‘Guardians of the Galaxy’: Marvel’s best flick yet puts ’70s fun back in space opera
Finally a summer blockbuster worth our dime and our time. Okay, “The Edge of Tomorrow” and “Lucy” weren’t bad, but “Guardians of the Galaxy” is full of what made movies fun back when “Jaws” and “Star Wars” were igniting the genre. It also may be, or at least is to date, the best Marvel comic to make it to the big screen.Yup, better than “The Avengers” and, get this, it even takes place in the same universe/time continuum as “The Avengers” – there’s a series of mystical artifacts (infinity stones that can collectively give the one who holds them the power to rule the stars and beyond) that are spread throughout the various franchises.
What to know: After losing his mother to cancer in the ’80s, Peter Quill (Chris Pratt of “Parks and Recreation”) is abducted by a spaceship. Flash forward a quarter-century to a galaxy far away in another universe, or something like that, and Quill is a treasure hunter seeking out high-risk items à la Indiana Jones, with the attitude to boot. Smugly he goes by the moniker Star-Lord as if he were Banksy, though no one knows who he is – that is, until he recovers an orb with some of the empowering infinity stones in it and everyone, including the evil Ronan (a cloaked and face-painted Lee Pace from “Halt and Catch Fire” ) and his overlord Thanos (voiced by Josh Brolin), want him and the orb. Continue reading
For What it's Worth 