In this third film, the guardians of the galaxy no longer save the world or the universe, but one of their friends. The Rocket raccoon is in the grip of his old demons, which the spectators have the opportunity to discover throughout the 2h30 film. James Gunn, already at the head of the first two parts “enhances his hackneyed recipe with spices potted in the 1990s, regrets Simon Cherner for Le Figaro. Junk food for amateurs only”.
Many critics agree that this latest installment raises the bar on Marvel’s later films. But is this a good sign, as the studios have seemed so out of inspiration in recent years? The franchise is struggling to recover from the bitter failure of Ant-Man and the Wasp. Quantumania. “Marvel now only produces poor copies,” says L’Humanité. Liberation corroborates these remarks, adding that the franchise “does not produce anything that the cinema had accustomed us to, neither characters, nor images, nor feelings. If the Guardians save their raccoon friend, they should first come to the aid of the Marvel Universe according to GQ: which is worth more than you think. »
For La Libre, this latest Marvel is like “a roller coaster that links action scenes at a frantic pace, against a backdrop of funky soundtracks. “. The Belgian daily recalls that “Martin Scorsese took a volley of green wood, comparing Marvel films in 2019 to amusement parks”. “James Gunn proves him right, trapped by the logic of one-upmanship and the expansion of a universe that no longer innovates”, asserts La Libre.
Not of this opinion, Le Monde supposes that the secret of James Gunn’s success with this third film lies in “a dose of know-how, of love for American fantastic cinema, kilos of valves that work, slices of cool (sometimes we almost overdose) and a very nice soundtrack. The “cool” aspect of the film is also highlighted by GQ. “In a genre often weighed down by its seriousness, The Guardians of the Galaxy had the merit of loosening the belt of the superhero costume a little and bringing a nice form of insolence to the middle of the great Marvel barnum. »
This third installment would once again stand out thanks to the sincerity of its characters, a band of misfits that clashes with the perfect superheroes to which the Marvel universe has accustomed us. For L’Humanité, James Gunn deeply loves his characters “and it shows, as he endows them with a real tragic depth. It is enough of that, almost nothing, so that we do not have the impression of attending a ballet of disembodied figurines agitated under our noses. And the depth given to its characters makes this latest film more emotional than usual. “Above all, we didn’t expect to be so moved,” says La Voix du Nord. “Here and there, a miracle happens, it’s the staging that grabs you, moves you. “explains Le Monde. Premiere also agreed with this opinion, saying it was “crying at the adventures of a lost raccoon in space”.
A feeling not really shared on the side of Belgium. “The extended ending is meant to bring a few emotional tears to our heads. At the end, we especially feel the feeling of having drunk the syrup to the dregs. “, criticizes La Libre. Point de vue is also joined by Le Point for whom “the biggest pitfall of this third vintage remains above all the heaviness with which it throws its emotional claims in the face of the spectator. To the emotion is added the humor, “always stupid and nasty” considered “better controlled with a worked comic tempo” according to Large Screen. “Pervasive irony” for GQ.
Behind this action film considered “darker and more violent than the previous ones” by Ouest France, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 “tackles transhumanism and animal abuse”, according to L’Humanité. The tragic story of the raccoon gradually unfolds, and we learn that Rocket is a former laboratory animal. Not enough to move La Libre, which believes that “the origins of Rocket draw the film towards the sentimentalism of an old Disney…” Le Point sees the film as “a self-analysis by proxy of James Gunn, a director with a brutalized childhood who has never hidden his identification with the character of Rocket. Liberation even goes so far as to draw a parallel between the super-villain of the Frankenstein-style film and the most powerful men of the moment. “Under the name of Master of Evolution, a masked avatar of the boss of Marvel Studios as a creator-torturer, a sort of Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos of terminal cinema. »
This last film closes – in theory – the adventure of the Guardians of the Galaxy, putting friendship and solidarity at the forefront. Opinions are divided: if at Le Point, we think that there are “too many lousy computer graphics, too many idiotic and convoluted scripts, too many multiverses, too many pre-chewed action scenes coming out of the same computer programs, too of self-satisfied length”; for Le Monde even “the most allergic of spectators will have to realize that it is not just a question of cynically spreading a cultural veneer on a franchise, but that a few scenes really work. »
The final word for Widescreen, which ranks Guardians of the Galaxy 3 as “one of the best films Marvel has produced in a long time, but we also imagine it will be one of the last.” James Gunn, who was ousted in 2018 following homophobic and anti-Semitic tweets dating back to 2008, returned to direct this third film thanks to a petition. In the meantime, he had gone to Marvel’s competitor, DC to make The Suicide Quad. “If the saga is to continue, it will necessarily be without James Gunn, and it is exactly with this film that we realize everything that Marvel has lost,” concludes Widescreen.
