non-spoiler review - it helped me prepare (and prepare my wife) for the animal scenes, which were really, really tough.
It also helped us decide to preview the film before taking our kids, which was absolutely the right call.
I went into the movie worried about how graphic the experiment scenes were going to be because of your reveiw, but then was suprised at how tame it was from compared to how it was described. I certainly didn't enjoy it but it felt far from excessive. I feel like I've seen similar scenes in other movies but with humans and it was treated with the same amount of importance. I feel the way they portrayed it made it easier to connect with as a human, since I'm not a raccoon myself.
You shared your own opinion, and everyone has opinions. Overall, I personally loved the movie and found Rockets' story very emotional and relatable because of the abuse I faced as a former foster kid.
Dan you don't need to justify your opinions. I return every week for them ❤
Exactly!!!
It's also okay to disagree w/ his opinion, comments are enabled for a reason. Having a different opinion isn't a bad thing 🤷🏾♂️
@@user-EB2016 I'm not saying you can't. I have disagreed with him before that doesn't mean he has to justify his way of thinking to anyone
Agreed. I know some people like this. They take it personal when you disagree with their opinion about a movie. I always have to assure them that it’s ok that we disagree. Opinions are are like butt holes; we all have ‘em. 😅
I trust his opinion 100%, although I think he’s blinded by his partners feelings about animal cruelty
I wish at the end when Groot is talking to gamora he would have handed her a picture of them together from when he was a baby. This would be emotional for groot because gamora was really his mother and emotional for gamora because she would see that she really did have a family that she loved.
I thought something like that would happen too when she went through Peter's backpack.
@@kflowers8276 yeah same! Like find a Polaroid of all of them together as a family!
Yeah when she went through the backpack I thought she was going to find a photo of her original self with the gang which would have led to her having a flashback even though that wouldn’t make sense this is an alternate gamora I just thought finding a photo or something would have pushed her to acknowledge the feelings the original gamora felt or end up adapting those feelings but no it didn’t.
@@cp2342 Well all of a sudden she was able to understand Groot's language.
I think the found family aspect of Peter’s story is important but I think his ending was more about the responsibility of letting people (grandpa) who honestly love you back into your life that you couldn’t let in when you were in pain and letting people (gamora) go who may have helped you in your healing but can’t continue on with you on your journey through life.
I can’t thank you enough for cautioning folks about the animal abuse. It’s really disappointing people can’t look outside themselves and realize that type of information might be helpful to others. Sometimes people (even ‘’’strong’’’ people) have things going on where they can’t put more sadness on their plate. Thanks again for sharing that information even if you got backlash. It mattered to me!
@smallMind Ed a lot of the big circuses don’t have animal acts anymore. And many people haven’t rode horses before.
Leave people alone. If you don’t feel the same, fine, but don’t try criticize how others are feeling.
I don't tear up when watching movies. Ever. And there are very few things that can evoke this kind of emotion in me but watching the scenes of Rockets origin had me on that line. True cruelty of any kind is something that troubles me deeply and to your point it's one of those things that my best friend sees and just says "Hmm" while I feel like I wish I were in the film to do something about it. People take to things differently and that's OK. Anyone who says otherwise is either lying to us, themselves, or is a psychopath.
For me, this was my favourite marvel film. I personally believe they hit the tone perfectly and I think it was an amazing concluding chapter for an incredible trilogy.
I also adored Adam Warlock and his integration into the film and his potential future in the MCU. For me, it was perfect. I've already seen it 3 times with another booked.
Completely respect your opinion and your review though and I understand why it wouldn't hit the spot for everyone
To make it even better you coulda had gamora jump out to Peter with a helmet mask what ever. And grab Peter then take it off her self and put it on him just like he did in the first then as she is dying looking at him. THEN Adam warlock shows up like yondu did to save them. And I agree about nebula as soon as she asked for the comm and said “I’ll do it” I thought she was gonna be toast. Would have been a nice ending for her.
