Guns Akimbo (2019)

Finally got around to watching this one. I got it several months back but just never bothered (mostly because it is one of those few films I only own on Vudu and I rarely go there first since I'm mostly iTunes).

This one is hard to review as there were some good points to it but the lack of character development really hurt it. This is one of those few films where I'd say a longer film would have benefitted the overall feel and tone of it. Instead, I didn't care about any of the characters. Near the end I did like a connection between two of the main characters but by that point the film was almost over.

The story focuses on an internet troll, played by Daniel Radcliffe, who is attached to his screen, be it on his phone, at work, or at home. He loves to consider himself a master troll. When he trolls the wrong people, he unwittingly ends up becoming a part of a Running Man type of real-world competition. Guns are bolted to his hands and he must defend himself against the number one contestant on the show. Through the use of hacked cameras around the city, coupled with drones, his experiences are filmed and live streamed by a rogue organization. He must learn to go from hapless loser to gun-toting 'hero' over the course of the day.

There were some decent action scenes in the film. The thing is, however, is that most of them were so implausible that I had to keep rolling my eyes. Radcliffe did a good job in his role and Samara Weaving was good in hers but every other character was pretty much a waste. That's one of my big things, the lack of character development didn't give any of the bad guys a chance to see why they were bad guys. Instead, they were just the usual faceless entities that were...oops, they are dead now so it doesn't matter.

This movie left itself open for a sequel and I think that, with the right director and stronger writing, it could be something fun to follow. However, if I base it strictly on this first outing, I would have little hope for a future of the franchise.

I'd say, for the sake of recommendation, to put this one on the back burner and if you're needing to fill some time, it's an OK film. I'm not really recommending this one with any urgency, however.

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