JayQ’s review published on Letterboxd:
From Beginning to Endgame: MCU 2019 Rewatch
If James Gunn only makes junk for the rest of his career, at least he gave us the ending to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Without fail, the final scene of The Guardians watching Yondu's funeral procession paired with Cat Stevens' "Father and Son" breaks me. Yes, the song is a cheap emotional ploy that's written to bring tears to the listener's eyes, but what really gets me is seeing The Guardians pass around Baby Groot like he is their child. There's a universal relatability to a group of psychologically damaged outcasts finding comfort in a makeshift family. And the last shot of Rocket shedding a tear, realizing that forgiveness is possible, well. . .
Beyond that, it's kind of mind blowing that a film distributed by Disney contains a ship that looks like a spermatozoa and robot prostitutes. If those two examples are not enough, the film is also unlike any other Marvel film in its vibrant, gaudy production design and kaleidoscopic color palette (yes, even Thor: Ragnarok). And, at times, the film even dips into the kind of surrealist imagery (a shower of bodies in slow motion; the bulging eyes and distorted faces of Rocket, Yondu, and Kraglin; a giant-sized Pac-Man) that is rarely seen in studio blockbusters. Truly, a rare gem in mainstream superhero cinema.