Your ending for Peter and Gimora is really good and more satisfying. Peter basically lost his mom, his love and now gets to be an immature 45yr old man cutting grass and living with his grandpa who may pass away at any point due to old age. Then he will be stuck in a world that he has been apart from for decades. *yeah I see why he is returning for whatever marvel movie is up next. Lol
I like Dan’s idea of seeing a version where it is cut differently, putting all the backstory in one chunk like he suggested. If I had the skill and the tools to do it, I’d love to try to put it together. That way somebody should do it and bootleg it out.
Release the Dan cut!
It’s been a while since I watched trailers for movies and I never did for this one, but everyone was raving about it. Saw it, enjoyed it, but was not 100% convinced. I’m here for the T and the T is what I’ve got! I absolutely love your HONEST analysis, thanks for the great work, Dan! Hope you are feeling better considering you jumped straight out of it 😊
The down note in Ogglecorp was a masterstroke of filmmaking because of the way the music controls the entire feeling, remember they cut off the oldies and go full orchestral when you think Drax is going to die, only to release the tension literally when Quill sends the Guards floating as Rocket did in the first 1, and the music comes back on to completely lift the mood to relief.
I disagree about the backstory segments they were specifically paced out every time they show Rocket on his deathbed to remind you exactly what they are fighting for.
And they had to be borderline macabre because the trilogy is really about friends dealing with trauma. And so the scenes had to also be very graphic.
Funny to see this comment, the "masterstroke of filmmaking" line, because in my own where I critiqued the score I chose that exact moment as an example of why the score felt so weak to me. It was forcing emotions onto the audience instead of supporting it, and as a result, the comedy beat immediately after what was presented as a very serious and dire moment feels like whiplash in the worst way, like the film was tricking you into believing that moment mattered, and in a way mocking you for buying into it.
@@32fps Guess you'll have to agree to disagree.
@@MrBrock314 *we'll
Definitely the scene that gutted me was Floor just in pure survival mode gradually getting louder but just saying “ROCKET FLOOR TEEFS GO NOW”. Especially since watching it is painfully clear they aren’t going to “GO NOW”
+1
That shit was heartbreaking
Thank you Dan. You articulate some of what I felt about the movie better than I ever could. I loved the heart this story had but there were wild swings in terms of tonality and resolution - for better and for worse.
I may not always agree with you, but you generally articulate your reasoning to a point where I can see what you mean. Good work!
Interestingly Adam Warlock was one of my favorite parts of the movie.
As someone who has no idea about him, I want to see more of him now.
I don’t like the idea of sanitizing art so it’s more palatable or accommodating to an audience members feelings. A painting doesn’t have one tone or texture throughout, the downbeats were necessary for the stakes of the movie, and the character arcs.
That’s not what I said should happen at all, nor did I say a film can’t have down beats. It was all about the execution of everything and through my own personal lens. Never said Gunn should have changed anything to suit my tastes
I think something you missed with Warlock is that he underscores the influence of the High Evolutionary, that there are races out there that see him as a God and that God must be appeased even if you disagree with him because the perception of his power as absolute. And, while I don't think the movie plays it well, Warlock finally rebelling after his God killed his mother says significant things about both Warlock and the High Evolutionary as characters.
I don't understand how people can ask you to be objective and ignore the animal abuse sensitivity as long as you are forthcoming about it. You're being honest. If someone wants that perspective to be ignored there are thousands of other critics to also listen to
I mean get it being too much for some, but I don't know how you work around it? Like it was always implied what happened to Rocket, but since this about his backstory, would just explaining it rather than showing it be as effective?
Marvel movies have never been family friendly anyway. Limbs have literally been torn off in almost every MCU movie, heads cut off, enemies incinerated, etc.
@@Thomas-lk5cu By that definition, most movies aren't family friendly. In Bambi, Bambi's mom gets shot, in Little Mermaid, Ursula gets impaled by a ship, in Lion King, there's fratricide, etc. You can't get rid of bad things in a family movie or it isn't worth watching generally. It gives the mistaken impression that children are super fragile and is unrealistic to boot.
