"Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" has all the elements that made the previous 2 movies so good, minus two major exceptions: A) The tone is uneven; and B) The title sequence feels lazy (an issue that was also present in the holiday special they released in 2022). This sequel explores Rocket Raccoon's backstory. Those scenes are presented as memories he's thinking about, but only a couple of times. Most of them happen without any rhyme or reason. Present-day Rocket isn't even present in a lot of the situations that are interrupted by these flashbacks. Why not cut to a brief shot of him before going back in time? That would serve as a proper transition. *SPOILERS* A lot of the M.C.U. installments feature the trope where it looks like one of the heroes is about to die but something/someone saves them at the last minute. That happens here with Star-Lord during the climax, and it's annoying as always. However, it also happens in an earlier scene and it's worse than usual. During a battle, Drax and Nebula are shot. Once the gang escapes, the two of them... are fine. Their injuries aren't really acknowledged. What the fuck?! At least Star-Lord's quasi-death generates a reaction from his friends, which is technically relevant to the script, but this is just a waste of time! After Gamora's death, a variant from another timeline showed up. This was clearly part of a plan to have a substitute (as a member of the team and as Star-Lord's girlfriend), but it doesn't end happening. That's right: The popular sci-fi/fantasy franchise refused the opportunity to undo a negative event and keep the audience satisfied. That takes balls!

 

7/10