Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3

I've come across a few AI story generators online. Just type something and let the magic of artificial intelligence type you a story. I could have used one to type up a review for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. But none of them generated anything close to describing the plot. So, it's back to brainpower to generate the review.

Worth it. 

As is the movie.

This time, the Guardians get an unwelcome visitor to their planet Knowhere. He is Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), the perfect being created by Ayesha the Sovereign (Elizabeth Debicki) after the Guardians trounced her in Vol. 2. He mortally wounds Rocket Racoon (Bradley Cooper) before Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) drives him off. Rocket's cybernetic implants will kill him if the Guardians try to fix him. So, the team sets out to raid Orgocorp, the company that created Rocket, to find his medical records.

The Guardians team up with Star-Lord's old crew, the Ravagers, now led by Starhawk (Sylvester Stallone) and joined by the time-displaced Gamora (Zoe Saldana). Their raid gets them noticed by the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji), the mad scientist in charge of Orgocorp, who created not only Rocket but the Sovereigns as well. Meanwhile, Rocket's life flashes before our eyes as we see how the Evolutionary created him. It's not pretty. The Guardians have to hurry before Rocket either dies or Adam gets him for the Evolutionary (after which, he'd surly die). 

All of this and more unfold over 150 minutes. But the subplots are mostly good, so you'll barely notice. During the film, Star-Lord tries to reconnect with Gamora, Nebula (Karen Gillan) tries to cope with Drax (Dave Bautista) and Mantis's (Pom Klementieff) silliness and Kraglin (Sean Gunn) and Cosmo the Dog (Maria Bakalova) fall out. The Ravagers are mostly there, while Adam's Heel Face Turn is pretty amusing. Rocket's origin story is the most compelling subplot. We meet young Rocket and a few experiment buddies as they cope with their living conditions. It's quite endearing to see them bond, which makes it painful by the last flashback. You'll even feel for the denizens of the High Evolutionary's Counter-Earth even if you can't understand them.

You'll also feel something for the High Evolutionary. Unsurprisingly, it's contempt. Iwuji's performance makes him one of the vilest villains to ever exist in a comic book film. He's not just cruel to his experiments but is unbelievably petty. He loses it when Rocket shows signs of being smarter than he. If there's a problem with the film's massive length, it's that his inevitable demise doesn't come sooner. Indeed, one of the film's most brutal moments is when Rocket extracts revenge for his cruelty. It's as satisfying as it's shocking. His resulting Robocop face mask is a highlight of the film's great makeup work. You won't forget his actual face.

Once again, James Gunn assembles a mighty crew of technical Marvels. Once again, the makeup and visual effects Marvels conjure up a variety of impressive intergalactic residents. You can barely tell which of Counter-Earth's residents are makeup or motion capture (I think the rabbit was the latter). The High Evolutionary's other experiments, including Rocket's old pals, are quite unnerving. A highlight of these experiments is a brutish creature I nicknamed "Chthulu-Chewbacca." Its stunning production design is highlighted by the utterly alien Orgosphere, the Orgocorp headquarters, as well as the High Evolutionary's massive ship. The Orgocorp guards' bulky armor makes for a fun costume design. I can go on, but I won't.

The film is meant to be the last adventure for Marvel's favorite intergalactic rogues. To drive the point, the film's mid-credit and end credit scenes are meaningful codas. Its character moments help the time go by. It took them six years to make it, but Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, a funny and gripping space adventure, was worth the wait. Why not blast off?