GUNS AKIMBO

 

Two versions of Guns Akimbo, the left-hand DVD containing the full, uncut 18-Certificate version, the DVD on the right containing the slightly cut 15-Certificate version (© Jason Lei Howden/Occupant Entertainment/Four Knights Film/Maze Pictures/Cutting Edge/The Electric Shadow Company/Umedia/Ingenious Media/WS Filmproduktion/Deutscher Filmforderfonds/FilmFernsehrFonds Bayern/Hyperion Entertainment/New Zealand Film Commission/Saban Films/Altitude Film Distribution/Leonine Distribution/Madman Entertainment – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

My film watch on 16 October 2024 was Guns Akimbo, as recommended recently to me by a fellow movie fan on Facebook.

Directed and written by Jason Lei Howden, released jointly in 2019 by Saban Films (in North America), Altitude Film Distribution (UK), Leonine Distribution (Germany and Austria), and Madman Entertainment (Australia and New Zealand), and filmed in Germany and New Zealand, Guns Akimbo is basically an action-packed but relentlessly-violent dark comedy/sci fi/crime thriller on steroids, and set in an alternative near future.

It stars Daniel Radcliffe, in a role (albeit still as the hero) about as far removed from his Harry Potter movies as it is possible to imagine – and then some! (Although his character in Horns – click here to read my review of that movie – may run it a close second!) But don't take my word for all of this – here's what IMDb has to say about Guns Akimbo via a very succinct but accurate summary of its veritable rollercoaster of a plot:

Miles [played by Daniel Radcliffe] is stuck in a dead-end programming job. Still in love with his ex-girlfriend Nova [Natasha Liu Bordizzo], he spends his waking hours between pining for her and scouring the internet as a social-justice troll, cowardly leaving anonymous insults to those who post objectionable content online. Meanwhile a cyber-gang, called Skizm, is running an ultra-violent game across his city, in which violent criminals fight to the death for the entertainment of an online audience of millions. Miles feels safe and secure insulting the sick audience of this game, but soon finds himself abducted and thrust into the game, forced to fight with an insane, gun-crazed, escaped lunatic [a female assassin named Nix, played by Samara Weaving]. His only tools, but also his biggest handicap, are the two huge pistols that have been literally bolted onto his hands. Initially, Miles's lifetime of running from his problems pays off as he – barely – manages to elude his seemingly unstoppable opponent, but when Nova's life is threatened unless he takes an active part in the game, he must finally stop running and overcome his fears to fight for the girl he loves.

Scorching along at a blistering pace that never pauses for a second all through its 90-odd-minute action-pummelling running time, peppered with as many bullets as there are expletives – and there are innumerable expletives – the movie itself plays like a maximum-speed computer video game, which in essence is what its plot is, but a game featuring real people in a real-life setting who suffer real-life deaths.

And if you're wondering how all of that can possibly happen so brazenly, in full view of the police yet unchallenged by them, it's because they are well and truly ensconced in Skism's cash-cached pocket. So Miles can expect no help from them.

Guns Akimbo is not my usual kind of movie, but it is so outrageously OTT, and it also greatly benefits from Radcliffe's very successful combining of non-stop frenetic action with black but broad comedy. This very effectively lightens what otherwise would be an unrelenting bloodfest, albeit one of a graphic comic-book nature rather than anything even remotely realistic (thankfully!), boasting as it does a body count of uncountable, unaccountable proportions.

It also sports a pumping soundtrack, including rocking tracks by the likes of Iggy Pop, Rick James, and Cypress Hill, plus two superb pounding cover versions by American industrial metal band 3Teeth. One of these is of British glam rock band The Sweet's smash hit single 'Ballroom Blitz', and the other one is of Dead Or Alive's classic UK #1 single 'You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)'.

In short, Guns Akimbo is certainly a movie that moves, in top gear and beyond at all times, so my attention and interest never flagged even for an instant throughout it. Consequently, action/crime-thriller fans and computer video game geeks alike will love it, I'm sure – as, albeit very unexpectedly, did I!

Last but not least: Nix has named her much-used pistol Kindness, and has also written along its side this seemingly odd name for a death-dealing weapon – until of course you suddenly realise that when she is shooting people dead with it, she is quite literally killing them with Kindness! Quality!

Of the two Guns Akimbo DVDs whose photos open this movie review, I own and watched the version depicted on the right, i.e. the slightly edited 15-Certificate one, and that was immensely violent – how much more so, therefore, was the uncut 18-Certificate version depicted on the left?! The mind boggles!

Anyway, if you'd like to immerse yourself albeit briefly in Skism's played-for-real killer computer game of death within which Miles finds himself lethally trapped and unceasingly targeted by his Kindness-wielding nemesis Nix, please click here and here to watch a couple of truly explosive official Guns Akimbo trailers on YouTube.

