So it's been over a week and three viewings now, I think we can tackle the big questions.

Is Guardians Vol. 3 my favorite movie of all time? Yeah sure.
Is it my favorite Guardians movie? Ahh shit...

Today proved for sure that this, like just about everything else James Gunn makes, keeps getting better the more you see it. It'd been almost a week since last time and in that time the internet was getting to me, convincing me of many little nitpicks and inconsistencies which were starting to crack my perception of the movie. I was thinking of all these potential issues with the tone and themes, scared of having to accept that the movie has pretty major problems, but all it did is prove once again that the internet is full of shit. What a surprise, huh?

The main one I was worried about was the idea that the mid-credits scene breaks the main theme of the movie and of Rocket's arc throughout, that all life has meaning. So I gave that scene more attention... For one, he literally admits to feeling bad for what they're about to do, but that it must be done for the good of the villagers - we have no context as to who these villagers are or what this horde of creatures is, so all we're left with is to trust Rocket's reasoning. He's the new captain of the Guardians. A captain makes big calls, often morally difficult ones, and gets a team of people to act according to those calls. That this decision is one so personal to him only makes it more difficult to make, and you can see in his expression that there is remorse, it was something he thought through and it affects him, so that he made that choice anyway shows that he's become a great leader and isn't acting on a whim as he so often did throughout the trilogy.

And really that's the difference from Rocket at the end of Vol. 3 compared to who he was before. He always acted on a whim, but he always acted. When he "rescued" Quill and Gamora by threatening to blow them up. When he stole batteries he didn't need. He mocked Drax's dead family but followed it up with a great point because he'd lost people too. He called Quill an orphan boy but came back to save his life purely on a gut feeling that he was in danger. Even as a kid, Rocket could only break out from his imprisonment because of his natural instinct to just take whatever he was interested in. He was always an active force in everything he was involved in, for better or worse, but he never put any thought into his actions until Yondu showed him the path that was leading him down into - and subsequently, Rocket made a tough call when stopping Gamora from getting herself killed on an imploding planet, and took off to save the rest of the Guardians, fully aware that one of them wasn't going to make it.

The signs of leadership were there, and after Vol. 2 he had a notable change in attitude because he realized that in spite of all of his issues, he still had a family who loved him. However, even if all those around embraced him, he himself was still filled with self-hatred. He never forgave himself for the death of his childhood friends, and the longer he allowed himself to be loved by others, the more it was opening up the scars of his trauma - his coping mechanism was to push others away, but now that he's past that, well, he's listening to Creep because he feels like he doesn't belong here and will never deserve his very special one - Lylla.

My beloved raccoon... It was your story all along, you just didn't know it.

In death, he could finally make amends with her, or rather, with himself. He learned that his cherished friends never blamed him for what happened, they were just happy to see him again. Rocket had spent his entire life thinking he'd betrayed them, he'd let them down, he wasn't worthy of them. But after all these years, they still loved him. They embraced him like nothing had happened, they showed him that everyone is worthy of love. All life has meaning. And yours, Rocket... isn't done yet.

Throughout Vol. 3, the Guardians had been doing everything they could to save Rocket's life. It was often by whatever means necessary, and said means were often awful. They were always a group of misfit outlaws, all of them have a questionable moral compass, but they've grown to love each other more than anything. Peter especially shows no restraint in the lengths he's willing to go to for Rocket, and in the end he's the one to save his life. And after a beautiful moment together, they set out to complete the mission: rescue the other Guardians. When that turns out to be easier done than said, they can finally head back home safe and sound... but not Rocket. As Lylla told him, he still has a purpose. He didn't come back to be a Guardian. He came back to be a Guardian of the Galaxy.

And the moment he stops running from his past, it all comes full circle. Rocket finds a cage full of little animals and is drawn to it like nothing else matters. It's like a force of nature. All these babies want to be around him. He wants to be around them. They are raccoons. He's a raccoon. And after rejecting that name for so many years, Rocket Raccoon finally sees there's nothing wrong in it. There's nothing wrong in being who he is.

Well, this wasn't supposed to turn into a full-on character study of this raccoon I love so much, but I guess it happened. It's funny that this 3rd viewing of the movie was actually the one where I managed to spread my attention well between all of the characters instead of focusing on Rocket, yet the review turns out like this. Anyway, everyone gets a great arc in this, and a perfectly fitting ending. I love the Guardians, I love their movies. Is this my favorite of the three? I don't know. But for now I'll say yes. I love these movies because they make me feel. It helps that whatever issues I might've had with Vol. 3 are going away with each rewatch, but more than anything, this movie makes me feel. And right now there's no other feeling like it.