Top 7 Karen Gillan Movies
From her time on Doctor Who to her horror movie Oculus, Gillan has starred in quite a few movies. She also wrote and directed The Party’s Just Beginning, a drama that gave audiences a look at mental health struggles. She has a lot of action in Gunpowder Milkshake, which sees her play an assassin who helps an Uber driver with his mission to save his kidnapped passenger. It’s an action packed film with lots of humor.
1. Avengers: Infinity War
The Avengers: Infinity War was a big movie that set the stage for Marvel’s Phase 3 and Gillan’s role as Nebula was a vital part of this. She fought alongside her Guardians of the Galaxy team against a villain known as Thanos. He wanted to collect the Infinity Stones which would wipe out half of the universe. This was an exciting and emotional movie.
This is the sequel to 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy and continues with the story of the team’s struggles. It also shows Star-Lord dealing with his father and the addition of Ego to the group. The movie also sees Nebula struggling against her vicious form and reflects her character’s growth.
2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Karen Gillan is best known for her role as Nebula in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. The lookmovie film follows space adventurer Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) as he rallies his troop of galactic misfits to save the universe from the villain Ronan the Accuser. The movie features the usual flair of a Marvel movie and is filled with action and unique characters.
Vol 2 takes the Guardians to Knowhere, a giant planet made of a dead God’s head. It’s home to the gang: Rocket (Bradley Cooper), the still-evolving cyborg assassin; Gamora (Zoe Saldana); Mantis (Pom Klementieff); and Drax (the always-superb Dave Bautista). They’re all battling their own personal demons – Star-Lord is mourning the death of his father Ego, Gamora is still angry with her mother and trying to reconcile the person she was with the stranger everyone else seems to remember, and Gillan’s arc as a vengeful wounded warrior is a real standout.
3. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Gillan first gained fame for her work as Amy Pond on Doctor Who but she has since built a career with some of Hollywood’s biggest productions. Her movies include a lot of action and sci-fi but she also has a few dramas in her filmography too. She is set to reprise her role as Nebula in the next Avengers movie and has a couple of other MCU films on the way.
4. In a Valley of Violence
After her wildly popular stint as Amy Pond in Doctor Who, Scottish actress Karen Gillan has been building up a filmography that has taken her from horror to fantasy to sci-fi. She gained critical acclaim for her roles in Oculus and The Party’s Just Beginning, but has really made a name for herself playing the villainous Nebula across the Marvel Cinematic Universe and starring as Ruby Roundhouse in Jumanji.
While the movie might not be as high octane as other action films that feature her, it’s a good showcase of the acting talents that the underrated actress has. Despite the low-key approach, In a Valley of Violence is still a compelling and well-made western with great performances from Ethan Hawke and Karen Gillan.
5. The Big Short
For Gillan’s theatrical directing and writing debut, she took on a darker role than usual. The film follows a hedonistic twenty-something who can’t seem to pull her life together. She drinks too much, sleeps with the wrong men, and inevitably ends up in an emotional wreck. She is a familiar character type from countless millennial indie movies.
However, the movie still works despite its heavy subject matter thanks to its compelling performances and direction from Gillan. She shows her range in the film and proves she is more than just a pretty face.
6. Oculus
Gillan has been acting since she was a child, but her career really took off after she appeared in Doctor Who for approximately three seasons. She starred as Amy Pond alongside Matt Smith and Arthur Darvill before landing the role of Nebula in Marvel movies such as Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Infinity War. She also appeared in films such as Gunpowder Milkshake, Dual, and the short-lived ABC sitcom Selfie.
Oculus is a horror film about a mirror that is haunted by evil. It follows a brother and sister who have a history with the mirror. Tim (Brenton Thwaites) is recently released from mental hospital and convinces his sister Kaylie (Karen Gillan) to reunite with him to confront and destroy the evil in the antique mirror.
7. The Party’s Just Beginning
Before making her name as one of Marvel’s most beloved heroes as Nebula, Karen Gillan starred in a series of small and medium films. From the horror flick Oculus to the dramas The Big Short and In a Valley of Violence, this list features some of the best movies starring this Scottish actress.
The Party’s Just Beginning is a 2018 indie film that was written and directed by Gillan. In this coming-of-age drama, Gillan plays Liusaidh, a young woman struggling with depression and nihilism following her friend’s suicide. Her performance is a stark departure from her typically cheerful roles and shows new dramatic depths in this gritty film.