Joss Whedon vs James Gunn

[Solid]

Joss Whedon:

The Avengers (2012)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

James Gunn

Guardians Of The Galaxy (2014)
Guardians Of The Galaxy: Vol. 2 (2017)

Which one handled their duo better

 

[NotNickFury]

Looking at this mostly through the sequels, even though Age of Ultron doesn't actively annoy me the way that Guardians Vol. 2 does, I have to go with Gunn. His style, voice, and writing are consistent between both films, even if I think he overdoes it in the sequel. The same can be said for Whedon, but the first Avengers is very much in line with his style and writing.

He had a much bigger task to deal with coming in, with Avengers being only his second film after Serenity, but Age of Ultron does reek of meddling and overstuffing in a way that Guardians Vol. 2 doesn't. As a result, Whedon's style, I feel, often gets lost in favor of servicing future films, rather than servicing Age of Ultron itself.

Again, as much as I dislike Guardians Vol. 2, I can safely say that is James Gunn's film, but Age of Ultron doesn't have as much of Whedon's flavor as the first Avengers film does, so I give it to Gunn.

 

[Solid]

I'd say that both Age of Ultron and Guardians of Galaxy Vol. 2 are underrated.

I give the edge to Whedon because he also has writing credits in other films and shows.

 

[Filmfreak]

For me it's:
Avengers
Guardians 2
Guardians
Ultron

The first Avengers movie is definitely the best but the second is by far the worst. So if we're talking MCU I'd say Gunn is certainly more consistent.

 

[Mandon Knight]

OOH great, a misogynist verses a pedophile endorser.....how delightful.

 

[Docker2.0]

OOH great, a misogynist verses a pedophile endorser.....how delightful.

 

[Mandon Knight]

What guy would that be....?

 

[henzINNIT]

Seeing this thread title was triggering ha.

Avengers > GOTG > AOU > GOTGv2

I voted Joss Whedon. I do miss the ignorant days of just watching and enjoying Buffy. It sucks that he was an ********. Overall he was still a pretty great writer though. Created many characters and stories I enjoyed. Mostly just a competent director.

James Gunn is a better director, but a worse writer in my opinion. Guess we'll wait and see on his character. He seems more popular with his actors and colleagues. Who even knows anymore, everyone is a professional liar.

 

[Docker2.0]

What guy would that be....?

 

[Mandon Knight]

I just know which way my moral compass points, is all, and it ain't in favour of these two guys.

 

[MilkmanDan]

I'm not sure it's fair to lump those two together morally speaking. James Gunn's big scandal* was that he made a bunch of dumb edgelord jokes about subject matters that a lot of people feel should not be joked about.

*At the time of this post. Please, keep that in mind if this thread gets resurrected few years from now when it's discovered that James Gunn sells organ transplants on the black market.

 

[noob]

Guardians of the Galaxy > The Avengers
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 > Age of Ultron

 

[psylockolussus]

Honestly after what I've read about them... I can't pick. I never liked James Gunn from the start. I thought there was just something off about him. Then of course, his old tweets resurfaced... so yeah I am never going to like that guy.

Joss Whedon, I have only seen Serenity the movie/Dollhouse before Avengers. It didn't really provoke any strong emotions out of me. Avengers 1 and 2 have a lot of moments that I found cringey. Never liked his style on Avengers especially the humor and dialogue. Then all those behind the scenes stories are just awful to read.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

James Gunn.

The question was who is a better filmmaker not who would you invite to Sunday brunch. Get over yourselves.

 

[Sithborg]

They are different kinds of terrible in terms of filmmakers.

 

[Mandon Knight]

James Gunn.

The question was who is a better filmmaker not who would you invite to Sunday brunch. Get over yourselves.

Okay, they are both sh*t.

