Guardians of The Galaxy 2

A group of interstellar outlaws team up to save the galaxy from a villain who seeks ultimate power in this comic book space adventure from Marvel Studios and director James Gunn (Slither, Super). Peter Quill was just a young boy when, devastated by his mother's death, he sprinted out of the hospital and was swept into the stars by Yondu (Michael Rooker), the leader of an eclectic band of space scavengers known as The Ravagers. Twenty-six years later, Quill has adopted the nickname Star Lord (Chris Pratt). He's broken away from The Ravagers in an attempt to track down an ancient orb that is also coveted by the evil Ronan (Lee Pace), who is in league with the dreaded Thanos, and who dispatches his top assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to retrieve it from Star Lord. In the process of doing so, Gamora also gets drawn into a fight with furry bounty hunter Rocket (voice of Bradley Cooper) and his tree-like, humanoid companion Groot (voice of Vin Diesel). Subsequently thrown into prison, this unlikely quartet quickly makes the acquaintance of fearsome warrior Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), who seeks bitter revenge for the slaughter of his entire family at the hands of Ronan.

By dropping the needle on classic rock cuts and forgotten ‘70s pop confections, The Guardians of the Galaxy flipped the conventional thinking of soundtracks on its head. The blockbuster continues this fine tradition on the sequel, pulling from a dusty crate of one-hit wonders and FM rock. Vol. 2 bounces along with ELO (“Mr. Blue Sky”), glam (“Fox on the Run”), power pop (“Surrender”), and more than one guilty pleasure (“Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)”).