Is the over reliance on humour a problem in the MCU

[DrCosmic]

Seems some people just don't like light moments in their serious films

Don't do that. Don't reduce people's observations to something generic so that you can dismiss them when they are in fact very specific. Here is the thing that prevents the MCU from true greatness for me:

“Make it dark, make it grim, make it tough, but then, for the love of God, tell a joke.”

Telling jokes, having light moments is lots of fun, but where in the dramatic arc you put them is very very important. For a movie like Indiana Jones, the comedy comes as the dramatic tension is getting into gear, to pull us into a character's sense of humor about his impending death and thus make the action and drama heavier. He is placated by his humor, but the audience is not. Even the famous scene where dramatic tension is cut for comedy (he shoots the guy instead of a sword fight) is a singular event, an improvisation, not a constant theme across a dozen films.

This is why The Winter Soldier elevated the universe and is the far and away best film of Phase II, because his humor was for himself. There are no jokes after Nick Fury's shooting or death, there are no outs from the brutality of the initial boat invasion. The jokes there never make it okay to laugh at the action.

Civil War came close to this, but the weakness of the MCU, it's need to lower the stakes while appearing to have high stakes becomes really apparent at Rhodey's "death" which is supposed to be incredibly somber and painful, to give weight to the conflict that we've just seen in the same way Bill Foster's death did in the comic (Killing Black sidekicks for the win?), but the film is not allowed to make this as painful as possible, it's got to assure us he's alive and give us a darkly comic beat with IM dropping Falcon.

Phase III is seeming to try and get into the CATWS weight, but the success of Phase II and it's success and crowd-pleasing in consistently cutting tension with comedy keeps drawing it in that direction. In a way, most of the films in the MCU are Avengers-again, bouncing characters off of each other, having a ton of fun with it, but pretty much a celebration of how awesome the MCU is. And it works, because the MCU is awesome.

The problem with this approach is that the MCU keeps having to imply stakes and loss without actually delivering that, and once you've seen that, it's really hard to unsee. This doesn't make the films any less fun, but it does make them feel like well crafted cartoons that are trying to trick you into thinking they're meaningful films. Even the comparison with Pixar is a bit embarassing. The MCU, despite the fact that we've spent more time with these characters has no chance of pulling the tears that a movie like UP, or Toy Story 3. Because that depth of emotion and meaning requires sadness, and the MCU isn't really allowed to be profoundly sad, that's not what it's for. Which is fine, except when it makes an attempt at being profoundly sad, then that weakness becomes more and more apparent.

And this is not a DCEU vs MCU thing, because DCEU isn't going to pull those tears either and definitely not going to create the good vibes that MCU and Pixar films do so often.

But it's not really 'weird' to want a roller coaster with high highs and low lows, because so many films, action and otherwise, many by the same creative teams behind the MCU but aren't beholded to continuing a half dozen franchises, manage to do so so well.

MCU films make people really happy, that's their goal, and that's their success. The problem is that great films make you feel a range of emotions, as is evidenced by the best Pixar films, and why they stay in the high 90s-100 range instead of the 80s-low 90s range. I mean, when was the last time an MCU film made us really sad? Did we cry at Peggy's Funeral, a character who we've spent far more time with than Ellie from Up? Were we devastated to hear Tony and Pepper, a relationship that was so much fun to see, were on a break? Did we feel hopeless when the Ancient One died? Did we feel Loki's rage when Frigga died? Wanda's when Quicksilver died?

Why not? Why are the MCU's dark moments less impactful than those from the best children's films?

So, hardly a KILLER problem, I mean, I'll take consistent low 90s any day, but when you realize that the MCU could be making truly GREAT films by simply letting some moments breathe, it does seem like a bit of a shame.

That was actually a joke but more to the point, they haven't brought Coulson back because the movies have gone on just fine without him. That's the thing. This notion that the MCU is somehow being seriously harmed by the lack of crossover between the movie and TV divisions only exists in the heads of certain fans.

