Seeing @JamesGunn answer questions & drop amazing insights, and now I’m just thinking about how much I love GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2. My favorite Marvel film. It visually dazzles & emotionally destroys me. The performances & the heart are top notch. The *themes!*

I remember walking out of the theater and thinking “I loved that more than I can even say.” It’s such a beautiful poem about broken foundations & how we overcome *together.* It has such a strong sense of self. It really inspires me, particularly in terms of its character work.

I mean, moments like this SING to me. Beautifully performed by @PomKlementieff & @DaveBautista, & incredibly written by James:

“Those pools, they remind me of a time when I took my daughter to the forgotten lakes of my home world. She was like you.

“Disgusting?”

“Innocent.”

It’s gorgeous, unabashedly weird, & so deliberately paced.
It slows down & decides to dig deeper at every chance it gets. Always choosing the connective tissue between the found family, so the thrills matter. It speaks to how powerful these operatic comic book tales can be.

For some of the same reasons why RETURN OF THE JEDI is my favorite Star Wars film, this one hits for me. The film feels like a series of moments with a similar soul to the “telling the story in the Bright Tree village hut” scene. It knows what it is and it’s damn proud.

It’s injecting heart into all of the unlikely places, while also telling this mythic story of family drama. I’m consistently amazed by the tonal buffet that Gunn & the team pulled off. It’s all there. It’s just all there. I could go on.

Anyway, rewatch GOTG Vol. 2. Let’s talk about it. I’ll talk about it with you. I ride hard for this film. It’s amazing.

One more thing! A very underrated aspect is the Yondu & Rocket relationship. Those “you’re me” parallels are so strong, and they work together with the father stuff at the end to highlight a key element: Peter & Rocket are brothers in so many ways.

They’re brothers. They mean the world to each other. And this story sees them broken in fundamentally different ways, but also ways that are strikingly similar. From a certain point of view, both are innocents made from darkness. And this same scoundrel helps them find identity.

Gonna aggressively listen to Cat Stevens now. Thank you for your time.