@@MrBrock314 The difference is in the detail: I bet there's no blood and gore in Bambi, but in GOTG it's another story.
Nah, rocket's back story told in one single chunk would have been more like an exposition dump and broken the pacing. This way we stayed connected with rocket's story and motivation and remained continuously emotionally invested by seeing how evil the high-evolutionary was to rocket and his friends and to his current "experiments". Made me feel extra happy that rocket decided to free all the animals as well once the guardians had already evacuated the "higher intelligence species"
For me everything worked, this classic James Gunn. I teared up and laughed tearing up, that is something that does happen in life. The only thing I agree is the one dimensionality of the villain, but everything else mekes up for it in my opinion. He is a mcguffin to developing the guardians and their relationships.
Dave Bautista is the most talented actor who got his start as a pro wrestler. Apologies to Rock, Cena and Roddy Piper, but Dave is gonna make history when he gets nominated for an Oscar at same point. The dude's got IT. The opening scene from Bladerunner: 2049 will go down in history as one of the great movie openings alongside the LaPaditte farm scene in Inglorious Basterds and the bank robbery scene from The Dark Knight.
He was great in Dune too. And Knock at the Cabin!
Hey Dan, the film's depiction of animal cruelty definitely affected me as well. However, while it did affect me, I didn't think they went too far, so I wanted to ask what specific scenes or moments in particular you thought went 'too far?'
Specifically, showing the dead and bleeding bodies of Teefs and Floor, and watching the life go out of Lylla’s eyes. On top of everything else, it was excessive for me. It’s not just that they’re animals, they’re also innocent and blameless in what happened to them. I understand tragedy is part of Rocket’s story. That was too much for me.
@@DanMurrellMovies But these scenes also depict exactly how evil The High Evolutionary really is, because he’s willing to kill everyone he doesn’t like.
Hard agree. I was affected by the rest but angry at that movie making decision, which takes you out of the emotional intention as well
@@DanMurrellMovies I also think just *looking* at all those characters was continually upsetting outside of actual acts of violence against them. The spider-rabbit was nightmare fuel--what happened to her face? How does she eat? The walrus's wired opened eyes were painful to look at. Rocket's engineering is visually less upsetting in design.
@@DanMurrellMovies For the exact reasons you described, I cannot watch this movie again, and I loved it. Showing the bodies and blood is so dark that I truly hope that parents take the PG-13 VERY SERIOUSLY. It's an "R-movie -Lite" IMHO.
I was crying like a damn fool with every flashback in the movie.
The scene that cut through my heart the most is 4 of them little friends laying in their cells, planning a beautiful life togehter. I figured what was coming and I completely broke in tears in that moment, even before the scene where H.E. shot Layla...
And flashbacks being scattered throughout the movie emotionaly kicks harder.
Saw this one with someone who was a little more affected than I was. I thought it struck a good balance between drama and fun, while the other guy thought it was leaning perilously close to too much darkness. And that's OK.
yeah same. I think I ride the fence between both. sometimes I think it's exploitatively cruel in an emotionally manipulative way. and that Secrets of NIMH handled the topic better. and/or I also (begrudingly?) think it's a really good film with good realistic healthy endings for the characters. ...it's not the movie I wanted, but it's a movie that made sense for these characters and honored them. but it was borderline too disturbing for me. I can't handle animal cruelty... so yeah, I straddle complicated feelings for this movie.
I have some issues with the movie, but I’ll easily take it over a majority of other modern blockbuster-type movies due to its weird creativity, heart, and singularity of vision (plus nobody does needle drops better.) You’re a great reviewer Dan, sorry to hear about your pet.
Each Guardian gets a moment where it's shot as if they could die. I read it as Gunn keeping us on our toes.
This actually convinced me to go see the movie. It sounds like the type of character building movie I was missing from the mcu. Besides, I loved these characters back in the day and I want to see their stories wrap up.
I appreciate the nuance of this analysis I thought I was really missing something based on other reviews but this one tracked very closely with my experience and I needed that!
