The Marvel Machine doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon, but instead stepping up their game with each further installment within their universe. Starting off the summer with the hit "Captain America: The Winter Soldier", Marvel continues their indomitable universe with this weekend’s 'Guardians of the Galaxy'. 

Peter Quill (Chris Pratt), a pilot paid to retrieve an orb, is at the center of an intergalactic manhunt to retrieve both himself and the orb. Quill, alongside a motley crew consisting of Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (Vin Diesel) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper), team up to prevent the orb falling into the hands of the evil Ronan (Lee Pace). 

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Chris Pratt makes an impressive move into leading-man territory as Peter Quill, and resoundingly quells any naysayers from when his casting was announced. Best known for his work as Andy Dwyer on NBC’s 'Parks and Recreation', Pratt flexes his acting muscles (and his newly acquired real muscles) in 'Guardians,' and his natural charm and humor sets the tone for one of Marvel’s funniest installments.

"Guardians" follows-up their strong lead with an examplary supporting cast, with stand-outs amongst the stellar group including characters Rocket and Groot. The bio-engineered talking raccoon Rocket, voiced by Bradley Cooper, absolutely steals the scene, with amazing chemistry and rapport with the rest of the characters, despite the fact that Cooper didn’t meet the rest of the cast until the film has already been made. In addition, Rocket’s buddy-in-crime and muscle man, the man-tree Groot, excells in his ability to express so much humor as well as heartfulness simply through facial expression and speaking his one repeated line – "I am Groot."

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Just as earlier this summer the Russo brothers created their own very unique spin and tone of a Marvel film in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," James Gunn, the director of Guardian’s, adds his signature style completely different from any previous Marvel film, especially in regards to the music. Rather than a super-hero film, 'Guardians' feels more like a "space opera", but instead of an Italian baritone, Gunn scores the film with Peter Quill’s Walkman blasting out classic 70’s music. 

While previous Marvel Cinematic universe films mostly involved pop-culturally known characters, "Guardians" accomplishes the difficult feat of establishing a whole new set of characters unknown to non-comic book fans, and succesfully at that. Guardians of the Galaxy is set to follow in its Marvel predeccesors steps, with projections of 60 to 70 million in its opening weekend.

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"Guardians of the Galaxy' not only fits seemlessly within the pre-established MCU, but also stands as a stellar film in its own right.  While "Guardians" adds enough "easter eggs" throughout the films for the devout fans, including the Tesseract from "The Avengers" and The Collector (Benicio Del Toro) from "Thor: The Dark World," "Guardians" doesn’t require any prior knowledge for the film to be enjoyable and understood. "Guardians" is the perfect gateway film into a universe that can seem overwhelming, as it now includes both feature films such as "Iron Man," "Captain America," "Thor," and "The Avengers,"as well as television series including "Marvel’s Agent of S.H.E.I.D." 

With great story-telling, a phenominal cast, and laugh-out-loud dialogue throughout, "Guardians of the Galaxy" is a film not to be missed.

Now end your summer with a bang and save the universe with "Guardians of the Galaxy." 

Reach Staff Reporter Madison Kern here.