The Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Three was by far an extravagant experience—from its phenomenal soundtrack, to two hours of action and emotionally relatable characters. Having watched both volume one and volume two in the theater, finally, after six years of waiting for volume three, it is finally here.

The film’s story follows Peter Quill after grieving the loss of fellow friends and family in the conclusion of volume two. Peter then sets off on a mission to save one of his best friends from death, while also aiming to save the universe from the evil scientist The High Evolutionary along the way.

What was so unique about this movie was how different it was from the first and second volume. The movie was filled with more action, and the opinions that I previously had about most of the characters in the series had changed by the time I finished volume three.

The character that stood out the most throughout the movie was Rocket the Raccoon. Learning about how his past experiences came to shape his present character caused me to view him differently than I had in the first two movies. In these volumes, Rocket was mainly presented as a cocky raccoon who didn’t care what people thought of him—yet
hated being called a raccoon. In the third movie Rocket was still his old self but had a significant change because of the frequent flashbacks he experienced of his past. From this, Rocket had still made his cocky comments, however he acted like a piece of him was missing; which we later learned was from losing his friends from The High Evolutionary. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, director James Gunn said, “We need to go back to the beginning to tell the ending.”

If you are a fan that has been around the Guardians since the beginning, then seeing this movie after all these years will not only be over two hours of action, but also two hours of nostalgia and shedding tears.

The ending of this movie was one of the most memorable movie endings I have ever seen. It was as if after nine years of being with these characters everything from the prior films as well as a resolution for the film were summed up, and every character had their own conclusion—either deciding to cherish their independence or spend time with their friends and/or family. Although I thought I’d only cry watching Rocket’s scenario, I shed the most tears during the movie’s ending. I did this because of how much love the characters had for each other and the amount of time I had spent with them over these past years.

The soundtrack of the movie was surprisingly stunning, including loud, epic music during action-packed moments and beautiful orchestral music during more emotional moments—such as during Rocket’s flashbacks. Throughout the entirety of the movie, songs of the 2000’s played frequently, such as “Dog Days Are Over,” by Florence, and The
Machine, “San Francisco,” by The Mowgli’s and many more! Peter Quill also just had to add his classic 90’s, 80’s and 70’s music to the mix, such as“No Sleep Till Brooklyn ” by Beastie Boys, “Poor Girl” by X and “I’m Always Chasing
Rainbows” by Alice Cooper. The music director of the show (John Murphy) really made every song match the moment in the scene.

Not only have the longtime Guardians of the Galaxy fans been so happy to be back with the old characters after so long, but so has Chris Pratt (who plays Peter Quill) He told Entertainment Tonight, “To be reunited with this family for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is fantastic.” Zoe Saldana (who plays Gamora) followed with, “We’re genuine fans so there’s something really sweet about geeking out on set.”

It is really good to know that the beloved actors of the movie had just as much of a good time to not only finish off their last movie, but also reunite with each other.

Overall, the movie included many themes and underlying messages, including those of real world animal testing, the importance of interpersonal connections and a theme that’s been frequent in all of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies: to hold onto your spirit of adventure no matter what!