Less than a month after the news came out that Universal was cancelling the release of The Hunt, TIFF saw the release of not one, but two movies about people hunting people. One of them has a message to tell, the other is a hyperactive, non-stop series of action set pieces that takes the people-dying-for-sport sub-genre made famous by movies like The Running Man, Battle Royale, Death Race and more, and plays it through a “Grand Theft Auto” simulator. The result is Jason Lei Howden’s dumb but fun follow-up to Deathgasm, Guns Akimbo.
Daniel Radcliffe has spent his years post-Harry Potter taking on some of the most interesting roles a young actor could take, acting in Horns, Swiss Army Man, Imperium, and more. Now he takes on the action genre with a role that is very much against type, yet a perfect continuation of the fun and bizarre roles he’s done after putting his wand down. Radcliffe stars as Miles, a video game developer who spends his nights trolling trolls on comments sections like that of Skizm, a game live-streamed to thousands of fans that involves illegal death-matches. When Miles pisses off the wrong troll, the head of Skizm, Riktor (Ned Dennehy), forces Miles to let go of the armor that is anonymity and fight in the game. How he accomplishes that? By literally bolting guns to both of Miles’ hands and announcing that his next opponent is reigning champion, Terminator-like killing machine, Nix (Samara Weaving).
From there, Guns Akimbo tries to say something about the dangers of trolling and hiding behind a keyboard, and about current streaming culture and bloodsport as entertainment. The problem is that it never really says anything, and it dives so deep into the carnage of its premise that the satire element loses all potency. If you want to comment about how we are obsessed with violence and how that’s wrong, have your movie be more than just a fun series of violent fights and deaths.
That being said, Jason Lei Howden crafted one hell of a fun action movie that runs to one explosive action set piece after the next. Some may find it very repetitive, but Howden’s framing of the set pieces as music video-like sequences based by familiar songs keeps the blood pumping, and Stefan Ciupek’s dynamic camera movements make the action stay fun even if it’s just the same style over and over. Ciupek shoots the film like you’re using the “Free-roam spectator” mode in an FPS game.
The performances go a long way in elevating this film beyond a series of shootings with terrible CGI blood. Samara Weaving keeps showing that she’s one of the best genre actors around and deserves all the great roles out there, with a performance that relies on presence over dialogue and completely owning that presence. As for Radcliffe, he completely nails the absurd note of the film and then physical comedy of Miles’ role. The movie gets a lot of mileage from simply watching Miles trying to do mundane tasks like putting on clothes, making a call on his phone, going to the toilet – all while having guns bolted to his hands. No matter how long it drags on, Radcliffe makes sure his misadventures remain hilarious.
Jason Lei Howden is clearly inspired by action movies of the ‘80s, especially Verhoeven thrillers like Robocop. Sadly, Guns Akimbo never reaches those highs, but it succeeds at being a high-energy shoot-em-up, a non-stop action movie that’s perfect for the midnight crowd.
