'Guns Akimbo' (2019)


I had loads of reading plans for this week until all the 'End of Year' review stuff took over and laughed right in the face of my TBR pile... It's ok, it happens and it's all done for another year; just makes for a really stressy week in places, like last night for instance... There I was, trying to get all my review notes into the HR system and I'd just about done it when my laptop decided to do the electronic equivalent of scribbling all over my work and then running off giggling. I swore loudly and long :o) And then, before going back and having another go, I decided to watch 'Guns Akimbo' first.

I'm not a massive fan of Daniel Radcliffe's films but I've got a lot of time for the lengths he will go to in order not to be only remembered as Harry Potter (by appearing in as many different films as he possibly can). This one apparently involved him running around with guns screwed and/or nailed to his hands. I couldn't say no, could I...? ;o)

Miles is a video game developer who inadvertently becomes the next participant in a real-life death match that streams online. While Miles soon excels at running away from everything, that won't help him outlast Nix, a killer at the top of her game. And then the stakes get even higher and Miles must learn to fight if he's going to make it through to the end of the game; it's a good job he has a pair of pistols bolted to his hands...

If it wasn't for 'Psycho Goreman', 'Guns Akimbo' would easily be the silliest film that I see this year. As it is, it's still utterly ridiculous but a hell of a lot of fun at the same time. The clue is in the name really ;o) Loads of guns all over the place and they're all pretty much going off at once, add some manic action scenes into the mix and the movie just tears along. It probably goes without saying that there is a plot hiding amongst all of this but it's so tiny that you won't notice it (fight to survive and kill the baddies, that's it in a nutshell). It's all about the guns really. That's it, that's the whole film.

So, very short on plot but large on spectacle and set pieces. 'Guns Akimbo' is a great way to kill an hour and half where you're trying to take your mind off how you just lost a whole load of work that you really should have been saving as you went along. I didn't make that mistake the second time round but anyway...

'Guns Akimbo' also showed me that while Radcliffe's American (?) accent wasn't the best it could be, he's pretty good at the visual humour elements of trying to make your way through daily life with guns bolted to your hands... I was half laughing and half wincing for most of the film (depending on what he was trying to do). And while I already knew that Samara Weaving does a pretty good psychopath (watch 'Mayhem' if you get a chance), I wasn't expecting her to dial it up several notches here. Although maybe I should have done, this film is dialled up several notches as it is. Either way, Weaving is pretty damn chilling and just what the film needed.

If you want something loud and full of explosions where you also get to see Daniel Radcliffe try and go to the toilet with guns attached to his hands, 'Guns Akimbo' is that very movie and you need to watch it. That's it, that's all I can say. Now go and watch it ;o)

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