James Gunn Thinks Guardians of the Galaxy Wouldn’t Work Rated R

The Suicide Squad is a movie I have a hard time picturing rated PG-13. Of course, these sorts of action movies always obtain more freedom thanks to an R rating. That said, they’re not always better because of it. The decision to make a movie match a certain rating is a tricky one. Not all directors get the chance to make a similar movie in two different styles and approaches. James Gunn, however, just got to make an R rated superhero flick about a gang of misfits coming together. Sound familiar? It begs the question whether or not an R rated Guardians of the Galaxy would work, but James Gunn doesn’t think so. Here’s what he had to say about the potential future of another Guardians movie with a more mature twist.

Guardians of the Galaxy Isn’t Meant to Be Rated R, James Gunn Says

Image Credit: Disney

If you think about it, Guardians and The Suicide Squad feature similar setups. A group comes together and fights for a shared cause. James Gunn experienced two different ways to approach this kind of story. In his latest effort, he goes all-out to use every bit of the R rating Warner Bros. gives him. As he explained in a recent Collider interview, however, that’s not always fitting for the story. Case in point: Guardians of the Galaxy.

Gunn explained in the interview that an R rated Guardians “just wouldn’t be what that show is.” The director and writer explained further that “Suicide Squad is something very different than that, and the stakes are different.” It’s a fair point. The tone of Guardians is much more innocent than The Suicide Squad. In our The Suicide Squad review, Joshua wrote about how the film feels like it shouldn’t work but does. It’s the anxious energy that surrounds the plot and radiates out of the characters that makes this possible.

In Guardians, the tone just isn’t all that anxious. If anything, there’s a slow and steady pace to the storytelling and characters. I like them both a lot as films and as stories the way they’re both presented. It’s keen of Gunn to note that more freedom within a film’s world doesn’t necessarily always mean you need to use every inch that’s given to you. Sometimes, a carefully crafted movie is better than something bold and brash just for the sake of being such.

Would you ever want to see an R rated Guardians film? Gunn won’t direct it, but someone could I guess. Let us know in the comments!

Featured Image Credit: Disney+

Taylor is the Gaming Editor of Comic Years and a lifelong fan of video games. He holds two degrees in Political Communication and wrote a Master's Thesis on resistance movements, race, and the exploitation of college athletes. His wife and two Toy Australian Sheppards keep him sane.