Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3
I was lukewarm on the first Guardians of the Galaxy (too many jokes), but then really liked the Gamora, Nebula and Rocket featuring scenes in Avengers: Infinity War, so I went back and watched the second Guardians movie, which I liked better, and now I've seen the third one, which, awwww. At some point I must have really fallen for these characters without ever noticing. Also I had a few fears after the trailer and knowing this was supposed to be the third and last GotG movie, and was much relieved that these fears were unfounded.
What I was afraid would happen: Rocket getting killed off (nope, phew) or James Gunn doing what Fringe did with Olivia with Gamora, i.e. that he'd push the reset button by letting 2014!Gamora somehow get all the memoiries of Original Gamora and then her relationships with everyone are identical. (Nope, doesn't happen, either.) In retrospect, I should have had more confidence, because Groot dies in the first movie and little Groot who grows up through the subsequent movies is not identical, he's an offspring and a new person. I'm not completely against resurrections, but they are rarely done well, and if the deaths had dramatic meaning, I want them to stay around. Which Gamora's death did. Plus if the narrative - not the characters, there's a difference! - treats two versions of a person as identical, especially when it comes to romance, it creeps me out. So I was really really glad this movie didn't do that. The one relationship that stays almost identical is the one between Gamora and Nebula, which makes sense because most of their shared memories are identical, and this Gamora did choose Nebula over Thanos in Endgame. But otherwise this is a Gamora who didn't go through all the adventures with the Guardians and thus can't have those relationships, and her character growth through the movie is brought on by a mixture of horrow at the villain du jour's genocidal plans and compassion awoken by Rocket's situation, not through romance with Peter Quill. Peter at the end accepting she's a different person instead of insisting on replicating the relationship he had with "his" Gamora is also character growth on his part, so all my fairs re: this particular subplot were laid to rest.
Meanwhile, Rocket "It's been your story all along" is a bit too meta, Gunn, and also not really true, but certainly Rocket's story is one of the most compelling, and it's really the gut wrenching heart of this particular movie. The earlier ones already offered some brief information on him being the result of awful experiments, but here courtesy of the flashbacks it felt like a crossover with a Richard Adams novel. (The Plague Dogs, not Watership Down.) And good lord am I ever relieved Rocket freed the animals at the end when everyone else was freeing "only" the human looking life forms. The High Revolutionary was as boo-hiss worthy a villain as Ronan and Ego, only more so, due to what he did to Rocket and his other victims on screen, not solely in backstory.
Lastly, having the gang end the trilogy on separate paths not for sad reasons but to explore chances they didn't have before, with a reunion possible at any moment, was the kind of bittersweet and optimistic ending that felt right for the trilogy, plus of course there had to be a gigantic dance scene.
Trivia question: was Karen Gillan pregnant when they shot this movie? It looks like she was, and if so, it makes sense they didn't try to incorporate it into the story (it wouldn't make sense for Nebula) and instead went for the looser outfits and strategic obstacle shots option.
What I was afraid would happen: Rocket getting killed off (nope, phew) or James Gunn doing what Fringe did with Olivia with Gamora, i.e. that he'd push the reset button by letting 2014!Gamora somehow get all the memoiries of Original Gamora and then her relationships with everyone are identical. (Nope, doesn't happen, either.) In retrospect, I should have had more confidence, because Groot dies in the first movie and little Groot who grows up through the subsequent movies is not identical, he's an offspring and a new person. I'm not completely against resurrections, but they are rarely done well, and if the deaths had dramatic meaning, I want them to stay around. Which Gamora's death did. Plus if the narrative - not the characters, there's a difference! - treats two versions of a person as identical, especially when it comes to romance, it creeps me out. So I was really really glad this movie didn't do that. The one relationship that stays almost identical is the one between Gamora and Nebula, which makes sense because most of their shared memories are identical, and this Gamora did choose Nebula over Thanos in Endgame. But otherwise this is a Gamora who didn't go through all the adventures with the Guardians and thus can't have those relationships, and her character growth through the movie is brought on by a mixture of horrow at the villain du jour's genocidal plans and compassion awoken by Rocket's situation, not through romance with Peter Quill. Peter at the end accepting she's a different person instead of insisting on replicating the relationship he had with "his" Gamora is also character growth on his part, so all my fairs re: this particular subplot were laid to rest.
Meanwhile, Rocket "It's been your story all along" is a bit too meta, Gunn, and also not really true, but certainly Rocket's story is one of the most compelling, and it's really the gut wrenching heart of this particular movie. The earlier ones already offered some brief information on him being the result of awful experiments, but here courtesy of the flashbacks it felt like a crossover with a Richard Adams novel. (The Plague Dogs, not Watership Down.) And good lord am I ever relieved Rocket freed the animals at the end when everyone else was freeing "only" the human looking life forms. The High Revolutionary was as boo-hiss worthy a villain as Ronan and Ego, only more so, due to what he did to Rocket and his other victims on screen, not solely in backstory.
Lastly, having the gang end the trilogy on separate paths not for sad reasons but to explore chances they didn't have before, with a reunion possible at any moment, was the kind of bittersweet and optimistic ending that felt right for the trilogy, plus of course there had to be a gigantic dance scene.
Trivia question: was Karen Gillan pregnant when they shot this movie? It looks like she was, and if so, it makes sense they didn't try to incorporate it into the story (it wouldn't make sense for Nebula) and instead went for the looser outfits and strategic obstacle shots option.