Yondu’s Sacrifice – Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2
Another superhero movie, another gut-wrenching death.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 might have been baggier and less-focused in some ways than its acclaimed predecessor, but it arguably zeroed in on its characters even more. In particular, it did an amazing job of thoroughly humanizing Michael Rooker’s Yondu. Peter’s childhood kidnapper being reinterpreted as his adoptive daddy could have felt cheap, but the actors and Gunn’s writing really sell the dysfunctional father-son dynamic.
It catches you by surprise, then, when you find yourself welling up when Yondu sacrifices his own life to save his “son,” when he gives Star-Lord his air supply – in a neat mirror of Peter’s own heroic act towards Gamora in the first movie. The ensuing funeral scene is also very touching, with Peter’s “Hasselhoff” speech just injecting the right amount of light humour into the moment before it undercuts the emotion.
Once again, the Guardians franchise makes us care about the weirder characters in the MCU more than we do many of the human characters, and for that, we love it.
Published: Dec 18, 2017 03:15 pm