Guns Akimbo (2019)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Miles (Daniel Radcliffe) is stuck in a dead-end job, still in love with his ex-girlfriend Nova (Natasha Liu Bordizzo). Unbeknownst to him, a gang called Skizm is running a deadly competition within his city in which complete strangers fight to the death for the entertainment of an online audience of millions. Miles soon finds himself caught up in the game and forced to fight in a battle to the death. Initially, Miles' lifetime of running from his problems pays off as he manages to elude his first opponent but when Nova is kidnapped, he must finally stop running and overcome his fears to fight for the girl he loves.
- Actors:
- Daniel Radcliffe, Samara Weaving, Rhys Darby, Ned Dennehy, Mark Rowley, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Hanako Footman, Set Sjöstrand, Racheal Ofori, Colin Moy, Jacqueline Lee Geurts, Jack Riddiford, Bella Padden, Ken Thomas, J. David Hinze, Ryan Hadaller, Murray Knock, Brandon Phillips, Kim Girschner, Janna Cachola
- Directors:
- Jason Lei Howden
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Comedy
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Reviews (1) of Guns Akimbo
A very bizarre but weirdly watchable film with a committed performance from Radcliffe - Guns Akimbo review by TB
When Crank first exploded onto our screens, it established a type of film where a famous A lister (in that case Jason Statham,) would literally be put in situations where the most outrageous things you could imagine happened. Whether it was doing coke off a filthy club toilet floor or running around in a hospital gown with a medically-induced erection, pretty much nothing was off-limits. And because of that crazy energy, Crank was an absolute blast.
It is very clear that Jason Lei Howden has not only seen both Cranks multiple times, but also loves that world and wants to put his own spin on it. The biggest asset he has, amusingly enough, is Radcliffe. As has been noted by pretty much everyone, since finishing Harry Potter, Radcliffe has done everything possible to distance himself/go in the opposite direction to his most famous role. It is a masterclass in not being typecast. Whether it's playing an undercover agent/Neo-Nazi, or a farting corpse guide, his work has been completely unique and massive praise should be given to him.
But as much as Radcliffe is game for the different situations he finds himself in, the film as a whole is too clunky to really smash it out of the park. Whereas Crank had a lightness of touch which meant everything worked and zipped along at a nice pace, this gets bogged down in story and exposition, none of which I really cared about. There is a very funny and interesting angle in terms of the film posing the question "What would happen if all the disgusting trolls on the internet finally got their comeuppance?" But this can't sustain an entire film.
But it does in a weird way work. Radcliffe is good in the action scenes and as much as it could be schlocky, there was just enough good stuff to offset the bad. It's not a film I'd watch again but it definitely is an interesting world to dip into, especially to see the ridiculous situations the child star of Harry Potter willingly put himself into.