GUNS AKIMBO (2019) - Movie Review

Director: Jason Howden
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Samara Weaving, Ned Dennehy, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Grant Bowler, Edwin Wright
Genre: Action, Comedy, Crime
Writer: Jason Howden
Runtime: 98 min
Rated: R for strong bloody violence throughout, pervasive language, drug use, sexual references and brief graphic nudity
Buy This Movie: Blu-ray (Amazon), DVD (Amazon), Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV

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Synopsis:

Miles is a video game developer who inadvertently becomes the next participant in a real-life death match that streams online. While Miles soon excels at running away from everything, that won't help him outlast Nix, a killer at the top of her game.

Review:

Just when you thought you've seen it all, a movie like "Guns Akimbo" comes along and blows your brains out. An ultra-violent mix of video game culture and dystopian satire, the movie stars Daniel Radcliffe as Miles, a nerdy Internet troll who pisses off the wrong people and finds himself thrown into the online arena of an underground deathmatch club with two guns grafted onto his hands and an unhinged sociopath called Nix (Samara Weaving) as his opponent in this fight to the death.

The movie aims for social commentary in regards to our bloodthirsty social media driven society, but the satirical elements are overpowered by the gleefully relentless carnage. Clearly inspired by movies like "The Running Man", "The Truman Show", "Gamer" and "Crank", writer/director Jason Howden ("Deathgasm") leans hard into frantic camerawork and editing, and the result is visually thrilling, but the breakneck pace becomes overbearing after a while.

Although gory and brutal, the violence is cartoonish and more fitting of a shoot-'em-up video game than a movie. It will surely satisfy action fans, but it does wear out its welcome well before the end credits. For a movie that is just 90-minutes long, it sure does feel longer. Maybe because it's hard to get invested in the story and characters, and the over-the-top action scenes only get you so far with a story that is flimsy and predictable, and juvenile humour that is all over the place.

At the very least, we do get some fun performances. Radcliffe shakes off his Harry Potter legacy in a role that feels different from anything he's ever done, and Ned Dennehy is pure delight, hamming it up as the villain. But the real scene stealer is Samara Weaving, damn near unregonizable as a neurotic deathmatch champion, showcasing incredible scenery-chewing zeal and some of the movie's best and funniest lines.

If you're in the mood for over-the-top mayhem that doesn't take itself too seriously, then "Guns Akimbo" is the perfect choice. On the other hand, if you want something a little smarter, watch Joe Carnahan's "Boss Level" instead.

SCORE: 6.5/10