With writer/director James Gunn off to DC and some of its stars signalling they’re done with their characters, there’s an inevitable air of finality – not to mention contractual obligation – about this third instalment in Marvel’s Guardians series. If anything, though, that’s more a strength than a weakness, all involved being seemingly intent on going out on an emotionally affecting, thematically audacious high.
Having popped up in two Avengers films, one Thor and a Holiday Special, the Guardians have hardly been idle since 2017’s Volume 2. Small wonder, then, that they’re all a little battle-weary as Vol. 3 begins, their galaxy-saving taking a back seat to the everyday demands of setting up a new HQ on Knowhere and, in Star-Lord’s (Chris Pratt) case, drowning his Gamora-related sorrows.