We don’t know what’s in store for Gamora. We could see her come in contact with the soul stone in some way and see her old soul return with her memories. I don’t think her and Quill’s story is over.
Whoa Dan!! Your version for Gamora-Quill ending sounds better😂
About your point about Peter and his family. I fee that it was great that he realized his desire to meet his grandpa. Daily isn’t just your blood and it isn’t just your friends. It is both. And this film shows that. He assumed his grandpa was dead at this point. His mind has been focused on other things. So when he thinks it’s possible he wants to explore it. I love that. That’s how life works at times.
Watched it last night. I absolutely loved it. It is a beautiful end of James Gunn’s trilogy and is one of my top 5 favorite MCU films!
Top 5? Zero people will agree with that tho..
@@andrewmintzer9430 It’s the worst Guardians never-mind top 5, that’s just silly. This review we all just watched arguably didn’t even like it…There’s people that are excited to see the Marvels, doesn’t mean they’re the majority.
I thought Gamora was definitely going to save Peter as a call back to when he saved her in the first movie. That would have been awesome.
I feel the same way about Adam Warlock in Vol 3 as I do Baron Mordo in Dr Strange MoM. Both characters teased as being a next level threat for the heroes but then ignored most of the film and retroactively turned into allies. Even if they get around to the bad guy Mordo, no one will even care. Disney Marvel has a real tendency for dragging along characters that are not killed and making them less important than their respective comic book counterparts.
In the long run the MCU will have an unbalanced amount of heroes than villains
I loved the movie (especially compared to recent MCU output).
I think the tone was spot on and balanced light hearted scenes with more serious themes pretty well. Much better than how Thor Love & Thunder approached the cancer scenes.
I think teasing the death of each team member at different times for a meta joke as everyone has been speculating for months which one dies. Although was a bit heavy handed with Peter’s “death” scene.
Overall a great movie and easily my favourite MCU movie since Infinity War.
Absolutely 100 percent agree on your takes.
I really enjoyed your what if rewrites. Definitely like to see more of this type of reviewing from you.
TBH they were trash. Like instead of pacing out Rocket's scenes every time he is on his death bed, just to mash them all together not only would not make sense, but you never want to cram a bunch of anything into the middle of your movie. This guy is clearly not a writer and I hate when people review what they wanted something to be instead of what they just watched.
I don’t have most of the issues you have with the movie (although I do agree the animal abuse could have been toned down a bit) but agree so much with the Gamora complaints as that was the biggest thing in this movie that did not work for me. I was real excited to see Gamora find her way back to the Guardians and was disappointed that didn’t happen. Your what-if sounded so great and while I’m glad Nebula was alive I think that choice would have made the movie stronger
'find her way back'
But the Gamora in this film is from another timeline/universe/'just make something up to cover up the plothole' .
From her point of view, she doesn't know these other characters apart from her own version of Gamora.
If anything it's more empowering for her to not become 'OG Gamora stand-in'.
I agree Gomora keeps them sane lol otherwise they would be mad and she made them complete neubula is ok but they could have got Gamora in on it to the group could of been
Quill, groot, rocket, drax, Gamora, Nebula and mantis I would of loved that
Appreciate your review Dan. The comment section can be a frustrating place. If it bothers you as well than I am OK as it bothers me too. You’re a professional. Love your channel. I loved the movie overall. I had some of the same issues besides your take on animal cruelty and Gamoras end story but that’s ok. We all have different perspectives. If it touched on sensitive areas for me than I would be annoyed as well. We all got your back though because we hold you in high regard and respect your opinion
Dan, even though I’m occasionally not quite on the same page as you on certain movies, I *always appreciate your perspective on things, because that perspective is always multifaceted. For example, the intensity of Rocket’s backstory didn’t hit me *quite as harshly as it did for you (I found it to be really heart wrenching, but not past the level of egregiousness), but I appreciated knowing it was a thing to kind of be aware of. Totally agree with some of your critiques on certain points, but yeah - for me, best MCU movie in recent memory because of the things it focused on. Keep doing your thing man!
yeah I definitely thought that Nebula would sacrifice herself on the ship and that Gamora will save Peter (since he saved her in the 1st movie), because it just felt natural to me to these characters and how they progressed in this movie, and I dont know why, but Will Poulter's behaviour and expressions looked very similar to me as in We're the Millers :D
To me it was the best MCU film in a while however I will barely rewatch it because of how emotional it made me at points.
