James Gunn
205 connections found
View:
Connections, in both directions
The Dirty Dozen (1967)
Directed by Robert Aldrich
influenced The Suicide Squad (2021)
Plot Themes Visuals
Indeed, Gunn homages the narrative structure of numerous “infiltrate and escape” ‘60s blockbusters, with The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Where Eagles Dare (1968) being the biggest touchstones.
Fan enthusiasm has been high leading up to the premiere of The Suicide Squad , James "Don't Call It a Reboot" Gunn's band-of-misfit-supervillains homage to the classic 1967 film The Dirty Dozen (among many other influences).
Taking heavy inspiration from the war films of the 1970s (the original Inglorious Bastards, The Dirty Dozen ) with a heaping helping of The A-Team thrown in, The Suicide Squad wastes no time throwing the viewer into the muck with its clown car of characters in an uproarious bait-and-switch opener involving the Squad’s initial storm into Corto Maltese.
It’s only been a few years since the original Suicide Squad theatrical release, so it undoubtedly feels too soon to revisit this concept, yet it does allow for Gunn’s version to largely dispense with reiterating the premise; it’s obvious that this is still a modernized, superhero-infused take on “The Dirty Dozen.”
Gunn takes inspiration for the film’s style from The Dirty Dozen and Kelly’s Heroes , Where Eagles Dare , and Platoon .
Everyone gets at least one ‘hero moment’, and the fairly rote subplot about military dissension in Corto Maltese even allows him to sneak in sociopolitical subtext about the dangers of imperialism into what’s a men on a mission movie in the vein of The Dirty Dozen or When Eagles Dare , but one that’s the unique and entirely singular vision of a filmmaker given the blank canvas on which to paint their bizarre, blood-soaked masterwork.
Star Wars (1977)
Directed by George Lucas
influenced Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Themes
Or Star Wars meets Flying High.
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.
Guardians of the Galaxy (Disney, Blu-ray+Blu-ray 3D, DVD, VOD) is based on one of the more obscure Marvel Comics to get the big screen treatment, but everything about the film suggests a filmmaker trying to recapture the sense of energy and color and sheer fun of Star Wars and the pop space opera.
With a healthy amount of references to Star Wars, allusions to things like The Wild Bunch and The Dirty Dozen, and way more jokes, heart, and character development than anyone could have imagined, Guardians is a hell of a fun two hours.
The screenplay boldly acknowledges the existence of both “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” – two obvious influences here – but it works in bringing Gunn’s passion for the material to the surface.
Blessed with a loose, anarchic B-picture soul that encourages you to enjoy yourself even when you're not quite sure what's going on, the scruffy "Guardians" is irreverent in a way that can bring the first "Star Wars" to mind, in part because it has some of the most unconventional heroes — would you believe a raccoon and a tree?
Thunderbolts* (2025)
Directed by Jake Schreier
influenced Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), The Suicide Squad (2021), Superman (2025)
Themes
It starts with the same party line that we saw in Thunderbolts*, that the public are bored with watching characters with super-powers…
…reboots of the Fantastic Four and Superman…
But Thunderbolts* isn’t really an action movie – it’s a character drama with a focus on healing what’s broken inside these individuals by making them part of something bigger than themselves, which calls to mind other Marvel teams like the Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers.
Slapping together a few of Marvel’s more street-level mercenary types might’ve worked if they’d gone full Guardians of the Galaxy mode — a movie grounded in real heart that actually took creative swings, like featuring a talking tree and his wisecracking raccoon bestie.
“Guardians of the Galaxy” already succeeded in getting a group of misfits together and making them seem like soulmates who belong together.
In the spirit of Marvel’s past breakout hit Guardians of the Galaxy, Thunderbolts* miraculously fosters attachment to characters…
The Fantastic 4: First Steps (2025)
Directed by Matt Shakman
influenced by Superman (2025)
Themes Plot
First Steps, like James Gunn's Superman – which will be referenced a lot in this review, considering they bear similarities in thematic and narrative story beats – immerses you in a world that has already been established…
The exception being the new Superman movie.
