Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 is about as close as the MCU has come to doing a one-shot comic storyline. It’s mostly disconnected from the rest of the films but uses all that freedom to really dive into its heroes’ deepest traumas, and its best moments come when people are just talking to one another. Mantis touches Drax and feels his grief with her empath abilities, Rocket and Yondu get into a shouting match because they’re two bullheaded men who can’t see past their own noses, and Gamora and Nebula stop trying to kill each other and hash out decades of unresolved sisterly trauma. Then there are the moments that are expressed without words at all, like Star-Lord opening fire on his own father after he nonchalantly confesses to killing his mother. Vol. 2 is not a subtle film. It bluntly has every character look into the camera and tell you how they’re feeling, essentially making it a vibrant two-hour therapy session for them to talk about the things they were afraid to in the first movie. Yeah, they’d still have some raw wounds to poke at in future movies, but the Guardians of the Galaxy are truly united after Vol. 2, rather than a bunch of weirdos drawn together by circumstance. And come on, you can’t tell me you weren’t hyped when “The Chain” dropped in the final fight. — Kenneth Shepard