Gunpowder Milkshake - Movie Review

Critics Score - 6 of 10

General Audience Score - 7 of 10

Ultraviolence, the excessive, extreme and usually unnecessary use of blood and gore to provoke and prod those a little squeamish in the audience, has been a mainstay in the horror genre for years. But the savvy action dramas that feature an over the top amount of blood letting, the type of films that Quentin Tarantino has become famous for, they’re a little more tough to come by. In step with this film genre comes the latest release to drop on Netflix, Gunpowder Milkshake, which on name alone may drive a level of excitement and anticipation. The movie has all the aspirations of a John Wick film, but it was nice to see that premise combined with a female lead and almost exclusively female led cast. While it’s visual styling, overall tone and generally fun premise make the film an enjoyable watch, they don’t help it overcome all the obstacles that stand in it’s way. So go ahead, pull up a chair, sit down and take a sip. There’s no cherry, no whipped cream, it’s a little bland at times, but overall you’ll probably enjoy your Gunpowder Milkshake.

This lactose intolerant tale, sorry last milkshake pun, begins with Sam (Karen Gillan), a trained assassin, having to dust some less than reputable individuals and then relaxing at home with a nice frozen ice cream treat, bowl of cereal and some anime. After a brief flashback where we meet Sam’s mom Scarlet (Lena Headey) who finds herself in a bad way and has to disappear suddenly, we catch back up with Sam getting her next assignment from Nathan (Paul Giamatti). Nathan dispatches Sam to take out a thief who stole from a powerful mob organization known as The Firm, but first she has to swap out her arsenal at a local weaponry disguised as a library. There she meets Anna May (Angela Basset), Madeline (Carla Gugino) and Florence (Michelle Yeoh), three former colleagues of her mother who get Sam locked and loaded for her mission. After putting a bullet into her next target, she learns the thief had stolen the funds to get his young daughter released from a group of kidnappers and although the story dragged a bit before this point, really takes off from here. As Sam tries to save the girl, she must turn her back on her orders from The Firm, and since she didn’t put in her two weeks notice, the response is swift and harsh and unfortunately from a storytelling perspective, perfectly predictable and uninspired.

By the time the final bullet casing clinks to the ground, the ride has been a visually stunning and interesting one, but a hollow and thematically ordinary trip down a familiar road.

The story centers around Sam but the entire female ensemble is working together by the end, all of whom are well cast and everyone is doing decent enough work with the exception of Giamatti who, even in a limited role, is pretty much always exceptional. While the story took a while to pick up speed, once it got going the film was able to keep a nice pace through to the end, but with a final runtime of almost two hours, some sequences could’ve been trimmed for the sake of keeping the audience engaged. Because in the end, with a lackluster screenplay and the movie riding mainly on visual styling and action sequences, all the character development, backstory and attempts to get the audience emotionally invested are really just wasted time. The soundtrack is a lot of fun and although repetitive, harkens back to the 80’s-90’s style of creepy films such as The Burbs or Gremlins to help the film set a wonderful tone of sneaky suspense and anticipation.

SUMMARY - As Karen Gillan opens up can after can of whoop ass on group after group of unsavory characters, the film always seems on the verge of showing us something amazing and incredible that we’ve never seen before, but never actually does. While it’s style and visuals make it fun to watch, just like a milkshake that isn’t top notch is still a milkshake, this Milkshake can show you a good time at the movies, but the Gunpowder has a horrible aftertaste.