Warning: Spoilers for Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 ahead.
Personally, I thought I knew what I was getting into when I sat down to watch Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3. Sure, there would be emotional moments. This is a story about found family after all. But I thought that the core of this movie would be the laughs that the Guardians have always brought with their movies. And I got those laughs, plenty of them, but the number of tears that I cried watching this movie was unexpected to the point where I might send Marvel my therapy bills.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 is ultimately a movie about healing from trauma. Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), Mantis (Pom Klementieff), Drax (Dave Bautista), Nebula (Karen Gillan), and Groot (Vin Diesel) are each other’s found family. And each of them has trauma that has set them up in a unique position to understand each other’s pain and support one another when those traumas reel their ugly heads. And that’s why they work so well together when Rocket’s life is put in danger and the ghosts of his past, the High Evolutionary, come for him. They don’t hesitate and instead throw themselves head-first into breaking into a high-security facility, partnering up with ghosts of their own past, and challenging someone who literally creates species and worlds.
Even Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), who somehow didn’t disappear after the events of Infinity War, was given her time to explore her trauma and heal from it at her own pace. She didn’t just fall into line with the alternate version of herself, be reduced to a love interest, or let Star-Lord’s charm get to her. She carved out a place for herself and started on the road to healing while finding a place among the Ravagers. And sure, it sucks that her found family isn’t the Guardians anymore, but that’s ok. Because she’s working on herself and that’s something that the people who knew another version of her are proud of.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 is also about accepting that you are loved by said found family. For example, Rocket and his journey. He’s fallen into place with the Guardians, but he’s always kept his carefully curated distance disguised as bravado and the whole “I don’t care” attitude. In Vol. 3 his walls crumbled and he let his found family support him but also released the guilt he felt at the death of his friends and how that was holding him back from living a life with those who love him now. And there is something so painful, yet heartwarming, in watching someone allowing themselves to be known but also loved at the same time.
Even Drax and Nebula went through this in Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3. They have had the world try to crush them at every turn. Drax had his family ripped away from him and he never stepped into that role of being a father again or just being close to someone. But by the end of it, he was a father again with people who love him. As for Nebula, she was literally torn apart by her father over and over again. And there was something so raw about watching her fight for her home in Nowhere, fight for and cry when Rocket was finally ok, and declare that she was going to make the kind of safe place for others that she never had.
Then there’s the ending of Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 aka where the sad tears turned into happy ones.
Florence + the Machine has always been my girl. From “Cosmic Love” to “Shake It Out,” she’s an ethereal voice that has held me up when I felt like I was going to drown. And I don’t know why I was so surprised when “Dog Days Are Over” started playing and the effect it had on me at the end of Vol. 3, especially with the masterful way that this trilogy has always used music to tell a story. But as soon as the song started playing, something that was Rocket’s choice, it felt like I was seeing these characters for who they are, and the real journey they’ve been on, for the first time.
Seriously, as soon as Groot started dancing and Rocket joined him, it felt like a weight had finally been lifted off of their shoulders and they were entering a new phase of their lives. And sitting in that audience, it shifted something inside of me as well and made me reflect on my life. I’m surrounded by loved ones who are not my blood. They are my found family. They chose me and have had my back since I escaped those who hurt me. And as cheesy as this sounds, maybe I’m ready to do the same thing that Rocket and the Guardians did in Vol. 3. Maybe I’m ready to accept that I’m loved, that I’m not alone, and that the hands who destroyed me have no place in my life now as I create a new path for myself.
Altogether, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 destroyed me because it made me self-reflect. And those are the kind of movies that stay with you. Because yes, this is a movie about aliens, epic battles in space, creating new worlds, etc. But this is also a story about belonging and self-acceptance. And that’s something that everyone can connect with. We all want to feel comfortable in our own skin and to be welcomed by those around us for who we truly are, warts and all. And Star-Lord, Rocket, Mantis, Drax, Nebula, Gamora, and Groot have found that.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 is now in theaters.