Well, yeah. Only people who care about the universe's consistency care when it is inconsistent, and most people who are into the MCU are just along from the ride, or feel very comfortable ignoring the implications of AoS. It basically comes down to what's 'good enough' for those fans. For many fans, solo franchises were good enough, but some felt like 'Avengers' was a thing that could and should happen. When Avengers happened, many people took that as validation that an integrated universe was possible, and anything that disintegrates the universe feels like an unnecessary problem. Because it is. This is not to say that it's a serious harm, having no MCU at all, and just standalone franchises for all the Avengers is not a serious problem, just a pointlessly missed opportunity for the next level of greatness.

 

[kguillou]

Good Post, Dr Cosmic, pretty much sums it up. Marvel wants to make fun movies. Movies that Moms and Dads can bring their kids to, laugh, have a good time at and leave cheering. They don't wanna rock that boat because its working very well for them. Which ix also why I believe they pulled their punches at the "Darker" moments of Civil War (Rhodey on his way to rehabilitation, Steve and Tony reconciling at the end instead of being bitter enemies like the comics etc.)

I think the reason why fans have started to speak out against the humor is also because the best, landmark Marvel Comics stories have been the darkest, most serious ones, stuff like Demon in a Bottle, Kraven's Last Hunt, Death of Gwen Stacy, the original Civil War, The Ultimates, pretty much all of Ed Brubaker's Captain America run, Ironman: Extremis, Annihilation, ever Daredevil story ever, The Dark Phoenix Saga etc. etc. etc. Marvel comics have traditionally excelled whenever their stories were ones where they put the hero through a rough, emotional wringer and have that hero come out triumphant. In fact, I'd argue that Marvel's comics have always been the edgier of the two main comic brands. So, I think we as fans are starting to kind of crave Marvel to push the envelope a little bit more because we know that the source material has often gone to that dark place and it worked so well for them.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

With Star Wars and Indiana Jones, they are what they are. No one is complaining about "fun adventure films", the problem is Marvel has an overabundance of those movies, which doesn't represent the wide berth of their source material.

With Dr. Strange, the two moments that stick out most for me is the sight gag with the cloak that completely wrecks the somber mood of the Ancient One's death. and then the showdown with Dormmamu which was played for laughs rather than the emotionally traumatizing moment it should have been. You can have a few jokes in a movie without it being a "funny movie". But Dr. Strange definitely crossed the line into being a "funny movie", and he's not supposed to be a funny character.

That one was a big culprit for me, totally ruined the mood of the scene. I didn't mind most is the humour in DS, but some was really poorly placed.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Don't do that. Don't reduce people's observations to something generic so that you can dismiss them when they are in fact very specific. Here is the thing that prevents the MCU from true greatness for me:



Telling jokes, having light moments is lots of fun, but where in the dramatic arc you put them is very very important. For a movie like Indiana Jones, the comedy comes as the dramatic tension is getting into gear, to pull us into a character's sense of humor about his impending death and thus make the action and drama heavier. He is placated by his humor, but the audience is not. Even the famous scene where dramatic tension is cut for comedy (he shoots the guy instead of a sword fight) is a singular event, an improvisation, not a constant theme across a dozen films.

This is why The Winter Soldier elevated the universe and is the far and away best film of Phase II, because his humor was for himself. There are no jokes after Nick Fury's shooting or death, there are no outs from the brutality of the initial boat invasion. The jokes there never make it okay to laugh at the action.

Civil War came close to this, but the weakness of the MCU, it's need to lower the stakes while appearing to have high stakes becomes really apparent at Rhodey's "death" which is supposed to be incredibly somber and painful, to give weight to the conflict that we've just seen in the same way Bill Foster's death did in the comic (Killing Black sidekicks for the win?), but the film is not allowed to make this as painful as possible, it's got to assure us he's alive and give us a darkly comic beat with IM dropping Falcon.

