Guns Akimbo

Guns Akimbo

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Samara Weaving, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Ned Dennehy

Directed by Jason Lei Howden

It's no secret that today's day and age have been plagued by online trolls and cyber-bullying, two of the major downfalls in the technology age we live in now.  It's easy to be a "keyboard warrior" and to sit behind your computer and leave hateful, judgmental comments for the world to see and feel like you're a big man for doing it - but what happens when a real repercussion occurs for your fowl-mouthed comments?  For those on the receiving end you probably don't care too much about, but when it happens to you, you realize that your words have consequences, and sometimes you can't escape it.

Miles (Daniel Radcliffe) is your typical 21st century guy - living in an apartment filled with action figures, working at a dead-end job where his boss is your typical bro-guy who picks on nerds, still pining for his ex-girlfriend (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) over Instagram posts, and spends his free time playing video games.  He comes across Skizm - an online battle royale where people literally fight to the death for the entertainment of millions of viewers, run by the nefarious Riktor (Ned Dennehy).  The current reigning champion is Nix (Samara Weaving), an unhinged former convict who gleefully dispenses her competitors with ease.

Miles becomes obsessed with the show, and joins the others in leaving trolling comments on the site, and while he's obsessed, he comments on the needless brutality and wrongful behavior the site advertises, thinking he's safe behind the keyboard - until Riktor and his goons show up to his apartment and kidnaps him, bolting huge guns to his hands and forcing him to enter Skizm and fight Nix to the death for the entertainment of millions.

For awhile now there's been a meme of Daniel Radcliffe in pajamas on the street looking incoherent and holding guns:

I really had no idea what the memes were about - was Radcliffe suffering some mental distress in not being able to get an actual acting job after "Harry Potter?"  As it turns out, it was for his role in "Guns Akimbo," where his character literally has guns bolted to his hands and forced to fight to the death, so at least it wasn't some real-life mental distress.  Still, this meme has been on the Internet for a long time now, and it's surprising it took so long for this film to finally come out.

The film itself seems like a love letter to every ADHD person out there, as it's basically a nonstop sensual overload from start to finish.  From the stylish camera angles to the integration of computer font making you feel like you're watching a webisode to the ear-shattering rock music and copious amounts of gore, violence, and action, you can't really relax at any moment and fully comprehend what you're seeing - and your mind won't allow you to actually realize there's no real coherent story here, but just mindless action: and that's alright.

Radcliffe, along with many of his "Harry Potter" brethren, have had a rough go at maintaining their star power after the franchise ended (with the exception of Emma Watson), but he's been able to branch out from his child-star bubble and participate in daring, unique roles in films like "Horns," "Imperium," "Swiss Army Man," and "Beast of Burden," and "Guns Akimbo" adds to his unique repertoire.   He plays Miles as your general everyman twenty-something who you can easily relate to and provides some decently humorous moments that break the continued tension the film develops (especially when he tries to pee with guns bolted to his hands), as well as showcasing some great action prowess that you wouldn't necessarily expect Harry Potter to do.  Equally, Samara Weaving truly shines as Nix (even though comparisons to Harley Quinn is easily noted).  Much like her lookalike Margot Robbie, Weaving totally immerses herself in her roles where you don't even realize it's her, as she plays Nix with nihilistic glee as she easily dispatches everyone in her path with gusto and fantastic one-liners.

When it comes to the actual storyline, there isn't much there, but it still sends an important message about bullying online and being a "keyboard warrior" - well, it actually doesn't, but you can infer their message anyway.  Everyone is hard when they're in the safety of their home, but when they're thrust into the middle of the carnage, they're really scared little boys and girls who can't handle the pressure - until they do.  Then they're pretty much unstoppable.  So I guess the moral of the story is that you should branch out and do something new to come out of your shell?  Maybe?  Or maybe I'm just over-thinking it and need to just enjoy the mindless action and gore the film provides.  I'll go with that.

Daniel Radcliffe and Samara Weaving give fantastic performances in "Guns Akimbo," a truly modern story about the consequences of cyber-bullying - basically by showing if you bully something online, you might wake up with guns bolted to your hands.

The Score: A-