I have no idea how much Daniel Radcliffe made off the Harry Potter movies, but he’s ascended from an obscure boy getting one of the most coveted roles ever to an adult willing to take on the roles so far from the mainstream, he’s developing his own fan base in that league.
A few years ago, Radcliffe made Swiss Army Man, in which he was literally a corpse who a deranged man stranded on an island thinks is alive. And now, he’s appearing in Guns Akimbo, which had the misfortune of being released at the same time as the Covid-19 Pandemic hit in March 2000 only to find its fanbase with online streaming, even though I’m not sure the movie may have made much money at the box office.
With all the hoopla by conservatives over The Hunt, it possibly would have suffer similarities but this is more in the vein of Hard Target and The Running Man.
Radcliffe plays Miles, a coder for an internet game and is constantly the result of his boss’ bullying who is a total douche that you just know he’s going to get it eventually (and SPOLER ALERT!! he does.)
One night at his home while goofing around online, he comments online to a program called Skizm, which live-streams death matches, insulting those who watch it. However, the operators of said program track him down breaking down his door, knocking him out and bolting guns to his hands and leaving him to be hunted by Nix (Samara Weaving), the game’s deadliest killer. Nix has been told by Skizm’s boss Riktor (Ned Dehenny) that killing Miles will release her.
And the game is on as Miles finds himself seeking the help of his ex-girlfriend, Nova (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and others. One of the best sequences is when Miles receives help from a vagrant Glenjamin (Rhys Darby). Glenjamin is one of those characters who’s so goofy and Darby plays him like he’s having one helluva time you wish he was in there longer but maybe it’s best he’s not overuse.
Riktor is bald and tattooed and he has his minions of people who were all Miles and Nix will take down in the blood-soaked guns afire finale.
Yes, the movie is bloody and gory, but its exaggeration and its dark humor is needed in this movie. Twenty years ago, when Radcliffe was filming his scenes in his first Harry Potter movie, there was an awful movie called Series 7:The Contender, that had a similar plot, but it took itself too seriously and its violence was too cold.
I actually didn’t like it one bit. I’m glad that Merritt Wever has been in better movies and TV shows since.
And while this looks like the 47,578th adaptation of “The Most Dangerous Game” but it’s plays somewhat like a video game and can be viewed as a companion piece to this year’s Boss Level, released in March on Hulu starring Frank Grillo as an ex-military man being tracked around Atlanta by assassins who kill him over and over as he keeps coming back ala Groundhog Day.
Radcliffe and his doppleganger Elijah Wood both appeared in epic fantasy movies that made billions, yet they have both focused on independent movies or working with certain directors. Take Wood’s playing a cannibalistic serial killer in Sin City or a weasel creep in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
They’ll forever be Harry Potter and Frodo Baggins, respectively, which is why I’m hoping one day, they’ll pair up together in the same movie.
Zane Says 