…with both “Superman” and “The Fantastic 4: First Steps” showing glimpses of just how beautiful and transportative these movies can be.
They turn against the FF just as earthlings turned against Superman in Gunn’s film.
They compare First Steps to DC’s Superman (2025) and discuss how each film hit them this summer.
It also just edges out comic book banner rival, DC Studios’ Superman, which began with a $56.1 million opening day, two weeks ago.
Supergirl (2015)
Directed by Jen Troy
influenced by Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Visuals Themes
It’s as if someone meshed together the aesthetics of Mad Max: Fury Road and Guardians of the Galaxy…
And when it comes, it’s impossible to avoid comparisons with Guardians Of The Galaxy. This is the closest DC has ever come to the irreverence of Marvel’s much-loved franchise, and it’s fuelled by a rip-roaringly swaggering turn from Jason Momoa as bounty hunter, Lobo.
What could have been a “Guardians of the Galaxy” style space romp is, instead, more of a mixed bag.
A common criticism thrown towards this movie is that it is visually similar to James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
It has a visual world similar to Guardians of the Galaxy, equally boring and stale humor, heavy use of popular music, and desperate moments where it tries to win our hearts with Krypto’s overly cute behaviors.
A touch of Guardians of the Galaxy there.
Superman (1978)
Directed by Richard Donner
influenced Superman (2025)
Themes Visuals Characters Music Plot
It’s bizarre to think that the right might have some claim over Superman because he was raised in the midwest and fights for the “American way.”
…the icy Fortress of Solitude just borrows the aesthetic of the 1978 Richard Donner film.
Comparing to other depictions of Superman…
Mix in some of Gunn’s trademarked goofy humour, and a riff on John Williams’ classic “Superman” theme and you’re left with a character-driven film that values uplift over angst.
This is not the best Superman film – that remains Richard Donner’s 1978 classic…
The best Superman movie in 44 years…
Flash Gordon (1980)
Directed by Mike Hodges
influenced Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Visuals
Gunn has cited Mike Hodges’s giddily beautiful Flash Gordon (1980) as a crucial inspiration , but I wouldn’t say Flash Gordon is packed with character.
This is consistent with the kitschfests that inspired the Guardians aesthetic: 1980s science-fiction delights such as Flash Gordon , Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension .
The whole thing recalls Mike Hodges’ 1980 cult classic Flash Gordon from a visual standpoint, a comparison I do not make lightly and mean as a major compliment, the relaxed devil-may-care style suiting Gunn’s wild child sensibilities perfectly.
The production design is likewise problematic, created with the kind of colourful artifice that recalls the operatic kitsch of the 1980 movie Flash Gordon .
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
influenced Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Themes Visuals
Here he borrows frankly and freely from Star Wars, as well as Raiders of the Lost Ark and other '80s classics, adding a large dose of the sick-and-twisted science-fiction humour familiar from Futurama or 2000 AD.
The film opens with a “Raiders of the Lost Ark” homage, as intergalactic thief Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) tries to heist a mysterious orb from a forbidden planet.
The roguish human played by Pratt is part Han Solo, part Indiana Jones — an opening scene in which he dances across a cave to "Come and Get Your Love" references the rolling boulder in the opening of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" — and Bradley Cooper's vivid voice acting makes for a persuasively misanthropic CGI raccoon.
(The moment in which he steals it is reminiscent of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which is fitting given Quill’s enthusiasm for pop culture.)
Much of Guardians of the Galaxy, in fact, is pitched at the tone of that much-debated scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, in which Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones, confronted by a sword-wielding assassin, calmly shrugs, pulls out his pistol and shoots the guy dead.
You can feel everything from Raiders of the Lost Ark to Star Wars and Back to the Future in Guardians 's DNA.
