I wrote a review of Disney/Marvel’s latest outing after seeing it in theaters. While I’ve been adamant about not seeing anything Disney related on the silver screen, I made an exception for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 due to my respect for both director James Gunn and lead actor Chris Pratt. I held out hope that they would actually bring the conclusion of the galaxy-saving misfits to a satisfying end and my faith in them paid off.
(READ: ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ Review: The Last Marvel Movie)
While Guardians 3 isn’t a perfect movie, it’s miles away better than what Marvel Studios has been pumping out recently. Disney can’t seem to sneeze without it being a socio-political statement in favor of some radical leftist idea, and not one of its brands has escaped that curse. Marvel is joined by Star Wars and Pixar in over-feminization and LGBT messaging.
But Guardians 3 managed to escape shoehorned in political virtual signaling. In fact, the movie felt almost disconnected from the rest of the Marvel universe by virtue of having no political agenda attached to it at all.
But it’s not just the absence of soapboxes in the film that made it successful. What made this film so good despite its imperfections is a cavalcade of people coming together who really, truly cared about what they were making. Gunn didn’t just make an action movie, he made a tale about a group of adversaries who became a family. He chose actors that could bring characters to life because they truly cared about them. He made them relatable and despite most of them being aliens, humanized them with goals, desires, emotions, and most importantly, flaws.
Characters did what they did because it was in their nature to do it, not because the story needed them to…at least most of the time. Moreover, they changed over the course of the trilogy and subsequent films they appeared in. They didn’t resolve a character flaw only to have that flaw reappear again and again.
Looking at you, Thor writers.
The bottom line is that this was a well-written, well-directed, well-acted movie. It doesn’t try to subvert expectations or appeal to a “modern audience” that doesn’t actually exist. It’s just meat and potatoes movie making and it rocketed the movie to the top slot.
The #1 movie in the galaxy 🌟
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is now playing in theaters. Get tickets: https://t.co/Owh9udpNCZ #GotGVol3 pic.twitter.com/r0fSuNZmrn
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) May 6, 2023
(READ: The Lie of the “Modern Audience”)
This is something Disney was once famous for overall. This Guardians entry proves it could be again, but that would be like trying to get the Titanic to turn on a dime and miss the iceberg. Disney is a massive, heavy ship with too much inertia going in the wrong direction.
As my colleague Brad Slager posted on Monday, Disney is forging ahead with more woke nonsense, adding to the weight that’s been dragging it down with new “Diversity Production Partnerships”:
The four production shingles — Cocina (a unit of Mecenas Media), Equalpride, Group Black, and UnitedMasters — are being brought in to deliver focused content for specific demographics. This, despite the fact that Disney incurred a number of significant losses last year with content that highlighted or even focused on woke characters and storylines with its offerings.
…
Despite past results, and continuing controversy over injecting offerings with social messaging, Disney is still on the throttle when it comes to virtue activism, woke culture, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.
Disney’s made some very bizarre decisions about who their head creators are going to be and the DEI focus has made it clear that they’re not learning a damn thing about their past failures and will continue sacrificing merit for messaging…messaging few people are into, including the people they’re trying to message on behalf of.
The Guardians finale could have shone a light for Disney to follow, but it’s hard to see the light when your head is buried deep within your own ass. Guardians 3 was a Gunn movie, not a Disney movie. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that some executives within Disney see Gunn’s last film with them as a “missed opportunity.”
I have no hope for Disney. Perhaps the next Deadpool flick will prove to be something worth seeing, but Disney has gone above and beyond to teach me not to trust them. They’ve been burying themselves in politics by the dumpster load for too long and digging their way out isn’t going to happen.
Rest assured, I truly hope I’m wrong. I’d rather have the old wholesome yet dynamic Disney back, but every piece of news that comes out of Disney makes it clear they have no interest in diverting course. They’re going to grind their hull against that iceberg and sink to the sound of patting themselves on the back.
