Movie Review: Guns Akimbo
A Daniel Radcliffe-laced Action Comedy movie that feels like the culmination of a caffeine rush on screen.
As an entertainment journalist, I try and carve out specific time to dedicate to the Newly Added Movies section of my various streaming services.
I’ve admittedly found myself disappointed with Hulu’s contribution as of late. Instead, the platform has been dubbed my unofficial ‘series and shows’ app for quite a while now; special shoutout to FX’s Snowfall(2017–2023) and The Bear(2022).
Did Daniel Radcliffe and Jason Lei Howden’s Guns Akimbo(2019), change this narrative of mine, no not really, but the film certainly had its moments and left some to be desired.
The film follows dead-end Game Developer Miles(Daniel Radcliffe) as he’s suddenly thrust into an all-out blood sport facilitated through this universe’s top online streaming app, ‘Skizm’. After being ambushed and knocked unconscious by the main antagonist and Skizm leader Riktor(Ned Dennehy), Miles wakes up to find two pistols drilled into his hands in a barbaric fashion. For the next hour and a half, Miles is pit-against Nix (Samara Weaving) in a fight to the death for Skizm’s viewers to see. Miles ultimately convinces Nix to team up with him and take out Skizm’s creators to save his ex-girlfriend, Nova( Natasha Bordizzo).
On the subject of ex-girlfriend i want to start off with something this film did right in my eyes. Guns Akimbo made its viewers certain it staying away from the trite guy gets the girl movie archetype. In fact, what I enjoyed most about the film was its element of comedic realism. In a begrudgingly funny falling action scene Miles literally explains to the audience he doesn’t get the girl because ‘in real life watching your ex pistol whip some guys teeth out gives you PTSD”. I found this to be more engaging and the film keeps this comedic undertone throughout.
Guns Akimbo wasn’t cookie-cutter as far as either of its subgenres go, both comedy and action. This film was bizarre. To put it as simply as possible at its highs this movie showed flashes of Edgar Wright’s “Scott Pilgrim Vs. The world”-esque tone. The movie incorporated video game/comic book-style animations in a few of its action sequences and fed its audience something generally humorous to watch throughout. The sharp turns and the over-the-top manner in which some of the scenes were shot also served well.
At its worst, Id argue parts of this movie could’ve been left out. Midway through the movie, we see Nix’s police officer -Dad trying to find and stop his daughter from competing in these games. Nix’s Dad detains Miles and in a brief unwanted backstory, we also learn Rikter is to blame for Nix’s apparent PTSD being that he murdered half of her family.
This could’ve been used as an avenue for more storytelling and a deeper climax. Instead, Nix’s father is almost instantly assassinated by a Skizm spy posing as his detective partner. This whole ordeal was used as justification for Nix to switch sides and focus on going after Riktor with Miles. But Nix should have already hated Riktor for what he did to her family long ago. What’s even more confusing is that Nix apparently hates what Skizm stands for throughout the entirety of the movie. We see that illustrated when she decimates one of Skizm’s drones with a machine gun when she notices it recording. For someone who seems to dislike Riktor and Skizm, she does an amazing job at making them famous. The story uses the idea of Skizm wiping her criminal record clean as a crutch for her subservience. However, Miles not being the first person that she found joy in hunting down kind of makes that reasoning fall through for me.
With that being said both characters have clear motives to topple the Skizm empire. So, why not use the motivation of this and, I don’t know; maybe the fact that these obviously antagonizing figures are forcing you to kill people against your will in front of the entire world, as means to team up?
However, this doesn’t take away too much from the story overall when you consider the reasoning behind making this type of movie.
Guns Akimbo wasn’t made to be dissected under a microscope of movie greatness. This film is for fans of ‘videogame-style violence’, per the film’s review on Rotten Tomatoes. And video game-style violence is exactly what you get, it appears that they intentionally shot and edited this film to cut away from a lot of the potentially gory details that could’ve been included. It sorted of reminded me of when video games give you the option to tone down or ramp up the blood and violence displayed. A neat touch in my opinion because it didn’t feel like violence overkill.
Make no mistake, however, because this film did earn its ‘R’ rating as a good portion of the film’s gory details were displayed.
As you can expect from a movie with the title ‘Guns Akimbo’, this is a very violent film that’s obviously looking to entertain a niche audience. Some of the character lines come with incessant vulgarities basically for the fun of it.
Overall Guns Akimbo is a fun watch if you’re looking for an action movie with familiar faces.
