LogFAQs > #974233179

But... this is a movie about Yondu, at the end of the day for me. Michael Rooker puts everything he's got into this performance. We start when Sylvester Stallone's Stakar tells him off for what he did and really sets the pace of why Yondu is the way he is. He used to be a part of a family of his own, and he pushed them away. Stallone does great in his small role. He gets turned on by his crew, and it just shatters him. He sees the path he's been on that led to this and he confides in Rocket and is determined to have him not make the same mistakes as him. And he exacts unholy revenge on these fucking Ravagers, like Taserface who is hilariously played by Chris Sullivan. The scene on the Ravager ship is probably my favorite action scene because of how cool his arrow is. They do so many cool things.

Where this all culminates to is Yondu's reflection that he just acknowledges he fucked his life up, regardless of what excuses he can make. It's his fault. He doesn't feel like he did a lot right--but the one right thing he did was save Peter and raise him as his own. And he begs Rocket to let him save Peter one last time. He wants to be able to go out taking care of the one thing that he covets in this world, even though he knows he won't survive. It's his choice. He'd rather die than let anything happen to Peter. "He may have been your father, but he weren't your daddy." Kills me every time I see it. And Pratt's acting when Yondu passes, using the last of his life to frame Peter's face... it just hits me hard.

The funeral scene is my absolute favorite scene though. You can have all the action and everything, but nothing makes me feel more than this scene where Yondu is laid to rest. Peter eulogizes him in his clumsy way because he doesn't know how to deal with it. Baby Groot tries to comfort him. Gamora and Nebula have a touching finale to their story in the movie. And then we see al of the Ravagers come to send Yondu off. He never asked to be accepted by them, but he would have loved it. Rocket did one thing to repay Yondu that would have meant everything: let the Ravagers know he died a hero and not a scumbag they thought he was. They celebrate with a beautiful light show, cheer him on, talk about how he died a proper Ravager. Kraglin sees all of this, for the captain he respected and loved, and he stares in awe before screaming and pounding his chest. No words needed. It's perfect. And we close the movie here, celebrating Yondu as a family, allowing these guarded people to express they care for one another in different ways. I'm not ashamed to admit I cry every time I see it. I rarely ever cry at media, but this hits different, and I think it's just because of how perfect it all is, and how well it's built up through the movie. No other MCU moment is as emotional as this one.

But. I'd be remiss to not mention to action sequences still. The battle during the opening scenes against the giant monster is cut so well with the Baby Groot dancing. It's a fun sequence to remind us all of the team. The giant space battle against the Sovereign is also great, with so many fun and dramatic scenes. Just really great stuff with humor tacked on. And I mentioned it before, but Yondu single-handedly massacring the betraying Ravagers rules. It's so creative and fun and it's set to Come A Little Bit Closer. I love when the scene pauses as we see him surveying the security screens... and then picks up with him just whizzing his arrow through everyone. It's probably my favorite action scene.

I think the climax is... not great? It comes across as a bit confusing sometimes, we miss a lot of the action, it feels clunky with the addition of the Sovereign ships again, and I feel like most of the characters don't really get to do much during it. It's a bit disappointing as a finale that I really wanted to enjoy but found underwhelming. Mantis getting hit by a piece of debris during the big dramatic team pose moment is great though--it's a shame she does nothing else though.

I talked a ton about this movie, and I think it's an excellent one. Probably some of Marvel's best. I just don't think I like it as much as Guardians 1, which feels like a more better paced movie with more to do for everyone.

Girlfriend Thoughts: She found it funny, not shocking. She found all of the emotional scenes... well, emotional. It hit with her. Particularly the Gamora/Nebula stuff. She was shocked by the Ego tumor reveal though and did a whole gasp and everything. Baby Groot was adorable to her too. She laughed, but she thought Drax was so mean with how he talked to Mantis. She also swore that Yondu wasn't going to die there and then when it was clear, she got extremely sad. She teased me for crying at the funeral because I never cry at this stuff, but she thought it was really emotional too. It didn't hit her as hard as it hit me though.