Guns Akimbo is a weird movie, but that's to be expected. A year before the movie was released, images surfaced of Daniel Radcliffe in a bathrobe looking disheveled and holding two guns. It became a meme for a while, and generated a decent amount of interest in this oddball movie. It seems like it was based on a comic book or a video game, but it's a wholly original idea from Jason Lei Howden that draws inspiration from those sources. Daniel Radcliffe does a fantastic job playing Miles Harris, a millennial programmer who is forced into an unbelievable situation thanks to his big mouth.
Miles learns about an underground fight club called Skizm, which kidnaps known killers and criminals then forces them to fight to the death on camera. It's live-streamed across the world, and Miles trolls the admins by bad-mouthing the game. The admins then break into his apartment, drug him, and he wakes up with two pistols bolted to his hands. He is the new player, and the reigning champion Nix (Weaving) is supposed to kill him. What follows is an insane romp through the city as Miles tries to avoid Nix, the cops, and the people running Skizm after they kidnap his ex-girlfriend. My favorite part is easily Miles's interaction with a homeless man named Glenjamin, played by the hilarious Rhys Darby. Guns Akimbo is a decent action comedy that has a bit of an underwhelming and unsatisfying ending. The villain, Riktor (Dennehy), is cliched and flat, and the movie is built more on a series of moments instead of a consistently compelling narrative. But the performances are great, the violence is super over-the-top, and the film itself is certainly unforgettable. |