Phase III is seeming to try and get into the CATWS weight, but the success of Phase II and it's success and crowd-pleasing in consistently cutting tension with comedy keeps drawing it in that direction. In a way, most of the films in the MCU are Avengers-again, bouncing characters off of each other, having a ton of fun with it, but pretty much a celebration of how awesome the MCU is. And it works, because the MCU is awesome.

The problem with this approach is that the MCU keeps having to imply stakes and loss without actually delivering that, and once you've seen that, it's really hard to unsee. This doesn't make the films any less fun, but it does make them feel like well crafted cartoons that are trying to trick you into thinking they're meaningful films. Even the comparison with Pixar is a bit embarassing. The MCU, despite the fact that we've spent more time with these characters has no chance of pulling the tears that a movie like UP, or Toy Story 3. Because that depth of emotion and meaning requires sadness, and the MCU isn't really allowed to be profoundly sad, that's not what it's for. Which is fine, except when it makes an attempt at being profoundly sad, then that weakness becomes more and more apparent.

And this is not a DCEU vs MCU thing, because DCEU isn't going to pull those tears either and definitely not going to create the good vibes that MCU and Pixar films do so often.

But it's not really 'weird' to want a roller coaster with high highs and low lows, because so many films, action and otherwise, many by the same creative teams behind the MCU but aren't beholded to continuing a half dozen franchises, manage to do so so well.

MCU films make people really happy, that's their goal, and that's their success. The problem is that great films make you feel a range of emotions, as is evidenced by the best Pixar films, and why they stay in the high 90s-100 range instead of the 80s-low 90s range. I mean, when was the last time an MCU film made us really sad? Did we cry at Peggy's Funeral, a character who we've spent far more time with than Ellie from Up? Were we devastated to hear Tony and Pepper, a relationship that was so much fun to see, were on a break? Did we feel hopeless when the Ancient One died? Did we feel Loki's rage when Frigga died? Wanda's when Quicksilver died?

Why not? Why are the MCU's dark moments less impactful than those from the best children's films?

So, hardly a KILLER problem, I mean, I'll take consistent low 90s any day, but when you realize that the MCU could be making truly GREAT films by simply letting some moments breathe, it does seem like a bit of a shame.

This sums up my feelings on the matter perfectly.

 

[BoredGuy]

Don't do that. Don't reduce people's observations to something generic so that you can dismiss them when they are in fact very specific.

I wasn't dismissing anything out of hand

If anything I was being somewhat dismissive of the specific complaints lodged against Strange, because I didn't find the humor to be out of place or sapping the emotion or drama. People mentioned specific complaints and I answered them specifically.

So don't take one part of my comment and pretend I was dismissing every complaint ever made about humor in the MCU. For Instance, I agree on a lot of complaints about TDW, I thought the humor there definitely undercut a lot of the emotional moments. I just don't feel Strange was guilty of the same. If people wanna say the jokes were unfunny or fell flat for them personally, sure, I get that.

But imo the humor was at least well placed and used sparsely enough in Strange to not just derisively be considered "a funny movie"

 

[AlluAllu]

Imo Mcu has some successes too in emotional, sad scenes. Ancient One's death was beautiful, despite what happened afterwards. Civil War had heartwrenching "sergeant Barnes?" Then there's the reason why Peter Quill calls himself Star-lord. Cap 1 literally ended on the sad note.

I agree that Marvel sometimes should place their jokes better, but I don't think that the situation is as hopeless as I sometimes hear.

 

[GeckoMoria]

Imo Mcu has some successes too in emotional, sad scenes. Ancient One's death was beautiful, despite what happened afterwards. Civil War had heartwrenching "sergeant Barnes?" Then there's the reason why Peter Quill calls himself Star-lord. Cap 1 literally ended on the sad note.

I agree that Marvel sometimes should place their jokes better, but I don't think that the situation is as hopeless as I sometimes hear.

There is really no issue. The majority of both dramatic and funny moments in the MCU land. There is no denying of that. CW and Strange had great variety and althought i would cut 2-3 jokes from Strange including the Beyonce one their hits are far more than their misses. It's not an issue for me and the majority of people.