I get what you say about Gamora, it not only felt unearned because of a lack of information about her relationship with re Ravagers at the beginning, but also because it seemed her whole deal in this movie was the cold-blooded lone wolf that didn't get the importance of a family until watching the Guardians interact, when she could've ended the discussion with "I get it, I have one too, but it's not you". Besides, the Ravager that was killed in a "funny way" by Adam for protecting her was never discussed again. No revenge plot or mention about her "family member" ever again (which felt in line with the not-at-all-close vibe that she and the Ravagers gave at first).
Your take on Nebula and Gamora works way better. True, Adam Warlock was a waste of time, character, and a good actor.
Nice, humble, objective review. Thank you.
I didn’t mind the Peter Quill arc, since he was stuck focused on his losses, but now is rediscovering all he has
The movie put my ass through the ringer, never cried like that
I understand your POV. I was also shocked at the the level of 'dark' James Gunn went for, but ultimately embraced it as I these themes are mostly lacking in the MCU movies (or superhero movies in general). Felt like the Rocket origin story was a self contained drama at times and, for me, really well executed. How many fully CGI generated scenes have made you feel this way? I was blown away how good he made this work and really floored at the end emotionally. That in and of itself deserves all the praise imho.
I kept wondering why the hell Quill didn't have his helmet or his rocket boots. He just get rid of them between movies? They are kinda useful. Wouldn't have needed anyone saving him at the end there.
GOTG 3 did a lot of things well, but I thought it was weird that no characters were able to die. I.e. Drax, who took one shot to his chest and then one to his back, but somehow he survived and 5 secs later he was back up and running. Or Mantis, whom had her arm broken by Warlock, but one scene later she’s perfectly fine. It really made me wonder, because throughout the movie it seemed like they were going to kill at least one main character.
Mantis had her broken arm healed immediately because she used some type of advanced medical pack on her arm which snapped it back into place. Drax is not human so his species can take much more powerful hits than a human can. The gun appeared to be less than lethal but if applied enough to one target does appear to have the capabilities of killing most species. Just my thoughts on it.
@@sk8terjoe98 Good points, my friend. At some points I just found it weird how unaffected they all seemed to be, although they were nearly killed.
I think G3 is Gunn's most mature work as a director. But it is rather dark the way Burton's Batman got a bit darker than the targeted demographic.
My bigger issue is that while it feels long, there are character beats that feel missing. Also, the Quill fake out death was unnecessary only to immediately revive him. It was if someone at Disney saw the Mario Bros box office and vetoed that decision, lol.
In think Gunn had a few more Guardian movies in him, but he resolved the story as best as he could before saying farewell. Gunn's Guardians are among the best family dynamics depicted in comic book movies, rivaling the Incredibles.
I think you’re overthinking the flash backs a lot. Rockets essentially in a coma so I felt the film set up pretty clearly that his flashbacks are happening in his head. Didn’t take me out of the film at all. Putting all his stuff into one big chunk would have made the pacing infinitely more clunky, and would have felt like two different movies playing in front of us
I loved the movie. I hear some of what your saying. However movies are suppose to tug on your heart strings. Yes some of those scenes were darker but I felt it gave the movie more of an emotional layer.
I totally agree with your thoughts about the High Evolutionary! I really enjoyed his characterization, but I was also left wanting something more. I think that they could have leaned into where he gained his "god-like complex" and/or found a way to humanize him. I think this would create a little bit more conflict for the audience because he is not just "the guy that kills everyone and is cruel to animals."
