We knew from the trailers that Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was going to be an emotional, maybe even heartbreaking, movie, but did anyone really expect it to be outright disturbing?
Major spoilers from this point on.
The main plot of James Gunn's threequel sees the Guardians race against time in an attempt to save Rocket, who has 48 hours to live after a "failsafe" implanted in his chest is triggered by a blast from Adam Warlock. As the wise-cracking raccoon lies comatose, we flash back to his time as one of the High Evolutionary's experiments, and meet some of his adorable companions, Lylla the otter, Teefs the walrus, and Floor the rabbit.
While we don't see any of the vivisections in graphic detail, it's plain to see what's been done to these poor creatures, who are living with the false hope that their "sire" is going to give them a new life in Counter-Earth. In reality, the detestable High Evolutionary is planning to incinerate them once they are no longer of use, which Rocket discovers.
Rocket plots their escape, but Lylla is shot and killed as soon as she leaves her cage, with Floor and Teefs gunned down by the High Evolutionary's men shortly after, while Rocket screams in anguish.
This entire sequence is devastating and very difficult to watch, to the point that we are surprised Gunn was allowed to take things so far in a PG-13 superhero movie. Animal lovers are obviously going to be more impacted than others (but seriously, who doesn't love animals?), but if you have young kids, we would urge you to consider how genuinely distressing these scenes are.
Later on, it's revealed that the High Evolutionary has been wearing a mask to cover the hideous ruin of a face Rocket left him after tearing his features apart earlier in the film. We see what's left, and it is a ghastly, horrific sight to behold.
Rocket spares his life (were we buying it?), so there's a chance we might see the terrible bastard again.
So yeah, in many ways, GOTG Vol. 3 is a fun, funny space adventure about the importance of friendship, found family and finding your place in the universe - but it is also the most twisted, shocking, gut-wrenching MCU movie yet.
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