 

[NotNickFury]

I don't think anyone here at all has indicated that the humor, whether overused or not, is indicative of anything even close to a hopeless situation. Not sure where that's coming from.

Though I do agree about the Beyonce one getting axed from Strange. I'd forgotten about that.

 

[DrCosmic]

Good Post, Dr Cosmic, pretty much sums it up. Marvel wants to make fun movies. Movies that Moms and Dads can bring their kids to, laugh, have a good time at and leave cheering. They don't wanna rock that boat because its working very well for them. Which ix also why I believe they pulled their punches at the "Darker" moments of Civil War (Rhodey on his way to rehabilitation, Steve and Tony reconciling at the end instead of being bitter enemies like the comics etc.)

I think the reason why fans have started to speak out against the humor is also because the best, landmark Marvel Comics stories have been the darkest, most serious ones, stuff like Demon in a Bottle, Kraven's Last Hunt, Death of Gwen Stacy, the original Civil War, The Ultimates, pretty much all of Ed Brubaker's Captain America run, Ironman: Extremis, Annihilation, ever Daredevil story ever, The Dark Phoenix Saga etc. etc. etc. Marvel comics have traditionally excelled whenever their stories were ones where they put the hero through a rough, emotional wringer and have that hero come out triumphant. In fact, I'd argue that Marvel's comics have always been the edgier of the two main comic brands. So, I think we as fans are starting to kind of crave Marvel to push the envelope a little bit more because we know that the source material has often gone to that dark place and it worked so well for them.

This is a really good point. The expectation set by the comics plays a role in how these storylines are received in some cases.

I'm wondering if Phase 4 will allow/open up taking risks on going big with less positive emotions. Seems naive to hope so, I mean, even Pixar edited out the death and turned a tense dramatic moment to break into the third act into a punchline when it did a superhero film.

I wasn't dismissing anything out of hand

If anything I was being somewhat dismissive of the specific complaints lodged against Strange, because I didn't find the humor to be out of place or sapping the emotion or drama. People mentioned specific complaints and I answered them specifically.

So don't take one part of my comment and pretend I was dismissing every complaint ever made about humor in the MCU. For Instance, I agree on a lot of complaints about TDW, I thought the humor there definitely undercut a lot of the emotional moments. I just don't feel Strange was guilty of the same. If people wanna say the jokes were unfunny or fell flat for them personally, sure, I get that.

But imo the humor was at least well placed and used sparsely enough in Strange to not just derisively be considered "a funny movie"

Fair enough, I kinda did jump in. I don't remember Strange very well, other than that I liked it which is kind of a big deal, indicative of the side effects of purely feelgood filmmaking.

Thanks to a review based around this very topic, I remember the death of the NY Sanctum protector, not only how his death was handled with a segue into a GREAT joke, but how odd it was that Strange didn't act or even speak more quickly with the direness of the circumstance. In fact, that whole sequence, while a great adventure, just didn't have the gripping or mind-blowingness that someone crashing has in any pretty much any other decent action film. With that context, even him being repulsed after finding out he'd killed a guy loses weight.

 

[BoredGuy]

See I didn't find the part with Drumm inappropriate, he wasn't acting that dire because at the time he 1) barely knew Drumm AND 2) barely knew what was going on with the main plot. His confusion and slowness to act seemed reasonable to me.

Now the fact that Drumm was given zero development and thus had no impact whatsoever in his death, that's a different problem. But it didn't stem from the humor, imo

 

[DrCosmic]

The slowness to react by itself was odd enough for someone who proves to be so brilliant and reactive in other crises, and compounded by the fact that it was followed by zippy brilliant humor. We can explain away everything in character if we choose to, but it doesn't make those scenes impactful and actually highlights how poorly the movies motivations and the characters motivations line up when things are sad.