This is a good review. I am more positive on this film overall, but I appreciate your perspective. I think the things that mattered to the primary story, Gunn nailed. I do feel like Warlock was a bit of fish-out-of-water (pun intended), because yes Gunn set him up but I think he is such a big character that Feige likely has plans for what to do with him next. A future installment might make his role in this film make a bit more sense, but if this is all we got I was left wanting.
Virtually everything outside of Warlock's overall treatment though I enjoyed. I want to watch it again because I already started to notice threads in the previous films that paid off big time, meaning Gunn has a very good finger on the pulse when it comes to these characters (making sense given that these are his adaptations).
I thought the film was an e.otiknal rollercoaster, with equal highs, lows, scene stealing performances, fight choreography and a nice subversion of expectations on the Quill / Gamora storyline. Very satisfied, I wept several times and was in stunned silence through the credits.
Guardian of the Galaxy vol 3 was phenomenal!
one aspect of the last two guardian films is that, once the team splits up the story diverts into exploring different themes and ideas. The attempts to bring the different stories back can be hit and miss, particularly in this film. I began to feel the movie's length right around when everyone gets back together on the High Evolutionary's ship for the final act. Granted the hallway fight scene is excellent and rescue mission do work quite well for what they are, part of me wants to see the film really come together for the home run stretch. The "endings" of the 3 films I enjoy vol. 2 the most. With that said, vol. 3 has some elements that are probably the best of the series. I enjoy the moment when Rocket's friends die because that's an emotional moment that is pretty undiluted by anything else and it marks yet another turning point for Rocket. I would really give vol.3 the best of the series if the movie concludes a little better a la the unleashing of power stone at the end of vol.1. Still I am mostly pretty happy with this film and feel sad to see the "conclusion" of the series. The highs of this series are the absolute highlights of the entire MCU by far and I am definitively wanting more.
I really liked this one, I liked the darker tone and I've been missing this in the MCU for quite a while.
I understand the animal abuse can make you feel bad, and everyone reacts differently to different kind of abuses depicted in movies.
For me, it landed right, especially considering the line from Nebula where she says that Rockets abuse is worse than hers.
Without dismissing Dan's love for animals, I can't help but to think of the torture Murphy goes though in Robocop, and I wonder if Dan would think that movie would be better by toning down the hyper violence.
That being said, me comparing MCU with Robocop says a little about the level of disturbing images in this movie 😁
Ps, thanks for a great review that encourages discussion!
I think Murphy’s death scene is one of the most disturbing scenes of onscreen violence I’ve seen - and I love that movie! I think a key difference is that Murphy eventually survives that ordeal and regains his humanity, though he pays a hefty price. Also, the graphic violence in Robocop is in many ways satirical, a commentary on the excesses and hypocrisies of the 1980s, as much of the rest of the movie is. So it also ties back to the point I was making regarding depiction and intent.
@@DanMurrellMovies
Very fair point, and your insights are one of the reasons you're one of my favorite reviewers.
Keep up the good work 👍
@@DanMurrellMovies Plus, in terms of graphic/bodyhorror violence, this is the same franchise that had Nebula, being held in mid-air, and having her body _including her actual head_ being pulled apart while she screams in pain and distress.
Loved your takes! My personal view of the Peter going back story is that he discovered his real family, made them strong, but all the guardians were running from something, and had to confront those issues within. Through this learning true family is together even when apart
I actually liked how they wrapped up Gamora's story because it helped to encapsulate why Peter needed a break from the Guardians (even if his destination was a bit odd). The film lightheartedly playyed off how his image of their relationship wouldn't happen but even so he was still pushing the line of continuing things with this Gamora by pulling her into the family when she is truly a completely different person with a family of her own.
As for my other main thought coming out of the movie, the tonal shifts with all of the fake out deaths really bothered me, pretty much everyone but Groot had at least one instance where you thought they'd be killed off without the movie actually comitting on any of them. Having one or maybe two could be okay but they were so many throughout the film.
While this may be a case where I agree to disagree with your points, I always appreciate your honesty and the manner in which you break down your rationale for WHY you feel how you feel about movies as opposed to other "critics" who just hating it just to hate it for views.
