Miles wakes up with loaded pistols welded to both hands, and finds himself pitted against a trained mercenary for the capital crime of being an internet troll.
For those of us who grew up watching Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, seeing him as anything but the bespectacled young wizard is difficult. That isn't to say that Radcliffe hasn't taken a gamut of roles since the final chapter of HP graced cinemas.
Guns Akimbo is the latest in his attempts to distance himself from the family-friendly nature of films. This adrenaline-pumping, hyperactive action flick is entertaining when it stops being preachy. However, it seems to have a bit of a hard time keeping its message sorted as you go through the range of gore, action, and suspense, with a healthy dose of humor thrown in.
The setup is questionable, as we listen to Radcliffe narrate about the underground group Skizm pitting deadly criminals against each other in a fight to the death. Then we see his character spend some time trolling the online chat room for Skizm and pissing off the admins. No one from the Internet is going to show up at your house, right? Wrong, as the admins from Skizm break down his door, knock him out cold, then proceed to drill a pair of guns to the hands of a code monkey and set him up against one of the deadliest opponents they currently have in their fight club. Through a convoluted (and frankly, at times, paper-thin) plot, we discover more around the world we're in and come to a surprising conclusion.
The script of Guns Akimbo is not precisely the kind of writing that'll win awards. Even the initial premise of an underground, illegal fight club that cares what some punk on the Internet has to say enough to make his life a miserable hell is over-the-top. However, there are moments of sheer genius in between. While there aren't a whole lot of fancy explosions, the comedic timing of the delivery is above par. If it weren't for the gut-wrenching adrenalin sequences and one of two curveballs that the movie throws you, it would be an unremarkable script. The blandness of the general background writing is made much better by the character development, even though more time should have been dedicated to the main character's development. While the writers make a note of letting you know early on, there isn't any "good guy gets the girl" theme, the damsel in distress thing is a primary mover for the plot, even though the ending of the arc is also a bit of a twist.
Throughout the film, we meet three significant characters, Miles (played by Radcliffe), his rival, Nix (Samara Weaving), and the "big bad" Riktor (Ned Dennehy). There are also minor supporting roles for critical characters like Nix's detective father (Grant Bowler) and Miles's ex-girlfriend, who he's carrying a torch for named Nova (Natasha Liu Bordizzo). While the movie is mostly an action flick, the cast doesn't let you down with their timely comedic delivery. Characters are well-suited to their roles, and the interaction between Nix and Miles is effortless. The casting doesn't suffer from much, with the problem of not developing supporting characters enough to make us care for them.
Breakneck speed is the name of the game in action movies, and this one manages it. Typically, there are lull moments in between a film's exposition that make you feel bored as they spend time talking about deep thoughts and feelings. While these things are expected in a cinematic masterpiece, action movies don't need it and can do without it. The pacing in Guns Akimbo is tight, and you feel like you're in the front seat of a runaway wagon, but one with precise cornering as you zoom through a racecourse. The one complaint I had about the pacing was that there wasn't any time offered towards Miles getting proficient with using his guns. Instead, he just goes from being a completely inept coder to a gun-wielding badass without anything to suggest he learned how to use the weapons. Come on. You can do better than that. At least give us a training montage, will you?
The one thing the film falls short in significantly is its composition. Like I said earlier on, it starts off being preachy about internet harassment and trolling. That's pretty rich, coming from a director who's facing charges of internet harassment himself. The holier-than-thou spiel is not appreciated and takes away from the film. If you can get over that, however, it's an excellent, fun action flick with great comedic elements. It could just do with a little more polish and a lot less politics.
I honestly didn't expect this movie to be as good as it was. The preachy elements do play a crucial part in the plot, and eventually, we see where the main character notes the folly of his ways. They are slightly overbearing in some parts of the film, and while it does have a moral element to the movie, you can quickly look past it and see a pretty decent film, if a little rough around the edges. At the end of this one, you can safely say that Dan Radcliffe isn't the boy-wizard we grew up watching anymore, for sure.
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