 

[CaptainWagner]

Idk, I found the cape moment to be cute, and meant to uplift both the viewer and Strange himself in a sad moment... Pixar does stuff like that all the time

And the Dormammu thing wasn't meant to be an "emotionally traumatizing moment", it was meant to show Strange's cleverness, as well as being very different from the standard CBM punch-em-up Third Act, which they most definitely accomplished.


Seems some people just don't like light moments in their serious films

See, in a movie like this, I don't think they should be trying to "uplift" the viewer in a sad moment. This shouldn't be run like a Pixar movie. And even Pixar didn't the emotionally brutal first few minutes of Up with any levity until the tragedy had run its course.

With Dormmamu, maybe that is what they meant all along. But a moment like that has so much potential, it feels to me like a waste to play it lightly. That's a huge sacrifice by Strange, and very true to his character, but we never really feel the gravity of it because of how they presented it.

And come on, let's not make straw man arguments. Serious movies can have light moments, just look at TWS. But Dr. Strange was ultimately not a serious movie, which is a major deviation from the source.

 

[kguillou]

I think Marvel very intentionally made Dr Strange a comedic film because he was such a risky character to pull off and he easily couldve been a misfire if they had gone the more occult, trippy, psychedelic route like the comics. They absolutely needed to make sure Strange worked on a mass appeal level.

 

[harryoscop]

DS was one of the best MCU films imo. All of the emotional scenes landed very well for me. (AO's death had me on the edge because of how much I enjoyed the character could've did without the cape humorously hitting him though)

 

[Curmudgeon]

Yeah, gotta admit the cape wiping away his tears tarnished the moment, but I don't recall any other jokes falling flat for me.

There are problems with the MCU, but humor is not one of them. Laying the blame on the jokes feels unjust when Marvel is so good at executing their humor most of the time.

 

[kguillou]

A lot of you guys are saying TDW was the worst but I'd argue IM3 was the biggest perpetrator and probably the film that ignited the humor debate. Marvel marketed the movie as a dark deconstruction of Tony Stark with his arch nemesis feom the comics looking to be a menacing villain. Instead, we got Lethal Weapon 5 starring Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle and introducing Trevor Slattery. Obviously, the movie was hugely successful but a lot of fans like myself were peeved at not only the Mandarin twist itself but the blatant misdirection in terms of tone of the movie. If your marketing a dark movie give me a dark movie, if your marketing an action comedy give me an action comedy.

 

[scarlet-witch]

Cape wiping tears was a bit "much" for me. I liked was DrCosmic said up thread about the lack of humor in the right places, particularly Winter Soldier. (Civil War I thought worked too, with the only amusing momenta after the airport fight being Tony Stank when they needed a little pick me up.) Otherwise, I've been happy with the way Marvel balances humor and drama in their movies.

 

[NotNickFury]

I think Marvel very intentionally made Dr Strange a comedic film because he was such a risky character to pull off and he easily couldve been a misfire if they had gone the more occult, trippy, psychedelic route like the comics. They absolutely needed to make sure Strange worked on a mass appeal level.

Pretty much every MCU film since Iron Man, regardless of tone, has worked on a mass appeal level because Marvel has their formula and goodwill earned at this point. Guardians alone proved they can do obscure and out of this world and it still worked, so no, don't believe any indication that this could have been a misfire.

 

[2kt09]

A lot of you guys are saying TDW was the worst but I'd argue IM3 was the biggest perpetrator and probably the film that ignited the humor debate. Marvel marketed the movie as a dark deconstruction of Tony Stark with his arch nemesis from the comics looking to be a menacing villain. Instead, we got Lethal Weapon 5 starring Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle and introducing Trevor Slattery. Obviously, the movie was hugely successful but a lot of fans like myself were peeved at not only the Mandarin twist itself but the blatant misdirection in terms of tone of the movie. If your marketing a dark movie give me a dark movie, if your marketing an action comedy give me an action comedy.

