Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy franchise has now been going for almost a decade, long enough for its star Chris Pratt to have fully grown into his hunky action-lead image and leave behind the puppyish comedy turn from TV’s Parks and Recreation that got him hired in the first place. With Pratt’s lovable hero Quill addicted to 70s/80s hits on his vintage Walkman, the franchise has also gone on long enough to reportedly trigger a massive global sales upturn in audio cassettes, although it’s an iPod we see in this film. And it’s been with us long enough for writer-director James Gunn to experience a complete cancelling-uncancelling cycle, fired and then forgiven for offensive tweets.
Now Guardians of the Galaxy has reached the threequel stage: overlong, yes, and finally reaching for an importance and emotional closure (perhaps inspired by Gunn’s own emotional corporate redemption) that it doesn’t quite encompass, while leaving the GOTG brand open for a next-gen reboot. But it’s still spectacular, spirited and often funny. We find the Guardians in a state of emotional disarray, with Quill pining for Gamora (Zoe Saldana), who was killed in Avengers: Infinity War but now exists as a time-travelled alt-self split from Quill and the group; she has no memory of their previous relationship and is now working with the Ravagers, led by Stakar Ogord (Sylvester Stallone).