Keep doing you, Dan despite what the more passionate in my direction may say in regards to opinions of this film. You're one of the realest in the game right now.
If there’s one thing I definitely don’t have, it’s the hate views, hahaha.
@@DanMurrellMovies Let's hope it stays that way as it's a nice island of sanity in a sea of craziness.
It wasn't as dark as I was expecting, given the impression from your initial review, but I totally see how it could be a deal breaker for anyone sensitive to images of animal abuse (at least half the movie is like centered around this).
Upon reflection, I think the reason near deaths like Drax, Quill, Rocket, etc are teased out (like in the opening shot with drunk Quill being carried) is because this might be Gunn's most subtle joke of "which Guardian will die?" and the punchline being "no one".
Lastly, as for the way things ended, I think it was some compromise between what Gunn ultimately wanted and what the actors wanted post-Gunn.
I had my share of nitpicks and quibbles with the film, but otherwise I loved it.
I was also expecting worse based on the initial review. Great comments.
7:22 I can see that, I also think it could be the case that there was actually _more_ dark material that was left on the cutting room floor
One of the issues I think that's obvious with the problems of how the characters are written is that most of the cast won't be returning. The fact that Gamora, Drax, and Mantis' actors are all leaving means they have to have a semi-permenant send off in a way where if they don't show up in the next guardians associated movie or cameo fans and people watching them won't be badgering or asking "well why wasn't _____ there?" That kind of puts the kibosh on the truly satisfying endings where you can look at the cast and go they'll adventure together one day... or find their way back to each other eventually. Gunn can only really promise new iterations of the Guardians with a new roster of characters and actors who aren't looking to leave the MCU behind by now.
As much as I agree with your comments on a lack of emotional satisfaction on how their arcs were executed if not their actual destination. I feel like A it was vital that the old Gamora was dead, and any kind of "she could join the Guardians again" would have been cheapening the fact that the original Gamora died. This is a new character essentially. And B that even with all that she's enough like the original by the end of this movie she can see why they used to be her family. It's just too soon to rejoin them because the shadow of her previous life would shade all their interactions going forward. Quill tries to address this but they need time apart to figure out where they stand now as functional strangers.
Quill's arc is better seen as the arc through all 3 of the movies. I appreciate it in light of the overall journey rather than the specific mini arc he got here. Still I do like the idea that even with the family you find along the way there was some part of him that never faced going home, maybe seeing his mother's tombstone, and yes even his grandpa. It's not bombastic or perhaps as satisfying but it gives Star Lord a chance to have something left to do if he still has to show up in the future. Otherwise I imagine he'd adventure around with the Guardians forever at this point and it's one last thing to check off before he can leave Earth behind for good when he eventually does hang up the cape.
Finally, the rocket origin sequences are some of my favorite scenes in all of MCU now, because they're visceral and also deadly efficient and effective. If they had been softened I feel like it would have robbed the film of a lot of what distinguished it from the more bland marvel affairs we've been getting. I blame the tonal and pacing stuff primarily on Adam Warlocks inclusion and crowbarring him into the narrative. I absolutely agree with your take that Gamora should have saved Peter at the end just to have a coda on the spirit of their relationship if not an actual relationship.
I got the feeling Gamora and Nebula's roles in the movie were reversed, because of Gamora being killed.
I went in expecting to have to look away from the screen because of your review. Luckily I found it to be very tastefully done…only what needed to be shown to get the picture. I didn’t see an exposed skull, just Rockets shaved head. The flashbacks worked for me because it helped us get familiar with the group of friends. If it was all done in one truncated flashback it wouldn’t have been nearly as impactful to me.
Great review Dan, also it is great that you like to have debate about a movie, it is great that you respect your viewers. I liked a lot the movie, I cried, laugh, and had a great time with it.
I think the main problem I have for this movie is they put Rocket on the sidelines for 90% of the movie when he should have been the main protagonist of the film. This should have been his revenge journey where we see how his past affects him now as he grapples with responsibility to his new family while seeking vengeance for his old. There's no reason why a threat to his life should have incapacitated him.
