I can’t summon much enthusiasm for Marvel films these days but I was always going to watch this final part of the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy just because it was written and directed by James Gunn. This has very little to do with the wider MCU and that is for the best as the Guardians’ own mythos has grown large enough to be its own thing. I wouldn’t say this is strong film exactly, its plot about uncovering Rocket Raccoon’s origins is straightforward and to the point with all of the expected emotional beats. Still it’s a serviceable action-adventure film and it closes out the trilogy in a satisfying manner and that’s good enough.

While Peter Quill is still depressed at Knowhere about the alternate version of Gamora not having any memories of their time together, the Guardians are attacked by Adam Warlock. They fight him off but Rocket is critically wounded and the Guardians are unable to heal his wounds due to a kill switch installed by Rocket’s creators. Flashbacks reveal his origins as an ordinary raccoon from Earth who together with other animals was subjected to accelerate evolution by the High Evolutionary. Rocket proves to be extraordinarily intelligent which both fascinates and frustrates his creator who is intent on studying his brain but manages to escape after his animal friends are killed. In the present, the Guardians travel to Orgocorp, the front company of the High Evolutionary, to obtain the codes needed to disable the kill switch and enlist the help of Gamora who has joined the Ravagers. The clues eventually lead them to Counter-Earth, an entire planet populated by evolved animals created by the High Evolutionary as a perfect utopian society.

This is pure space opera and not science-fiction as it’s all about taking the audience to exotic locales and making sure everything looks awesome with no regard to making sure it makes sense. On multiple occasions, the characters even ask each other if whatever feat they just pulled off looks cool. The action choreography certainly looks great as the Guardians don’t hesitate to pull out many, many guns and use lethal attacks. I’m also pleased that Gunn doesn’t attempt to turn the High Evolutionary into some unimaginably powerful boss enemy. Most of the fights are against his security forces and underlings, which is exactly what is needed for this film. However there is never much of a sense of danger for the Guardians themselves. Rocket’s wounds are unhealable because he apparently has DRM, of all things, but any other wounds seem to be instantly healed by their miraculous medpacks. Drax gets shot a couple of times with visibly large holes in his body and is fine a little while later. Nebula’s cyborg body is bent, twisted and broken in any number of ways yet snaps back immediately afterwards. This is combat that is meant only to look visually pleasing and carries no dramatic weight at all.

Some viewers have complained about the animal abuse in this film. It certainly wants to play up the body horror aspect of amputating parts from animals and replacing them with protheses. They never show any actual animal cruelty on camera as it is all implied to happen offscreen so it’s not too bad. It’s yet another symptom of the film being all about surface imagery their medical technology seems good enough that no prostheses should be necessary. Why does even the High Evolutionary have one? I do like how Gunn handles the relationships between the various Guardians, such as Mantis being protective of Drax and Nebula effectively becoming the co-leader and adult of the group. Thankfully the film avoids the obvious trap of rekindling the romance between Quill and Gamora. It’s still weird that they don’t engage seriously with the fact that this version of Gamora is from an alternate reality. Not only does she not remember Quill, this Nebula isn’t even her sister. Why isn’t she trying her best to return to her home universe?

All in all, this is as good a Marvel film as we can reasonably expect in the post-Avengers era. It delivers an visually impressive spectacle, expands on the backstory of a key character and completes the natural development of the other Guardians, leaving them each in a good place to end their story. It’s not a great film by any measure and breaks no new ground but it does what it was meant to do so I’ll say Gunn did a pretty good job at it.