Here are the things you need to know, as a Schlock Mercenary reader whose tastes are statistically likely to align with my own on matters of humorous space opera:

1. See Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2 in theaters. It’s worth your top-dollar entertainment budget.
2. Good reviewers, like good friends, don’t spoil movies for people.
3. The opening credits “romp” is, in my admittedly non-expert-yet-neveretheless-non-humble opinion, the very best one that Hollywood has delivered in the history of these things.

There you go. My 21yo and I saw it last night, and were giddy all the way home. We discussed and deconstructed some parallels between GotG 1 and 2, and I cannot tell you more because spoilers, but it’s safe to say that these sorts of discussions are at their best when the movie is good enough to make them intellectually stimulating, which this one was.

There are movies that I watch again and again. There are movies I’ve seen several times in theaters. Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 is so good I almost want to wait until the Blu-Ray before watching it again, just so I can watch it three times in a row while taking notes, and eating something from my own kitchen.

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 takes my top slot for the year, at least for now. Disclaimer notwithstanding, it may be tough to displace, because while all of the impending contenders are solid, comic space opera is in my wheelhouse, on my lawn, and in my heart.