Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Guns Akimbo Blu-ray Movie Review

Where's Scott Pilgrim when you really need him?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 9, 2020

For perfectly understandable reasons, and for better or worse, you may always and forever associate Daniel Radcliffe with the Harry Potter: Complete 8-Film Collection, though Radcliffe has not exactly been shy about trying to at least partially erase the indelible memory of the famed wizard from his audience’s mind with a rather staggeringly diverse array of roles he's portrayed both during the production of and then subsequent to the Harry Potter films. Among Radcliffe’s interesting list of credits are stage appearances in both Equus and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, but it’s really some of his choices for film roles where Radcliffe’s ambitions to be “more” than simply Harry Potter might be more evident. Included in Radcliffe’s sometimes rather outré post-Harry Potter filmography are such often odd films as (in no particular order) The Woman in Black, Horns , Victor Frankenstein, Kill Your Darlings, What If, Swiss Army Man, Jungle and Beast of Burden. Guns Akimbo probably qualifies as one of the weirder entries in Radcliffe’s cinematic CV, and my hunch is it’s going to be one of those films that people are either going to love or hate, based on certain tolerance factors they may have.

If, as was famously explained, “the first rule of Fight Club is: you do not to talk about Fight Club,” the purveyors of an online game called Skism might be called rule breakers (at the very least). Skism offers online battles to the death, in what is kind of an internet version of the “game show” offered in The Running Man, in that the combat is presented as “entertainment” for the masses. Skism’s online presence of course attracts hordes of people, many of whom in typical online forum fashion, post their reactions to what’s going on. Into this fray stumbles hapless coder Miles (Daniel Radcliffe), who, nursing wounds from a stalled career and a less than satisfying romantic life, finds what little pleasure he can in taunting people on the Skism site, kind of like a troll trolling other trolls.

Unfortunately, Miles, though evidently versed in at least some computer knowledge, apparently didn't think to use a proxy server when he took on Skism, and he soon regrets it. Skism's angry head honcho Riktor (Ned Dennehy) shows up at Miles' apartment with a coterie of Riktor's goons, leading to the ultimate set up of the film: upon awakening from a smackdown from his new nemeses, Miles discovers his hands have been nailed to machine guns (in what may or may not be a gruesome allusion to being crucified), and that he's the latest "contestant" on the show, tasked with fighting Skism's ace assassin Nix (Samara Weaving).

Guns Akimbo plays in a way like a more life and death gamer version of Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, at least in terms of its portrayal of a kind of hapless shlub being subsumed by a variety of external forces and environments beyond his control. Guns Akimbo also offers the often snarky reactions to the “gameplay” between Miles and Nix, something that provides both a graphical elements as well as some passingly effective humor.

The film obviously is straining credulity almost from the get go, but the seeming mismatch between the relative “killing” skill levels of Miles and Nix just pushes this film over into total ridiculousness. It’s a bit odd that the film actually takes time to document what an insane (in more ways than one) assassin Nix is, only to have Miles survive her onslaught over and over again once those two are ostensibly enjoined in battle.

There’s a whole subplot that accrues featuring Miles’ would be girlfriend Nova (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), whom Riktor predictably kidnaps to make the game more interesting. That in turn leads to a another completely predictable moment when two combatants kind of magically decide to put aside their differences and work together toward a common goal. A lot of Guns Akimbo is frenetically hyperbolic, and that includes not just a plot on adrenaline, but a peripatetic camera style that is frequently literally all over the place, giving the film some implied momentum, even if the actual plot doesn’t generate a ton of forward movement.

Guns Akimbo Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Guns Akimbo is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists RED cameras and a 4K DI in their datapoints for the film. Whatever you may feel about the film itself, the film is often a stylistic tour de force, with director Jason Lei Howden and director of photography Stefan Ciupek indulging in all sorts of tricky camera moves that keep the framings in this film consistently off kilter. Through the many twirling, whirling, slightly askew moments, detail levels remain surprisingly strong, and some effects, like the horrifying way Miles' hands are attached to the guns, will probably provoke squirms in more squeamish viewers. The film doesn't necessarily rely on intense gradings for mood, but there are some evocative sequences that look like they've been lit in deep blues and purples, and even those choices don't significantly deplete fine detail levels. There's quite a bit of "meta" data here, in terms of supposed drone coverage of events as well as the online component that sees viewers' comments flit by.

Guns Akimbo Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Guns Akimbo features a rather aggressive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that gets a lot of energy from the chase aspect of the film, as well as a couple of set pieces, including the big opening sequence that introduces Nix and just how single minded she can be in attempting to take her enemies out. The film utilizes well placed ambient environmental effects throughout several outdoor scenes. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track.

Guns Akimbo Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Writer / Director Jason Lei Howden


• Welcome to Skizm (1080p; 13:49) is a generalist EPK with some fun interviews, including Jason Lei Howden talking about how he taped water pistols to his hands one day to see how much he could get accomplished.


• Nix vs. Dane Stunt Sequence Exploration (1080p; 4:04) has side by side comparisons of so-called "Stunt-Viz" next to the completed film.

Guns Akimbo Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Howden is a stylist, to be sure, but this film, despite having a lot of noise and fury, is still kind of curiously listless. Radcliffe is fun, but this is probably more of a showcase for Weaving, who is kind of lovable in a completely gonzo way. This was a near miss for me, but others may be able to overlook some of its perceived shortcomings more easily than I was. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.