When Peter B次元官网网址淪tar-LordB次元官网网址� Quill, while inspecting a murky extraterrestrial region, pressed play on RedboneB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淐ome and Get Your LoveB次元官网网址� in the first B次元官网网址淕uardians of the Galaxy,B次元官网网址� it would have been hard to imagine that James GunnB次元官网网址檚 space opera would ultimately lead to something as sincere, poignant and kinda cornball as the trilogy-ending

But as Gunn has showed over over the course of these increasingly soupy sci-fi spectacles, the genetically spliced DNA of his chaotic, cartoonish cosmic vision is a double helix of opposites. Breezy B次元官网网址�70s rock papers over extreme violence. Cynical exteriors cloak sentimental emotions. A ragtag group of outcasts, more so than even the cast of B次元官网网址淔ast and the Furious,B次元官网网址� talk a lot about B次元官网网址渇amilyB次元官网网址� and B次元官网网址渇riends.B次元官网网址�

Against the odds, B次元官网网址淐ome and get your loveB次元官网网址� has turned out to be a legit invitation.

B次元官网网址淰ol. 3B次元官网网址� is a messy, overstuffed finale. But you rarely question whether GunnB次元官网网址檚 heart is in it.

Sometimes it spoils some of that effect by trying too hard to juxtapose tonal extremes, and show off its brash juggling act. Yet whatever this sweet, surreal sci-fi shamble is that Gunn has created, everyone here seems to believe ardently in it. And for even a movie that sends a golden-hued Will Poulter shooting through space to the tune of HeartB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淐razy on You,B次元官网网址� that earnest belief goes a long way.

The song, though, that kicks off B次元官网网址淕uardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3B次元官网网址� is not an upbeat one. RadioheadB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址淐reepB次元官网网址� casts a sour mood over the Guardians, who we find in a lethargic state of disarray in the spaceport Knowhere following their 2017 B次元官网网址淓mpire Strikes BackB次元官网网址�-esque second chapter.

Whether B次元官网网址淕uardians of the GalaxyB次元官网网址� is best suited to strike these solemn notes, or reach for such last-chapter poignancy in B次元官网网址淰ol. 3B次元官网网址� is debatable. IB次元官网网址檝e always liked these films at their most cartoonish. Donning a degree of self-importance is probably the most Marvel thing about this B次元官网网址淕uardians.B次元官网网址� GunnB次元官网网址檚 films B次元官网网址� which, unlike most of the comic-book studioB次元官网网址檚 releases, are both written and directed by him B次元官网网址� have always stood out for their distinct lack of Marvel house style. B次元官网网址淕uardians 3,B次元官网网址� unfortunately, has contracted a touch of B次元官网网址淓ndgameB次元官网网址� grandiosity.

The group B次元官网网址� including Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) B次元官网网址� is quickly sent into emergency mode. Adam Warlock (Poulter), an artificial being created by the High Priestess Ayesha (Elizabeth Debicki), comes careening into their lair, leaving Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper and played in motion capture by Sean Gunn) on his deathbed. To save Rocket, a cybernetically enhanced raccoon, the Guardians must hurriedly resuscitate him with his original programming.

This means traveling to the lab he was created in years before by the High Evolutionary (a sensational Chukwudi Iwuji, an all-time Marvel villain), a Doctor Moreau sort whoB次元官网网址檚 been toiling to craft a B次元官网网址減erfectB次元官网网址� race of hybrid creatures to populate a copy of planet Earth. As the Guardians seek to infiltrate his realm, B次元官网网址淰ol. 3B次元官网网址� repeatedly flashes back to RocketB次元官网网址檚 experience with the High Evolutionary: his transformation from raccoon, his joyful experience with other experimental creations and his harrowing escape.

ItB次元官网网址檚 telling that in this B次元官网网址淕uardiansB次元官网网址� swan song that Gunn centers Rocket and less so Quill, whose father-son drama dominated B次元官网网址淰ol. 2.B次元官网网址� (Here, heB次元官网网址檚 mostly in save-my-friend mode when not wrestling with the heartbreak of this version of Zoe Salda帽aB次元官网网址檚 Gamora. Thanks to some B次元官网网址淎vengersB次元官网网址� events, she no longer even knows him.)

These are foremost epics of orphandom about distinctly un-superhuman characters. Mother and father figures float in and out, while the Guardians attract one forlorn figure after another. In B次元官网网址淰ol. 3,B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 both comical and even a little stirring just how far empathy reaches for all of GodB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址� and MarvelB次元官网网址檚 B次元官网网址� creatures. Gunn has taken a woebegone B-team or C-team of comic book oddballs and cast them into a cosmic tapestry of weirdos and misfits, ranging wildly in size, shape, color and dancing ability.

In B次元官网网址淰ol. 3,B次元官网网址� Gunn really lets the freak flag fly, putting the Guardians in battle with not just the High Evolutionary but the notion of perfection. ItB次元官网网址檚 not a coincidence that this B次元官网网址淕uardiansB次元官网网址� film arrives, finally, in the suburbs B次元官网网址� or at least some slightly warped version of it.

Gunn, a B-movie director at heart, fills these films with more sinewy than sleek worlds, full of florid beauty and opulent grotesquerie. (B次元官网网址淰ol. 3,B次元官网网址� more than the last two films, reminded me of B次元官网网址淭he Fifth Element,B次元官网网址� a good thing.) ItB次元官网网址檚 often clear that his ambitions are sometimes just a bit too much; this, like his DC film B次元官网网址淭he Suicide Squad,B次元官网网址� B次元官网网址淰ol. 3B次元官网网址� could have used a firmer editor to corral some of GunnB次元官网网址檚 impulse for excess.

This installment, of course, nearly didnB次元官网网址檛 happen after . And partially because of that forced hiatus, heB次元官网网址檚 now ruling an even larger, more mainstream superhero cosmos at DC. That surely has something to do with the sense of parting that permeates the final act of B次元官网网址淕uardians 3.B次元官网网址�

After so many speeches about friendship and togetherness, B次元官网网址淰ol. 3B次元官网网址� ends curiously elegiacally, and with one last dance.

B次元官网网址擩ake Coyle, The Associated Press