Most directors rarely talk about their favorite movies, and even fewer have any interest in creating endless lists of them, but James Gunn isn’t like most directors. The visionary behind the Guardians of the Galaxy series, and the upcoming DCEU movie The Suicide Squad, regularly posts lists of movies of particular genres or of his favorite directors on Facebook or Twitter.
In one of his most infamous tweets, he posted his 54 favorite action movies. While many of them are predictably violent and silly, some are classics that can be found on everyone’s shelves, and there are a few others that are massively surprising.
10 Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) - 8.1
Whether it was on-set tensions between cast members or accusations of the crew damaging the Namibian desert, there were so many things that went wrong during production of Mad Max: Fury Road. But people can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.
Mad Max: Fury Road is simply so exciting and fueled with adrenaline that it's impossible to not be entertained. From the movie's start to its ferocious finale, the action doesn’t stop for more than two minutes. The film sees dozens of absurdly designed characters drive through sandstorms while trying to brutally murder each other, and it’s just a joy from start to finish.
9 Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003) - 8.1
It’s hard to figure out which is less surprising, the fact that Quentin Tarantino is one of Gunn’s favorite directors or that Kill Bill is one of his favorite Tarantino movies. Kill Bill: Volume 1 is the most action packed Tarantino film, and it’s full of creative fights, vulgar beheadings, and people getting sliced and diced in so many unique ways. The movie is full of martial arts, which Gunn has been vocal and excited about in the past, and it’s so stylish too, which is why Volume 1 has a leg up over Volume 2.
8 V For Vendetta (2005) - 8.1
For a movie adaptation of a comic book whose creator said was unfilmable, it's remarkable that V for Vendatta is loved by almost everyone who has seen it, and that list includes James Gunn.
Though it’s one of the forgotten blockbusters from the 2000s, director James McTeigue adapted Alan Moore’s treasured source material brilliantly, as the masked anarchist and freedom fighter known only as V is depicted so well on screen. And, ever since V's mask was popularized with the movie, Guy Fawkes has become the symbol for Anonymous and other anti-establishment groups.
7 Die Hard (1988) - 8.2
It’s hard to find not only a director, but any cinephile in the world that doesn’t worship the ground that Die Hard walks on. It's the ultimate 1980s action movie in almost every way. As the film follows the average NY cop John McClane - who is completely out of his depth as he tries to take on a terrorist organization - there are actually a surprising amount of parallels between the movie and Guardians Vol. 1. Not only is Peter Quill out of his depth, just like McClane, but they are both well-oiled one-liner spitting machines.
6 North By Northwest (1959) - 8.3
When it comes to North by Northwest, James Gunn might have been taking some liberties with the term ‘action,’ as the Alfred Hitchcock classic is more of a spy thriller than anything. However, it may have arguably the best action sequence of all time, as an airplane chases down Roger Thornhill, creating one of the most iconic shots in cinema history. The film is one of the best cat and mouse chase movies ever made, and it’s such a unique outlier in Hitchcock’s filmography.
5 Oldboy (2003) - 8.4
Though there was an American remake released in the 2010s that people would rather not talk about, another of Gunn’s favorite action movies is the original South Korean Oldboy. Oldboy wouldn’t actually be considered by many to be an outright action movie, as it’s more of a neo-noir thriller than anything. But when action does arise, it’s brutal, and the audience feels every moment when a character’s bone cracks. One of the best scenes of the movie is the single shot fight sequence, which doesn’t use any camera trickery to hide any cuts.
4 Leon: The Professional (1994) - 8.4
To say that Leon: The Professional is one of Gunn’s favorite action movies isn’t exactly surprising, but it is fairly subdued compared to the high-octane action and grotesque violence that the director is often inspired by. Leon follows a Hitman who takes a young girl under his wing after her parents are murdered, and it makes for one of the unlikeliest team ups in cinema history. It’s arguably the greatest movie about a hitman of all time, and it was the breakout movie for both Jean Reno and Natalia Portman, who was just 11 years old at the time of filming.
3 Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981) - 8.4
As the beginning of what has become one of the most beloved movie franchises of all time, Raiders of the Lost Ark is beloved by many, and it can count James Gunn as one of its most fervent fans. He also isn’t alone in being a movie director massively inspired by the film.
As Raiders follows a handsome and charismatic lead character who trots around the world taking on armies of evil forces, that became the go-to adventure movie format ever since. In short, Raiders is basically the blueprint for all action adventure movies that have been released after the 80s, and its influence can even be seen in the Guardians movies.
2 Seven Samurai (1954) - 8.6
The three and a half hour epic Seven Samurai was directed by Akira Kurosawa, a filmmaker who has been cited by almost every director in the world as an influence, and James Gunn is no different. The story is set in Japan in the 1500s, and it’s about a group of farmers who hire seven assassins to protect their crops from bandits.
With Gunn being such a samurai fanatic - as other movies like Hero and Kill Bill are included on his 54 film list - it only makes sense that the best of them all is up there too. Though classics are often hard to find in the current streaming landscape, Seven Samurai is actually available to watch on HBO Max.
1 The Matrix (1999) - 8.7
Though the sequels have softened many of the fans’ strong feelings toward the original movie, The Matrix is undeniably one of the most influential action movies of all time, if not the most influential.
It combined a thought provoking and dense narrative with never seen before special effects, and though there were tons of clever sci-fi movies in the 90s, none had been as exciting or as impactful as The Matrix. The incredible action scenes seen in the Guardians series and in Gunn’s upcoming The Suicide Squad arguably wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for the foundation that was set by the 1999 classic.
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