Also: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

POST #300 - MY THIRD, FULLY-UPDATED, ALL-TIME TOP REVIEWS LISTING ON SHUKER IN MOVIELAND

Following a tradition begun with my 100^th Shuker In MovieLand blog post (of 6 December 2020), when I listed what was at that time this blog's all-time top 10 movie/TV reviews as measured by reader hit counts (click here to access it), and continued with my 200^th blog post (of 13 January 2022), when I presented an updated top 10 listing (click here to access it), I am now, with this, my 300^th blog post (of 5 June 2023), presenting the very latest listing. But this time, for added interest and because of the considerable quantity of movies plus TV shows now reviewed on my blog, I am presenting not merely a top 10 but rather a top 20.

As in the earlier two, each of this third listing's 20 movie/TV reviews is presented as a clickable link, together with its original publication date on my blog, so that you can access it directly from this page to read in full if you so wish. Also, where applicable, each movie's position in my previous, second listing is given here in blue brackets. So here it is:

#1        The Lost Continent (4 April 2021) (#1)

#2       Ron Stryker's Motorbike and the Lightning Tree – Revisiting Follyfoot ((16 February 2022)

#3       Oliver in the Overworld/Little Big Time (15 February 2022)

#4       9 (2 March 2022)

#5        Horns (28 February 2022)

#6       Rumble Fish (28 April 2022)

#7        Rock 'N' Roll Cowboys (6 March 2022)

#8       The Prisoner (7 May 2022)

#9       Chander Pahar (aka Mountain of the Moon) (4 June 2022)

#10     From Selkies to Space Vampires (14 April 2021) (#2)

#11      Shadow of Death (aka Destroyer) (1 May 2021) (#3)

#12      Fade To Black (30 March 2022)

#13      Rock 'N' Roll High School (14 February 2022)

#14      Angels and Panthers and Yetis, Oh My! (25 April 2022)

#15      Land of Doom (aka Raiders of Death) (19 March 2022)

#16      The Singer Not The Song (12 February 2022)

#17      Carmen Jones (30 April 2021) (#4)

#18     Wish Dragon (11 June 2022)

#19      Mune: Guardian of the Moon (26 May 2022)

#20     The Sin Eater (aka The Order) (30 May 2022)

Only two movies from my second top 10 listing back in mid-January 2022 retain a place in this latest, third one, indicating that newer movie entries swiftly draw interest away from older ones. But of these two exceptions to that apparent rule, The Lost Continent retains not only a place in this new listing but also the very same place as before – i.e. right at the top, at #1, and via an appreciably higher hit count than even the entry directly below it at #2, let alone all of the other 18 in this top 20 listing. Why this relatively obscure, unremarkable horror/monster movie should have attracted such considerable interest from readers is a complete mystery to me, but it's an interest that shows no sign of waning. Indeed, if Shuker In MovieLand stays in existence long enough to reach a 400^th blog post and thus the compilation of a fourth top 10 or 20 listing, it wouldn't surprise me at all to find that The Lost Continent is still residing tenaciously at its summit.

Equally odd is that the majority of the movie reviews contained in this top 20 were  all posted within a very narrow period of time, spanning a mere 4 months, from 12 February 2022 to 11 June 2022 inclusive. So why were these specific reviews, and/or that particular time period, so inordinately, disproportionately effective in attracting high readership counts? Again, I have no idea.

Moreover, as with the two previous listings, I see no patterns or trends emerging as to which genres are represented in this latest one, nor the proportions of such representations. Indeed, the only aspect of this entire listing exercise that I feel certain about is that when it comes to movies and viewers' movie tastes, nothing is ever certain!

Finally: to view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

HORNS

My official UK DVD of Horns (left) and a Horns publicity poster (right) (© Alexandre Aja/Red Granite Pictures/Mandalay Pictures/Dimension Films – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

When an actor is so closely associated with one particular character as Daniel Radcliffe is with Harry Potter, it is very difficult to watch them play any other role without their iconic character rising inexorably to the surface and obscuring their current performance. After tonight's eye-popping movie watch, however, I think it highly unlikely that I shall ever again view the afore-mentioned Mr Radcliffe in any future role without seeing not only his Hogwarts magician's hat and wand but also a pair of decidedly devilish horns sprouting from his forehead! And the reason why? Because the movie that I watched tonight was – yes, you've guessed it! – Horns.

Directed and co-produced by Alexandre Aja, based upon the 2010 fantasy novel of the same title by Joe Hill (novelist son of Stephen King), set in the USA's Washington State but filmed in British Columbia, Canada, and released in 2013 by Dimension Films, Horns is as twisted as the lead character's eponymous outgrowths – a surreal, way-out-there fantasy/horror movie with lashing of dark humour and touching scenes of tender romance thrown in at no extra cost. Moreover, unlike all too many movies that try to encapsulate a variety of different genres but fail miserably in the undertaking, Horns succeeds admirably with all of them.

