Skip to content

James Gunn

The Suicide Squad – James Gunn (2021)

  • action

Just as in the first Suicide Squad Amanda Waller creates a team of villains in order to create a great evil. Only Harlequin Jones and Captian Boomerang return, the rest are new.

There are no Gotham references this time, just an action comedy which is basically in the style of the first film. Super-anti-heroes have to invade an island to prevent a massive weapon to fall into the wrong hands.

No surprises here. “The Suicide Squad” is another amusing action comedy.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 – James Gunn (2023)

  • action

The third “Guardians” focusses on ‘Rocket the Racoon’. Het gets wounded in the opening scene and the other guardians have to dig into his past in order to be able to help him.

Rocket was created in the laboratory of a mad scientist who is trying to create a perfect and peacefull society. His creations that are not perfect, such as Rocket, are disgarded. Needles to say that that did not work with Rocket.

The Guardians are once more joined by Nebula. I am unsure if space dog Cosmo was already in an earlier volume.

As we know the “Guardians” films this one is a bit more on the friend-group comedy side of the Marvel films.

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 – James Gunn (2017)

The new troupe of heroes from ‘vol. 1‘ have become a team. The talking tree Groot has been replaced by a baby tree, but for the rest, the group remained the same. Even the villains partly did.

The movie is more to the comedy side of the Marvel franchise with silly jokes and screwball humour. The adventure this time involves the father of Peter Quill who may not have such great plans for the universe.

So there is some humour, some drama, some action, a not-too-interesting story. A bit of a filler in the Marvel franchise perhaps. Not even an addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe it seems.

Not boring, but nothing that needs to be high up on your watch list.

Guardians Of The Galaxy – James Gunn (2014)

The Marvel franchise needed a couple of new heroes, so in “Guardians Of The Galaxy” we follow a bunch of space criminals who have to work together. Initially to break out of prison, but then to save the universe.

The only link to the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” appears to be that the globe that everybody is after, contains one of the “infinity stones”. Needless to say that some bad guy wants that globe to destroy the universe and the group of new heroes thinks that is a bad idea.

We have a ‘normal man’, a green woman, a rodent with a walking tree and a hulk type brute. Strange characters reminding a bit of Star Wars fill the screen. There is of course action, but all very ‘spacey’. Nothing too great.

Thor: The Dark World * Alan Taylor & James Gunn (2013)

Obviously a follow up of the 2011 “Thor” film, but with other directors. Reading back my review of the other “Thor” film, I was not too enthousiastic, but this time I was! I do not know if it was the big screen, the 3D (which did not add all that much, but still) or the alcohol consumed prior to and during the film, the “The Dark World” is a true spectacle. The actors are the same so/and ‘mythological wise’ there is a lot to complain, but there are also nice, subtle mythological references. Besides, since the heathen Gods are victorious, this is a nice way to introduce new folks to the old ways, or…?
This time the dark alfs (leaded by a character with an unnorse name Malekith) try to take advantage of an allignment of the nine worlds. Thor’s earthly girlfriend of the first film stumbled upon the powerfull force called “aether” and Thor has to come and save her. Jane is taken to Asgard where war is waged.
Impressive scifi computer graffics and a lot of spectacle make “The Dark World” an entertaining Hollywood production. Do not get annoyed too much about the mythological inconsistancies, just enjoy the references that are there. Not a must-see, but a good option when you are up for some action spectacle.