That's fairly different from the "film that ignited the humor debate".
Phase One for the most part was more subtle and dependent most on character quirks (IM2 was incredibly goofy and Thor slightly towed that line). That all changed when Whedon's The Avengers was such a massive success. Their stance/"reliance" on humor has been rote ever since. Thus, it was nice to have TWS and CW(to a lesser extent) take a break from that. In any case, as long as they have directors/writers who have a genuine talent for balancing levity with serious stakes or going full comedy, there's not much of an issue here.
Unfortunately, for me, there's not enough of them.

 

[kguillou]

That's fairly different from the "film that ignited the humor debate".
Phase One for the most part was more subtle and dependent most on character quirks (IM2 was incredibly goofy and Thor slightly towed that line). That all changed when Whedon's The Avengers was such a massive success. Their stance/"reliance" on humor has been rote ever since. Thus, it was nice to have TWS and CW(to a lesser extent) take a break from that. In any case, as long as they have directors/writers who have a genuine talent for balancing levity with serious stakes or going full comedy, there's not much of an issue here.
Unfortunately, for me, there's not enough of them.

You're absolutely right. Phase one, with the exception of IM 2, was very subtle and did rely on character quirks but there was no slapstick or forced humor. Thor had humor but like you said it carefully towed the line and didn't feel the need to punctuate every scene with a joke like its sequel. We'll never get a film like Incredible Hulk again, which people forget is actually Marvel's most serious film effort, although its often regarded as the red headed step child.

 

[Oscorp]

I watched Civil War for the second time not long ago. One thing that stuck to me is that there was a lot more comedy than I remembered from the first time, and I didn't enjoy the film as much this time much due to that. It definitely went down a notch on my "list" and I definitely prefer The Winter Soldier over it.

I don't want the film to lack charm like Snyder's films, but I want some of the Marvel films to tone down the humour, with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy (because of how well it works there compared to a lot of the other films). As much as I love them, they're lacking sense of tension. The few times you feel "oh s***!" they cut it off with a comedy one liner.

For me, as a fan of the MCU, I have to say yes to the question of this topic, because even I am feeling a bit tired of it.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

I watched Civil War for the second time not long ago. One thing that stuck to me is that there was a lot more comedy than I remembered from the first time, and I didn't enjoy the film as much this time much due to that. It definitely went down a notch on my "list" and I definitely prefer The Winter Soldier over it.

I don't want the film to lack charm like Snyder's films, but I want some of the Marvel films to tone down the humour, with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy (because of how well it works there compared to a lot of the other films). As much as I love them, they're lacking sense of tension. The few times you feel "oh s***!" they cut it off with a comedy one liner.

For me, as a fan of the MCU, I have to say yes to the question of this topic, because even I am feeling a bit tired of it.

Agree with all of this, I have found CW has got lower on my list after a few re-watches as I haven't enjoyed it as much. There are some movies that need to keep their comedy, like GOTG and Ant Man, but I do wish the rest would tone it down a notch. It's keeping their movies from true greatness IMO.

On the other side of the coin, I recently re-watched DD season 1 and just today started Jessica Jones again, and I love them even more a 2nd time around. And feel they toe the line between drama and comedy brilliantly.

 

[kguillou]

The most infuriating for me, personally, was the Mark XLVII armor that kept falling apart in Ironman 3. The first time, fine, it was kind of funny but when it kept happening it just absolutely killed any potential fist pumping moment dead. At a certain point I was just like "ok, what the Hell kind of movie am I watching here?

 

[DrCosmic]

A lot of you guys are saying TDW was the worst but I'd argue IM3 was the biggest perpetrator and probably the film that ignited the humor debate. Marvel marketed the movie as a dark deconstruction of Tony Stark with his arch nemesis feom the comics looking to be a menacing villain. Instead, we got Lethal Weapon 5 starring Robert Downey Jr. and Don Cheadle and introducing Trevor Slattery. Obviously, the movie was hugely successful but a lot of fans like myself were peeved at not only the Mandarin twist itself but the blatant misdirection in terms of tone of the movie. If your marketing a dark movie give me a dark movie, if your marketing an action comedy give me an action comedy.

