The latest blockbuster stamped with an epic length is James Gunn’s upcoming “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3” which officially clocks in at 2 hours and 29 minutes.
It had its first official press screening last night. I’m supposed to watch it on Monday morning. The film is set to be released on May 5th, 2023.
Reactions are actually pretty mixed so far. I’m trying to decipher between actual critics and not fanboys, which isn’t easy especially since many of the usual tweet reactions come from the latter and not the former.
I’ve abstained from including usual fawners such as Grace Randolph, Steve Weintraub and Erik Davis. Here are the actual critics I’ve gathered so far, notice, four negative, one mixed and one positive:
“I don’t think any reaction around GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 really captures the weirdness of the film. Tonally, emotionally, visually, and politically all over the place and overwrought. I don’t want to go so far as to proclaim it interesting, but it’s something. I guess.” — Robert Daniels, The Playlist
“GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 is the STAR TREK BEYOND of the series, in the best and not-so-best ways. But Gunn is really good at this whole disarmingly earnest superhero thing, and even more so when he unleashes his old Troma instincts. Wish it felt less like a side quest tho” — Hoai-Tran Bui, Slash Film
“GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 aspires for sweeping emotion, gut busting laughs & thrilling action. It sometimes succeeds but as a send off for all of these characters, it feels strangely uneven & anticlimactic. Features the best makeup & visual effects of the trilogy” — Matt Neglia, Next Best Picture
“The best thing I can say about Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is that it appears James Gunn set out to bleed as much Disney money as possible on his way out in revenge for the initial firing.” — Erik Childress, WGN
“Was not expecting a major superhero movie to periodically remind me of (among other things) THE FLY 2. I liked it, mostly.” — A.A. Dowd, The AV Club
“GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL 3, James Gunn bets the house on a, surprisingly, emotional story centered on Rocket and the love and friendship between these characters. Bets and wins. It’s pretty incredible (animal lovers, there are a couple tough scenes)” — Mike Ryan, Uproxx
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.