Guns Akimbo (2020) Review!!

Synopsis – A guy relies on his newly-acquired gladiator skills to save his ex-girlfriend from kidnappers.

My Take – It truly is astonishing to see how Daniel Radcliffe‘s career trajectory has so drastically changed ever since he became a global phenomenon by playing the role of Harry Potter over the course of eight films. Making a sincere attempt to not get typecast in a certain genre, Radcliffe has since then experimented with straight up horror (The Woman in Black), fantasy horror (Horns, Victor Frankenstein), dramas (Kill Your Darlings, Jungle), romantic comedy (What If?), thrillers (Imperium, Beast of Burden), an antagonist in an blockbuster sequel (Now You See Me 2) and played a magical corpse to much acclaim in Swiss Army Man, one of the strangest and most enjoyable films of all time.

Here, he changes track once again, drawing on all the charm, physicality and intensity that served him well in those earlier roles, in a bonkers action film that could have easily been titled ‘the film where Harry Potter has guns bolted to his hands.’

Here, New Zealander visual-effects-specialist-turned-writer-director Jason Lei Howden, marks a return to big screen, following 2015’s Deathgasm, with a black comedy action rollercoaster that blends cartoonish violence and some social commentary of modern society into the mix. And despite favoring stylish camera movement over letting you see the action, the film manages to be a non-stop thrill ride that’s more in the vein of an enjoyable computer game than a film, that tends to remind you of The Running Man and Edwards Scissorhands, with a side-order sensibility borrowed from the Jason Statham led Crank films, mainly due to its overflowing crass, unapologetically offensive dialogue and hilariously unflinching violence and gore.

This definitely is Radcliffe as we have never seen him before!

The story follows Miles (Daniel Radcliffe), a programmer who spends his days working as a developer on a game called Nut Bust 2, while accidentally liking photos posted by his ex-girlfriend, Nova (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), but at nights, living alone in a slum apartment, guzzling beer, he spends much of his time rage-posting online, especially trolling the trolls on social media. During one such drunk rampage he logs on to Skizm, the latest underground, viral, death game in which people are pitched to fight each other to the death.

Expostulating his disgust with the site, Mile begins trolling the members of the site, and doesn’t stop even when the admin popups up. However, in his state, Miles forgets to hide his IP address behind proxies, and wakes up to a blunt door-kick to the face.

After pathetically attempting to apologize to the crudely tattooed Skizm leader, Riktor (Ned Dennehy), he’s drugged, operated on, and wakes to find semi-automatic pistols bolted into both his hands. With 50 bullets in each gun, Miles is told he must kill his Skizm opponent Nix (Samara Weaving) to earn his freedom, who so happens to be an invincible, walking cocktail of narcotics and the most popular contestant. Unfortunately, Miles is absolutely useless at almost everything, and proceeds through an endless gauntlet of slapstick failures while evading the very persistent and highly accurate Nix.

Written and directed by Jason Lei Howden, the film’s irony rests on the premise of video game violence extending into real life. A recurring montage of rapt viewers seeks to drive home the point that we’re all desensitized witnesses to violence in any form. This is a ridiculous escapist film with an unarguably divisive writing and general tone, as it offers crude characters with an irreverence for life, slipshod slapstick comedy and an anything goes shoot-em-up romp mentality that at times is diverting.

However, the stoic consistency in presentation is what keeps the film engaging, even when the jokes or one-liners feel nauseatingly overdone. Despite its lack of originality, this might as well be Crank 3, the second sequel which we never got. The film presents violence for entertainment, then changes the dynamic by having the Troller of Internet Trolls become the reluctant hero.

Here, director Howden also puts his leading man through all manner of indignities, which are obviously meant as light relief between the violence. These scenes inspire genuine laughs, as when he prevails upon a homeless person to help him eat a soggy hot dog he finds in the gutter. In a bathrobe and boxers, with fuzzy bear claw slippers, Miles flees through the streets as his gladiatorial opponent, Nix, pursues him beneath the constant eye of Skizm’s live-streaming drones, all while he attempt to check his phone or pull up his pants with his handguns attached hands.

Nevertheless, the film has its failings. For starters, the film does suffer a bit in the action department, mainly due to its camera work and frantic editing, which lessens some of the impact and makes the sequences hard to follow in spots. I also felt like the film in an effort to get a message across about the evils of social media, got lost in the insane gunfights and one-liners.

However, despite that the film remains enthralling largely thanks to the phenomenal performances by Daniel Radcliffe and Samara Weaving. Radcliffe is truly delightful here as the loner come wanted man come vigilantly. There is such weird energy to him, but it fantastic to watch at times as he completely throws himself into this role. To counterpart this, we have Weaving as this unhinged murderer on a rampage but then there is also something clearly wrong with her. While polar opposites in character, the two have brilliant on-screen chemistry, with Nix’s ultra-crass ultra-violent nature highlighting the average-guy terror which pours from Miles in every moment.

Ned Dennehy too is a scenery-chewing delight in his role, while Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Rhys Darby, Grant Bowler, and Milo Cawthorne, are likable in supporting roles. On the whole, ‘Guns Akimbo’ is a wildly entertaining action comedy filled with insane characters that are hard to resist.