content warning: gun violence, gore, foul language, drug/alcohol abuse

Guns Akimbo is a killer game film. Skizm is an international online sensation. Contestants from all around the world are chosen to fight to the death. Win, you see another day. Lose, you lose your life. Fail to play, lose your life. Run away, lose your life. Miles decides to troll the livestream chat, turning him into the next contestant in the game.

Writer/director Jason Lei Howden crafts a fun action film in Guns Akimbo. It’s strange to call a film this violent fun, but that’s the energy it has. The action moves quick and the silly comedy scenes are a nice break from the frenetic, video game-styled fight scenes. Everything is sleek and colorful. It just looks good.

There’s a whole genre of killer games films that play on a mix of action, thriller, suspense, and horror tropes. One of my favorites is Series 7: The Contenders, which is a reality TV spin on the same premise as Guns Akimbo. In fact, most of this particular style of killer game film has that live audience reaction component. It’s a level of irony in the narrative. We’re meant to empathize with the contestants who are fighting for their lives while the world watches them for entertainment, but we’re also watching it for entertainment. It’s one of the most confusing and enduring genres in media and I’m a fan.

One of the biggest advantages of this kind of film is the large ensemble cast. You’ll have your one or two core heroes and your villain that get the bigger character arcs. Everyone else gets a few great moments to shine. Think of all those stand alone sequences in films like Battle Royale that are just phenomenal moments of cinema. These big moments rarely have a direct impact on the protagonist’s narrative, but they allow for great showcases for acting, writing, directing, and design. If you establish that everyone is in danger and major characters will die by the rules of the film, you can give all those characters great moments before the premise cuts their lives short.

Guns Akimbo is filled with these moments. It’s not hard to imagine how so many wonderful character actors got involved in the project. All of the speaking roles in the film have great moments to show off. From the recurring reactions of the fans watching the livestream to the color commentators, the police to the contestants to Miles’ coworkers in the office, everyone has an important role to play in the overall tone of the film. The viewers, in particular, get more to do in this killer game film. You start to connect with their reactions to Miles’ plight in the game like they weren’t the random flashes of faces laughing and cheering at murder for sport.

Daniel Radcliffe as Miles and Samara Weaving as Nix, the veteran contestant tasked with taking out Miles, give two of the best performances in this style of film. Daniel Radcliffe has been doing excellent work in weird indie films for years, grounding bizarre circumstances into something believable. Samara Weaving takes a well-worn archetype in these stories, the unstoppable killing machine, and manages to make an incredibly vicious character so charming. Miles is the empathetic everyperson and Nix is the awe-inspiring superstar.

Guns Akimbo is a strange mix of a film that just comes together into something fun. A dark comedy/thriller/action/horror film with style elements from video games could easily be confusing and messy. Guns Akimbo is confident, slick, and totally in control of its impact.

Guns Akimbo is streaming on Amazon Prime.

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