GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE: Half-Melted

Action movies have both increased in popularity in recent years and decreased in variety thanks to the John Wick effect. The crisp brutality of the Keanu Reeves-led franchise made it an unexpected hit in 2014, and its tendrils have spread out to take over the genre. Atomic Blonde and this year’s Nobody are projects from its uncredited co-director and writer, respectively, while many unconnected others have replicated its depth of world-building and practical stunts to bring a feeling of sameness to the genre that threatens to drag it down from its boom.

Gunpowder Milkshake isn’t throwing a wrench in this trend, but it’s at least bringing in other influences to mix things up. Its tale of an abandoned daughter who’s taken up her mother’s life as an assassin has both the intricate gunplay and hand-to-hand combat that made Wick so electric and its beguiling sense that the illicit underworld hides just behind every doorway. But it also has a sense of humor, a taste for the absurd that enlivens and sometimes undercuts the more straightforward action that is so in vogue. Oh, and it’s got an explicitly feminist bent, so you know that’ll make it super popular.

Its attempt to stand out is both a smart pivot at this point in the genre’s stagnation and an unwieldy miscue, its oddities as perplexing as they are delightful. A scene will pop in a way that brings a smile to your face only for the next to fall flat, never allowing you to gain sure footing and really get invested in the world they’ve created. It’s an underwhelming movie, but one whose weaknesses aren’t bad ideas and whose high points outweigh the lows.

Choose A Lane

The push-pull between influences makes Gunpowder Milkshake a difficult movie to get a handle on, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it loses people in its early going. The heavily stylized opening is a jarringly heightened take on the emotional last meeting between Lena Headey’s Scarlet and her young daughter, Sam. The milkshake, the diner with strangely coded protocols, and the massive book Sam brought are all bright signal flares for what’s to come, and one worries that the whole movie will slap you in the face the way this scene seems to do. It’s not until later, far too deep in the movie, for its humor to emerge, and you wonder whether its wonky early scenes were supposed to have played in a slightly less sincere way.

The comedy does eventually emerge loud and clear, particularly in a screwball scene where the adult Sam, now played by Karen Gillan in a cool jacket, must fend off three men. The twist is that her arms are limp and she’s battling with a gun and a knife taped to her hands, the mechanics of her fighting mixing in plenty of flailing and awkward scooting.

When the comedy becomes overt, Gunpowder Milkshake really sings, with Gillan’s wide-reaching capabilities being fully utilized (seriously, not many people can pull off everything she’s asked to do here) and co-writer/director Navot Papushado’s inability to let anything happen without a heavy dose of flair plays best. He apparently never got Coco Chanel’s memo to remove one piece before going out, and this movie, his first foray into action after building a career in horror, has something of the garish feel of Jennifer Aniston’s work outfit in Office Space. The archness works in the highly comedic scenes, and I imagine it works in horror, but when he’s navigating the more straightforward bits of action and the mother-daughter relationship that’s supposed to make up this movie’s heart and soul, the effect is too heightened for any of it to be taken seriously.

Girl Power

The one thing Papushado and co-writer Ehud Lavski have a firm grasp on is the movie’s breezy feminism, which is always present but never overpowers the fun. The structure of the world keeps it at the forefront, with Sam working for a mysteriously powerful entity called The Firm, who of course are all men. When a job goes wrong and she is saddled with a girl and a price on her head, she turns to the woman who used to support her mother to bail her out, and oh yeah, her mother shows up to help.

The contrast between the group of women and the men trying to keep them under their thumb provides its own obvious theme, but the more rewarding aspect is just how violent the heroines get to be. This is an action movie, after all, where the way you express power, skill, grief, anything really, is by brandishing weapons and taking out bad guys. It’s obvious that Gillan and Headey’s assassins would be good at defensive bloodbaths, but you also get some kick-ass moments from supporting players like Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh, and Carla Gugino, a legendary trio that requires your respect and applause, and from Chloe Coleman as the young girl who takes frighteningly well to this world.

Relishing these women mowing down the metaphorical patriarchy and spitting out hard-boiled comedic barbs (unsurprisingly the best ones come from Bassett) makes up for much of the film’s sloppiness and goes to show that twisting the formula, even if it sometimes leads you astray, can ultimately save the day.

Conclusion: Gunpowder Milkshake

The wildly uneven Gunpowder Milkshake just avoids disaster thanks to its moments of comedy and the bloody beating hearts of its heroines. Gillan gamely carries a character that screeches between coldblooded calculation, absurd-but-deadly scenarios, and family drama. None of it lands with enough weight to leave a mark, but it does enough to keep you entertained.

Gunpowder Milkshake releases in the US on Netflix on July 14th and theatrically in the UK on September 17th. For international release dates, click here.

What did you think of Gunpowder Milkshake? Did you think its pieces held together? Let us know in the comments!

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