 

[Filmfreak]

I know it has become the cool thing to hate on both, especially Whedon, as of lately, but they're/were both actually really talented filmmakers. Whedon's character drama in his TV shows has been one of the best I've seen in any medium and he had been an extremely innovative creator, while Gunn has a unique style that may not be a fit for everyone but brings good ideas and personal imprint to the table. I think they both probably work better outside the MCU.

 

[Sithborg]

Whedon is a terrible filmmaker. His talents are in TV. Which as dear Alan Taylor has shown, does not necessarily translate. His films are bit television movies. Gunn's issues are very different.

 

[Filmfreak]

If by being terrible someone can deliver films like the first Avengers movie, Serenity and Cabin in the Woods (in case we are counting scripts) then I wish more people were as terrible filmmakers as Whedon. But yeah, I agree, his TV resume is far more original and consistent.

 

[Primal Slayer]

I'd probably go with Whedon even though they pretty much just copy/pasted their work for Avengers/JL and GoTG/TSS. As a filmmaker when Whedon is good, he is fairly great but when he's bad....he's very mediocre.

 

[Wolvieboy17]

I feel like I've gotta go James Gunn. Even though Suicide Squad was a bit too nihilistic tonally for me, as a film maker I think he's just got more range and we've seen him really experiment and try new things.

Whedon I kinda feel like peaked with Avengers 1, which even then was like the culmination of a lot of his other work, but it definitely feels like all his most interesting work is behind him and a lot of that has already aged very badly.

Also I primarily used to love Whedon for his writing first and foremost and it just hasn't really grown. But meanwhile, we've seen dozens of Whedon copycats and his schtick just doesn't feel that unique anymore.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

Okay, they are both sh*t.

Honestly after what I've read about them... I can't pick. I never liked James Gunn from the start. I thought there was just something off about him. Then of course, his old tweets resurfaced... so yeah I am never going to like that guy.

Joss Whedon, I have only seen Serenity the movie/Dollhouse before Avengers. It didn't really provoke any strong emotions out of me. Avengers 1 and 2 have a lot of moments that I found cringey. Never liked his style on Avengers especially the humor and dialogue. Then all those behind the scenes stories are just awful to read.

Just out of curiosity do you guys feel the same about Bryan Singer?

 

[psylockolussus]

Just out of curiosity do you guys feel the same about Bryan Singer?

I never particularly cared about Bryan Singer. There was something off about him. I just wanted a good film out of the X-Men. Aside from the lawsuits, there were also plenty of reports/talks that he was unprofessional on set while filming x2/Apocalypse. I don't think I want that guy to be attached to any film again.

 

[TheVileOne]

I still think Avengers is a great and special film. Joss Whedon's personal life and past transgressions aside.

I thought Avengers was special because it finally sort of captured that classic iconic Marvel comic book style on the big screen in a way that no other comic book hero did onscreen before. I think the previous X-Men movies had their good points now and again, but they were always so limited by their budget. They were dark and drab. They lacked any sort of color. I wanted to see heroes working together onscreen fighting monsters and bad guys.

It felt like it both embraced its comic book roots and also elevated the source material and gave us something we've never really seen before. I can nitpick about a bunch of different things, but we had Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk all working together and looking cool. Not to mention an amazing score by Alan Silvestri. You can probably critique and comment a lot of score issues in the MCU, but Silvestri always nailed it with his work.

Other than Hawkeye and Nick Fury, they also wisely avoided a really awful post-modern take like Ultimates.

Had they used Ultimates as the basis of Avengers, the movie would've flopped.

I like Guardians of the Galaxy for different reasons. It's not the same type of film. I don't get all this hatred and negativity for James Gunn. I don't think Gunn is perfect or anything, but I greatly respect that James Gunn took very goofy and weird characters like Rocket and Groot and made them work onscreen. And he did that by making them real characters and not just gimmicks. They weren't just cookie-cutter critters or a way to show off some awesome CG effects.

I don't think it has to be a competition. I love both films.

 

[Erzengel]

Avenger is genre defining and as much as I like Guardians, it's hard squeezing that in my Top 5 even just for the MCU.