Eternals (2021)
Directed by Chloé Zhao
influenced by Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Themes Plot
Eternals goes out of its way to tell us how special and unique humans are compared to other species — a real “fuck you” to the MCU’s non-human heroes and characters despite Rocket’s arc in Guardians of the Galaxy delivering far, far more emotion than Zhao’s film can manage for all of its characters combined — but for all of the natural beauty that Zhao and cinematographer Ben Davis catch (and the CG wizards create), we see very little of humanity itself.
The last few minutes emit serious Guardians of the Galaxy vibes, and as much as I enjoy both of those two James Gunn–directed adventures, this is still a tonal shift I did not jibe with.
Chloe Zhao’s Eternals is Marvel’s latest foray into cosmic expansion, which started with the first Thor and continued into the Guardians of the Galaxy films, ultimately leading to the introduction of Thanos.
First seen and referenced in the two Guardians of the Galaxy movies, the Celestials seeded Earth’s core millions of years ago with a future new one of their own.
It’s good that Eternals tries to take on a more serious tone than the other films in the franchise, but ultimately, while Guardians of the Galaxy is like an ‘80s-themed rager in outer space, Eternals is an overcrowded, vibe-less party held in the middle of nowhere that everyone wishes they could leave.
And so the Marvel Cinematic Universe expands in a way it hasn’t since 2014’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” when joyous, self-deprecating humor propelled a merry band of misfits across the stars on their mission to save a star system.
The Toxic Avenger (1984)
Directed by Lloyd Kaufman
influenced Slither (2006), The Suicide Squad (2021)
Paying tribute to his Lloyd Kaufman roots with a shot in which The Toxic Avenger is on TV in the background, James Gunn's Slither is more in line with the hipster revisionism of his screenplay for Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead .
His screenplay is both a tribute to and a send-up of the gruesome 1980s Troma Pictures shockers he loves -- there's even a clip from the company's best-known film, "The Toxic Avenger" -- and his cast plays even the most ridiculous scenes with admirably straight faces, which makes the material that much funnier.
After homegrown talents like Sam Raimi, Stuart Gordon and Lloyd Kaufman (co-founder of Troma Entertainment) reinvigorated the genre in the '80s with Evil Dead II, Re-Animator and The Toxic Avenger respectively, audiences have generally had to look overseas for movies that brought both the funny and the scary.
Before breaking through in the horror realm as the screenwriter of 2004’s excellent Dawn of the Dead remake, James Gunn spent years toiling for Troma Entertainment, the New York company famous for campy, no-budget shockers like The Toxic Avenger and Class of Nuke ‘Em High .
Writer/director James Gunn cut his teeth with the Troma Studios filmmaking crew (“The Toxic Avenger,” “Tromeo & Juliet”), so naturally the camp factor in “Slither” is high.
However, Gunn — who even includes a clip from The Toxic Avenger — has crafted a much savvier, more professional film than anything his Troma compatriots ever managed.
Where Eagles Dare (1968)
Directed by Brian G. Hutton
influenced The Suicide Squad (2021)
Plot Visuals Themes
Indeed, Gunn homages the narrative structure of numerous “infiltrate and escape” ‘60s blockbusters, with The Dirty Dozen (1967) and Where Eagles Dare (1968) being the biggest touchstones.
Gunn takes inspiration for the film’s style from The Dirty Dozen and Kelly’s Heroes , Where Eagles Dare , and Platoon .
Cinematically, Gunn draws on all the gritty men-on-a-mission war movies of his childhood ( The Dirty Dozen , The Guns of Navarone , Where Eagles Dare ).
Suicide Squad (2016)
Directed by David Ayer
influenced by Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), The Suicide Squad (2021)
Themes Music Plot
In more recent years, he jumped strip to reimagine DC’s Suicide Squad division…
It could have been the scrappy, colorful, irreverent bastard cousin to Zack Snyder's lumbering, sludgy Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ; it could have been a funny, nothing-at-stake joy like Guardians of the Galaxy , Ant-Man , and Deadpool were for the Marvel Universe.
