To protect an 8-year-old girl, a dangerous assassin reunites with her mother and her lethal associates to take down a ruthless crime syndicate and its army of henchmen.
Director: Navot Papushado
Cast: Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, Chloe Coleman, Ralph Ineson, Adam Nagaitis, Michael Smiley, Paul Giamatti
Release Date:
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout and language
Runtime: 1h 54min
Review:
Gunpowder Milkshake is a fizzy neon lit sugar rush of violence and faux female empowerment. The latter is mainly due to a lazy script that waste an opportunity to deliver something more meaningful and fresh. Director Navot Papushado does manage to keep the film engaging with some fun visuals and incredibly fun fight choreography. Papushado manages the action sequences with a deft hand, delivering some inventive sequences which are as ridiculous as they are fun. The smaller character moments though don't hit the way they should, so you never have any real emotional connection to the characters. Its no fault of the cast which is all in from the opening frame. Karen Gillian, using her Nebula voice, is intense killing machine who has abandonment issues. She's not asked to do much with the character but she still manages to make her engaging. Lena Headey, Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh and Carla Gugino are fun in supporting roles with each being able to shine during kinetic action sequences. Sadly, the script doesn't take full advantage of the assembled talent outside of asking them to make quips while looking cool. The barebones story is borrows heavily from the John Wick film's so there are few surprises in story on that end, it does leave the door open for a sequel as well. Gunpowder Milkshake is a strangely engaging film that works in spite of itself.
B-