That was a big moment. I think Avengers first started it, too, but IM3 definitely kicked it into second gear, it became not just a fluke, not juss Joss Whedon, but a thing.

I watched Civil War for the second time not long ago. One thing that stuck to me is that there was a lot more comedy than I remembered from the first time, and I didn't enjoy the film as much this time much due to that. It definitely went down a notch on my "list" and I definitely prefer The Winter Soldier over it.

I don't want the film to lack charm like Snyder's films, but I want some of the Marvel films to tone down the humour, with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy (because of how well it works there compared to a lot of the other films). As much as I love them, they're lacking sense of tension. The few times you feel "oh s***!" they cut it off with a comedy one liner.

For me, as a fan of the MCU, I have to say yes to the question of this topic, because even I am feeling a bit tired of it.

YEEEES! Come to the Dark Side! I think you may find TWS holds up better even than Avengers after many viewings. Maybe not, but Avengers really rides or dies on the circle shot. TWS has the roller coaster. Even the humor is Indy-style. Listen to Fury crack jokes when he's about to get wrecked by the cops. On your left starts the movie on a joke, but comes back as an endearing touchstone in the resolution. And there are some moments in here that truly made me sad. Not profoundly sad, but "Oh, wow, that's real." Natasha was lost, and she couldn't joke about it. That whole "wrong business Rodgers" genuinely made me uncomfortable and it made the "would you trust me" bit meaningful, because she was genuinely sad. That also reminds me there were a lot of emotional beats the movie let you put together, like Natasha's reaction to Fury using the word "trust" when they found him alive.

Guardians of the Galaxy also manages some sad moments, and perhaps one of the most profound ones I've felt with Rocket's rant "I didn't ask to be made." It hurt, I felt it, and I wasn't the only one. The movie deals with that pain honestly, and makes a little racoon one of the realest characters in the MCUniverse. Crazy, right? Better, it puts his entire line of jokes in a different light, as though they are all Indy-style coping mechanisms. This is the movie where they win in a dance off.

Drax has a shot at that kind of power, but him getting whooped by Ronan doesn't put his literalism in a new light. If that attempt had sadness had been more grounded in what we saw of his character instead of just told, that would have been a powerful scene too.

GotG does joke away one dramatic element very cheaply: it's romance. Quill and Gamora is a series of gags, essentially. Even his big heroic/romantic sacrifice, we literally see him joke away the significance of and feel Gamora as she pushes away. And so that romance is flat, sacrificed to keeping the good feelings going.

Oh, and why does the dance of work, because it ends with a callback to his mother, a moment that is at least sentimentally sad, and breathes, and so while we may not be moved seeing his mom reaching out for him, there's enough 'credit' there for us to handwave away his survival without the later handwaving from Nova Prime. It works because it bookends the idea that the movie is really about a brokenhearted little boy, and not about a gallivanting space maverick, because it goes back to how the movie starts, and not the title sequence.

But do you know when GotG really sunk home, when it made me actually cry and what scene pulled it to the top of some people's lists? When Quill unwraps the second tape from his mom. His attachment to his music was used to fuel some comedy during the breakout and opening sequence, but it wasn't ever the punchline. We know he cares about his mom, something the climax actually helped underline and in a way, the whole movie is about that soundtrack, and so giving Quill another cassette is, in a very literal way, communicating to Quill to keep going, and that she'll be with him on his adventures, so much so that we forget it's also promising us a sequel. That's how well that movie manages to give us at least two emotions, we don't even care about the franchise potential as it's being promised to us.

Man, I love that movie, I think it just went up on my list.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

You just summed up why GOTG is my favourite MCU movie, and the best in my eyes. It tells jokes, yes, and though it helps most are hilariously funny, there are real feeling behind them, and the emotional moments but hard and true.

Even taking away that I love the characters in the comics, the movie made me see some of them in a whole new light. I can't wait for the sequel.