Wow! I just love your videos and how you break down the plot and what makes good and not so good writing. I learn so much about what film criticism is with you!
I have two theories on why seemingly, if not actually, every character has a near death experience. 1- It was a joke because everyone knew this was going to be the end of a trilogy and assumed someone was going to die, but they never do. 2- It has to do with an overarching multiverse storyline. Like there now exist universes where each or all of the characters have died. I think something like that could be interesting to use in an upcoming movie.
I appreciate your opinions so much Dan! Doubt you will see this but my favorite part of your reviews is that you support your opinion in such a professional and fair way. You don’t pretend to be pretentious and lift the positives of a film even if you don’t care for it. I adored Guardians 3 for feeling like the first Marvel film since Infinity War to feel like a whole film disconnected from the nonsense we have seen the last few years in the MCU. No side plot setting up the next film, no cameos from other projects, no multiverse, just ending the arcs of these beloved characters. My only complaints about the film was some editing choices like the Rocket scenes intercut into lighter scenes (honestly the cuts weren’t too jarring because his backstory was so excellent even if morbid) and Adam being underutilized. The Adam Warlock portrayal bothered me most because he is one of my favorite comic characters and the film made him a plot disrupter and I am biased since his portrayal in the 2019 game was amazing. That being said the film hit all the right notes and gave my favorite group of comic book characters such a beautiful goodbye without resorting to cheaply killing them off. If you had told me a week ago that no main characters die in the film I would be disappointed that the movie didn’t have stakes, but I thought the decision to keep the characters alive with smart conclusions like Drax finally taking on a father role, Peter seeing his grandfather and Rocket becoming the leader actually had me emotional. The final 15 minutes had me crying like not many recent films because it was so poignant and earned.
I appreciated (and continue to appreciate) your flag about the animal cruelty. Things like that stick in my body and mind for months (the scene in in Arcane with the salamander thing messed me up for weeks even though it was just a flash of an expression from a fictitious creature). Seeing trusting animals experience terror and betrayal sucks viscerally and I'm glad I didn't go into the movie blind.
Speaking of Gamorah, i didn't mind her ending up with the Ravagers. Yes i thought it was a bit weird, but i accepted it by rationalising that our Gamorah died in Infinity Wars.
I truly believed however that she would be the one to save Quill. I was very surprised when it was Adam Warlock who saved Quill, because as soon as he did my question then became, why did he wait till the last second to do it?
I think they didn't want to give people hope about Gamorah and Quill and the Guardians getting back together because Zoe Saldana is done with the character
I actually thought they held back a lot with the Animal Cruelty. It could have been much much worse
I had set myself up for worse too, despite still crying. I think it was very effective because the characters were so well executed, the darkness, the cages...
With Gamora being able to understand Groot, does that establish that people understand him only because he ALLOWS them to understand him? Is it like a block he has on them until he’s ready to unlock it once he trusts them?
I thought that gamora would save Peter and nebula would die too. It felt like that was a draft
Hey Dan, while I watch all of your stuff; I rarely find the time to comment. You’re simply the best at this stuff. I mean that from the heart. Expressing your opinions is no easy task and even more difficult in the climate of the internet. You always do so with conviction and an earnestness that can’t really be duplicated. While I thought this movie overcame some incredible obstacles with its production and franchise baggage, I think it allowed me to be a little more forgiving in my own viewing. I also think you prepared me for how difficult the cruelty and experimentation scenes were going to be. Movies of our childhood would have cut away from a lot of the body horror elements of this film and left more to the imagination. It will make repeat viewing difficult even though I appreciated the story. I think some of the weaker choices , like Adam Warlock serve the greater narrative far more than the film. I also think this to a degree feels like Gunn’s Temple of Doom. The story is dark and I wonder if the world we live in and even some of his own experiences; like being removed as director greatly effected the film’s tone. He comes from horror and gore, but there was a cynicism in this film that I don’t know I generally associate with Gunn. I hope you and Mara are doing well.