It's stitched together by an endless jukebox of everything from "House of the Rising Sun" to K7's "Come Baby Come," a soundtrack gimmick taken straight from "Guardians of the Galaxy" (which more successfully gave the superhero movie new moves).
In following the misadventures of a group of super villains who are forced to work together to defeat a powerful enemy, “Suicide Squad” is actually trying to be fun, or at least it’s trying to find the mix of daring and cheekiness that made “ Deadpool ” and “ Guardians of the Galaxy ” such twisted delights.
“The House of the Rising Sun” or “Seven Nation Army”), the songs helping to ground these superfreaks in the world as we know it (while, less helpfully, also confirming suspicions that the movie is DC’s response to “Guardians of the Galaxy”).
Then again, Vin Diesel gave life his animated character in “Guardians of the Galaxy” by repeating “I am … Groot.”
Iron Man (2008)
Directed by Jon Favreau
influenced Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Superman (2025), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Themes Visuals Characters
Marvel has Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, and others.
Superman (David Corenswet) landing, badly injured (by Superman standards) in Antarctica after a fight with the Hammer of Boravia, a man in an Iron Man-like armored suit who claims to represent the government of Boravia…
…planning to do for Batman and Superman what Marvel did over a decade ago for Iron Man and Captain America…
His Lex is akin to Tony Stark if he were hellbent on destruction.
The 2025 Superman movie feels every bit like DC Studios’ version of that initial foray into Marvel Studios and the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe.
There's no reason for that not to inspire cautious tiptoeing, for it not to motivate a precise tonal copy of what's worked in films like Iron Man and The Avengers , and ultimately for it not to lead to a zillion-dollar effort to ensure a solid, uninteresting base hit, creatively speaking.
The film is disgusting and, in its way, it's sad, too--and it's that element of the pathetic that reminded me the most of the tightrope described by Ron Underwood's cult classic Tremors.
The faint of heart should skip it, but if your guilty-pleasure tastes run to such storied horror-comedies as ''Re-Animator" and ''Tremors," here's your cup of extraterrestrial gastropod guts.
Slither calls to mind Tremors , Twin Peaks and Lake Placid as much as Night of the Living Dead .
Putting it into context, it's not as enjoyable as either Tremors (which resides on the pinnacle) or Shaun of the Dead, and is about on par with Eight Legged Freaks.
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Directed by Taika Waititi
influenced by Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Themes Characters
Yes, this latest "Thor" follows in the footsteps started by "Guardians of the Galaxy," "Deadpool," "Spider-Man: Homecoming," "Ant-Man" and "Doctor Strange" of not taking itself so damn seriously.
By digging into these weightier character issues without skimping on the comic relief, Waititi’s topsy-turvy ride into Thor’s homeworld of Asgard and the discontents it holds yields the best Thor movie in the series so far, and arguably the funniest Marvel movie in the studio’s cinematic universe too (at least until the next Guardians of the Galaxy comes out).
Ragnarok seems more self-aware than even Guardians of the Galaxy.
It’s a close cousin to “Guardians of the Galaxy,” a high-energy lark that occasionally makes time for monsters, battles, bloodletting and spectacular special effects.
And the decision to not set this film on Earth helps give it a slightly goofy, cosmic vibe which definitely evokes the "Guardians of the Galaxy" movies - right down to a mildly amusing, decidedly Groot-like character who teams up with the captive Thor.
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Directed by Irvin Kershner
influenced Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Themes Plot Visuals
In James Gunn's sequel to his swashbuckling space Western, the Guardians of the Galaxy do their version of "The Empire Strikes Back," complete with daddy issues but with a considerably more anarchic spirit and enough acerbic interplay among its interstellar gang to make Obi-Wan blush.
Reminiscent of The Empire Strikes Back in the way in which it breaks up the characters and only utilizes a handful of settings (albeit while telling a complete story), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is simply structured with dual plot narratives, but they're properly harnessed to really get the most out of the entire fantastic ensemble.
