Movie Review: Guns Akimbo
A rebellious and garish shootout born out of gamer’s deepest desires
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Overview:
Take away his wand. Give him some guns. Make him a nerd. Is it really that straightforward? Nope, I don’t think so . There is so much more going on in Guns Akimbo that it is not just an alternate universe where Harry Potter was born in a modern world and grew up to become a programmer.
After watching eight films in a timespan that stretches over eleven years, it is hard for me to associate Danial Radcliffe with anything other than a boy-wizard, and yet, here he is today, toying with guns in Guns Akimbo. Truth to be told, I was not overly excited to hop into the theaters for Guns Akimbo when I screened the trailers initially. The sight of Radcliffe’s character going Will Farrell, running around in public with his hairy thigh exposed isn’t exactly enticing. The last time I checked my ID, I was not a teenage-girl wizard.
If you are still in the dark, Radcliffe plays Miles Lee Harris, a teenage nerd stuck in a desk job, who hired himself as a part-time keyboard warrior. In his effort to bring justice to the virtual world, his path crosses with SKIZM, a lawless organization hosting live matches between criminals and psychopaths, and see them battling to their deaths. It’s like a popular Youtuber turning towards the dark side, but instead of one, you have to deal with like ten of them.
Just a fair warning, if you plan on seeing Guns Akimbo for yourselves; the way Miles hooks up with SKIZM is not all that complex, so don’t expect or demand much from this aspect of the plot. After some agonizing encounters with SKIZM, Miles ends up in a situation where he needs to face Nix (Samara Weaving), who pursues Miles in a way that your ex would, if you don’t return her five missed-calls at 12 midnight.
Right off the bat, Guns Akimbo is not afraid to show you its true colors. No, not that colors, I simply meant that deep cyan, tangerine, magenta or whatever colors that were reflected by the set, or corrected post-production to give off that futuristic, neon, or punk look to…
