Review: Guns Akimbo

Release date: February 28, 2020
Running time: 95 minutes
Starring: Samara Weaving, Daniel Radcliffe, Natasha Liu Bordizzo 

Guns Akimbo might be the best video game movie ever made, or at least the one that feels most like a video game.  Miles (Radcliffe) becomes an unwilling participant in a real life fight to the death called Schizm.  Schizm forces two individuals to fight it out and broadcasts this online, to the delight of thousands.  So when Schizm chooses Radcliffe and literally bolts guns to his hands, he has to quickly learn how to play this game and avoid getting killed.  

The premise of this film is ridiculous, but it also doesn't sound much different than a mid tier video game, which is definitely by design.  Guns Akimbo embraces this aspect and runs with it.  There are video game inspired music and sound effects throughout.  Often times the camera will cut to what looks like a first person perspective.  And some of the sequences and fight scenes seem to come straight from a video game.  Additionally, the lighting uses a lot of colored lights that give splashes of bright color to scenes, another effect that seems straight out of a game.  On top of this, many character make video game references that are on point and funny.  And the acting is very over the top, but also enjoyable.  Both Radcliffe and Weaving do a fantastic job as the two main characters; Radcliffe an unwilling normal guy forced into this life or death situation and Weaving as a seasoned killing machine with not a care int he world.  

However, Guns Akimbo is not without its faults.  First and foremost, the film relies heavily on CGI for a lot of the effects, leading to unrealistic looking (more so than you would expect) gun fights and blood effects.  The blood, the bullet casings, the fire are all clearly CGI and it really detracts from what should be very enjoyable fight scenes.  Additionally, although the story is ridiculous and enjoyable, it has some very convenient plot points that are thrown in to connect characters and move the story along.  But that being said, Guns Akimbo is still plenty of ridiculous fun. 

Guns Akimbo is a thoroughly enjoyable video game-style movie with a ridiculously entertaining premise and plenty of video game effects and references to make sure you don’t say game over.  

Rent it