Troma veteran Gunn’s cheeky sensibility owed more to Buckaroo Banzai and The Ice Pirates than The Empire Strikes Back , his eye for colorfully kitschy alien worlds an invigorating change from Marvel’s usual office furniture aesthetic.
It’s particularly true for genre films where every sci-fi action sequel becomes ‘the series’ Empire Strikes Back, whether it fits or not.
Entre los fallos, tendría que resaltar que la jugada de Gunn en tirarse el “ Empire Strikes Back ” de separar a nuestro equipo, no resulta en una que completamente funciona.
2025’s Superman is a counter to the DCEU’s opening film, Man of Steel, a dreadful movie that fundamentally misunderstood Superman by lionising his Godhood…
I really like Man of Steel initially, but after watching it a few more times, I’m starting to like it less and less.
Zack Snyder’s MAN OF STEEL in 2013 was dragged for its excessive destruction of Metropolis for the better part of an hour, so why do the same thing here?
Gunn may be keen to move out of Snyder’s shadow and the fascistic embodiment of American exceptionalism behind…
…when it became clear that DC’s slapdash attempt at a coordinated ecosystem of linked projects—spearheaded by Zack Snyder’s highly revisionist and divisive Man of Steel—was a total bomb, it was once again time to start over.
Zack Snyder’s “Man of Steel” brought back the feeling.
Anyone can make a bad horror comedy, but Gunn, the screenwriter of the vastly underrated remake of George A. Romero’s seminal gutbuster-cum-social critique Dawn of the Dead, is not only an honest and heartfelt fan of horror films but also one heck of a writer: Gag all you need to while taking in this smart, ghastly, and often disarmingly hilarious homage to everything from Romero’s herky-jerky undead to Stuart Gordon’s moister moments in Re-Animator and From Beyond (not to mention Brian Yuzna’s adroit skewering of Republican family values in the little-seen 1989 nightmare-cum-satire Society), but by the time the final credits roll, damned if you’re not downright upbeat about the whole alien invasion situation on screen.
An affectionate homage to gooey, off-kilter horror movies (see: all things Troma, David Cronenberg's Shivers, Fred Dekker, The Blob, and so much more), this movie has one unexpected thing: A heart.
Gunn's goofy tale mashes together such classics as "The Night of the Living Dead" with "I Married a Monster from Outer Space," "The Blob" and David Cronenberg's "Shivers."
The closest it comes is a scene where a parasitic slug invades a bathtub — and that’s a riff on a well-known scene from David Cronenberg’s Shivers (aka They Came from Within).
But Gunn doesn't simply draw from "Invaders From Mars," David Cronenberg's "Shivers," "Alien," the George Romero zombie flicks, or the tawdry Troma horror movies just to demonstrate that he's seen the same horror pictures that we have (as the makers of the "Scary Movie" franchise do).
With additional nods to directors like David Cronenberg (a local shop is named after "Videodrome" antihero Max Renn) and Frank Henenlotter ("Basket Case"), "Slither" is a movie only true horror buffs can love.
The rape establishes, however, a certain lawlessness in Slither alongside a real interest in grotesque-ifying the American gothic in a new "household" that Grant (starting to look a lot like Belial from Frank Henenlotter's Basket Case--indeed, a bar in the film is called "Henenlotter's") sets up in an abandoned barn, bringing home the bacon, as it were, and spreading his seed in one explosive, crimson guignol of a sentient-slug ejaculation.
Grant turns into tentacled monstrosity (bearing a not coincidental facial resemblance to Belial from Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case— since the bar in the film is named Henenlotter’s) who then “impregnates” Brenda with a horde of nasty slugs bent on taking over mankind.
The town's beer joint is named Henenlotter's in honor of the director of the grindhouse classic ''Basket Case" (1982), while David Cronenberg's 1975 ''They Came From Within" gets a viscous shout-out.