The manic and frenzied execution of ‘Guns Akimbo’ is reminiscent of video games and, to an extent, a less refined Edgar Wright in terms of fast editing and explosive, in-your-face visuals. Writer and director Jason Lei Howden explores a campy, almost comic-book like idea of an alternate world where a gang called Skizm live streams a deadly game where two strangers fight to the death in the city for views. It’s a not so subtle attack on a society that enjoys watching others suffer from the safety and distance of their phones and computer screens.
When Miles, a man in a dead end job who still harbors feelings for his ex-girlfriend Nova, decides to troll the viewers of Skizm, he puts a target on his head and finds the gang at his door the next morning. They knock him out, bolt guns to his hands, and match him to battle with the all-time champion, Nix.
What unfolds is a crazy game of cat and mouse as Miles runs away from the homicidal Nix, the police, and accidentally brings danger to his place of work and to Nova.
There’s very little in ‘Guns Akimbo’ that one is to take seriously. Even the casting of Daniel Radcliffe as Miles was an excellent choice because the image of a grown up Harry Potter losing his head over trying to open doors and use his touch screen phone without his fingers is such an out-of-the-box image that it takes awhile to grasp.
In fact, the film isn’t afraid to constantly remind us that he has guns bolted to both hands, making the simplest tasks next to impossible such as putting on pants, operating a cell phone, or even taking a piss.
Nix, played by the mercurial Samara Weaving, is a firecracker who is capable of taking immense amounts of damage and fire a large high-powered assault rifle without suffering from recoil, despite the gun being exactly her size.
There is no real profound reason as to why Skizm holds this live stream and how they monetize it. They just want to give people what they want: people murdering each other.
In fact, the movie tries to make jabs at society being hooked on their phones and invested into any sort of engaging content. Unable to hold on to his phone, Miles even realises that it’s his first time to really see the city because when he goes out, he usually has his face glued to his phone screen. As he tries to get away from Nix and weave through the city streets, he often collides with people on their phones.
How he got into Skizm’s radar in the first place was because he decided to troll the viewers and insult them for enjoying mindless violence. He calls them disgusting but, ironically, the film in itself is full of brutal violence and gory deaths.
There’s so much blood and it gets everywhere that it’s done for comic effect, and there’s a sense of self-awareness in how the film becomes the thing that it seems it is against. After all, the mild-mannered pacifist Miles eventually finds his inner strength and becomes a cold-blooded killer when Nova’s life is put in danger.
Radcliffe, Weaving, and Natasha Liu Bordizzo, who plays Nova, seem completely in sync with the film’s crazy energy that you can have fun watching them just wreak havoc through the city streets. The fast cuts and hard-hitting action is very reminiscent of video games; with corresponding sound effects to boot that tries to downplay all the unnecessary deaths and unrealistic fight scenes and shoot outs.
‘Guns Akimbo’ is offensive and an assault to the senses, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s fast-paced and action packed with a simplicity that is quite refreshing. It would be a mistake to take this film seriously. It has a character whose named F#@k Face, for goodness’ sake. Have fun with it if this is your sort of thing. Daniel Radcliffe as Miles will call you disgusting for enjoying it.
But how different is that from the world we are in now?
My Rating:
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