The basic plot focuses upon mid-20s Ig (short for Ignatius) Perrish (played by Radcliffe), who stands accused (albeit with no tangible evidence) by almost his entire community of having murdered his lifelong girlfriend Merrin Williams (Juno Temple) following a very public and entirely uncharacteristic falling-out between them at a diner on the night of her death, just before he was about to propose marriage to her. Ig's only supporters are his older brother Terry (Joe Anderson) and Lee (Max Minghella), who has been his best friend ever since childhood and is now acting as his lawyer. Following a candlelit vigil in honour of Merrin, led by her father and attended by many community members but at which Ig dare not show his face, a very drunken Ig desecrates her memorial and beds a waitress.

The next morning Ig wakes up thoroughly ashamed of himself, but that is not the worst of his problems. When he looks in the mirror, he discovers to his shock and horror that a pair of devil horns have sprouted from his forehead! But these are not 'ordinary' horns (if any such horns can ever be deemed ordinary!), because Ig soon finds that anyone he talks to now is compelled to confess to him their innermost, darkest desires and secrets, and also do whatever he tells them to do.

In addition, if Ig makes deliberate physical contact with someone, he can directly see their recent activities. And as if these horn-engineered talents were not sufficiently startling, Ig realises that wherever he goes, snakes inexplicably appear all around him, though they are totally amicable to him, and he finds that he can even communicate with them telepathically to do his bidding (just like a certain boy magician could, if I remember correctly!).

After some hilarious and occasionally hair-raising experiences while learning how these newly-acquired abilities work, Ig suddenly has a lightbulb moment – he can use them to make people confess what they truly know about Merrin's murder and thereby uncover the real culprit. So this is what he does, which leads him down an increasingly dark pathway of discovery, amid revelations that he would sooner not have uncovered, such as his mother actually wanting him to go away and to disown him, with his father saddened only by Merrin's death, not by Ig's plight as her wrongly-accused killer.

Eventually, however, matters reach a truly horrific climax when Ig's horn-given gifts of exposing the truth finally unmask Merrin's real murderer. They also assist in providing him with the true, tragic reason for that explosive, wholly atypical argument with her during what would prove to be their final fateful meeting.

The ultimate confrontation between Ig and Merrin's killer is totally demonic, albeit for very different reasons! But I won't give any spoilers, other than to warn those of an ophiophobic tendency that the murderer's fate will definitely be one of those look-away-now scenes for them. For although most of the snakes in this scene are CGI-created, they are disturbingly realistic, and what they do – and where they go – in relation to their victim is, well...let's just say that the latter gets their comeuppance, in every sense! And if you've ever seen the gory orgiastic denouement of the 1989 horror movie Society, you'll know exactly what I mean by that!

Moving swiftly on, be sure to take note if you can of the registration plates on several vehicles prominently visible in Horns, because each one comprises an abbreviated reference to a passage from the Bible, each plate referencing a different passage, but all of them relevant in some way to events occurring in this film.

Horns is unquestionably one of the strangest but most engrossing movies that I've seen for a very long time, with Radcliffe an absolute tour de force throughout it (Joe Hill, author of the novel on which this movie is based, has also praised him for his performance). And if his brow-borne accessories are not sufficient in themselves to distinguish Daniel R from Harry P, his frequent, emphatic use of the F word in his role as Ig should certainly assist greatly in this distancing – but in view of Ig's traumatic travails on so many different levels, understandably tempers fray as tempus fugit. Interestingly, Shia LaBeouf was first choice to play Ig, but much that I admire his acting, I feel that the casting team made the right choice with Radcliffe.

The horror magazine Scream has described Horns as "Dark, slick, and enormously entertaining", and I entirely agree with that pronouncement on all three counts. So if you'd like to lock horns with a preview of this phantasmagorical film, click here to view an official trailer for it on YouTube.

Finally, as a piece of totally trivial trivia: watching Horns tonight brought to mind an offbeat teenage novel that I'd read quite some time ago, so had all but forgotten about. Written by John Brindley and published in 2000, it was entitled Rhino Boy, and concerned a youth called Ryan who was forever bullying and picking upon others at school, until one day he woke up to discover a huge rhinoceros-like horn growing out of the centre of his brow! Now, suddenly, the behavioural tables had been turned upon him, and Ryan was the youth being picked upon by others for being different. Here's the eyecatching front cover of the paperback edition I'd read:

 

Rhino Boy by John Brindley (© John Brindley/Orion Books – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only) 

To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.