‘Gunpowder Milkshake’ Review: Strong Ideas, Shaky Execution
Good action movies are hard to come by these days, and within that, good action scenes are even harder to come by. While John Wick has created something of a new template for how to do things, many films still stick to the style created by The Bourne Identity, which has rapidly degenerated from its original groundbreaking set of visceral, high-impact techniques into the farcical realm of films like Taken 3, where Liam Neeson needs 10 edits to climb a fence. In the vein of John Wick have come a string of mid- and lower budget action flicks that emphasize clarity and camera movement over editing, but are generally not all that good and fail to recapture the kind of magic that made Wick work so well. While Netflix’s new female-driven action movie Gunpowder Milkshake is not great either, it boasts a very strong sense of style and some very well crafted action sequences in the vein of John Wick that serve as a showcase for good technical filmmaking.
The film focuses on Samantha (Karen Gillan), an assassin whose employers betray her after a job goes wrong and she has a slight change of heart about her career. It’s the most cliched setup imaginable and it doesn’t deviate from the formula. The plot features her running from and wasting legions of goons for the better part of two hours, assisted by other female assassins who pose as librarians and a sort of “crime diner” where underworld figures meet under special rules (think a low budget Continental Hotel). It’s a kind of light fantasy, featuring a shallower version of the “secret world” of assassins seen in movies like John Wick, however the execution here is more reminiscent of crap films like Polar. It is basically a poor John Wick/The Professional ripoff with all-female heroes and all-male villains. The story and world is cliched, the dialogue is hilariously daft, and the acting is completely wooden, even by great character actors such as Gillan, Lena Headey, Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, Ralph Ineson, and others. Only Paul Giamatti manages to not look completely ridiculous, and even then just barely. The writing, world building, and characters all come off as somewhat amateurish, in ways that are both irritating and even a little bit charming.
That was the bad. As for the good, the movie looks great, at least if your tastes run a certain way. Every scene is awash in candy-colored neon lights, and the art direction is stylish and playful, if a little kitschy. Some might find it absolutely hideous, but I loved the film’s loud, fun, and bold aesthetic. The world of the film is also nearly devoid of extras, pedestrians, or bystanders. It is strangely empty, and brings with it a surreal quality. The key piece here though, is the action scenes. They are all filmed and edited with a great deal of style and conviction, featuring strong stuntwork, clever twists, and even a few good visual gags. The camera shows just enough of what is going on and flows with the movement of the scene, and the editing is very well timed, with no shot ever too long or too short. For all the mediocrity of the rest of the movie, the action sequences are far better than almost anything you would see in a big American blockbuster (at least until John Wick 4 comes out).
Gunpowder Milkshake reminds me a lot, for better and for worse, of the little action movies my friends and I would make when we were all in school together. It’s fun, exciting, creative, weird, and kind of terrible all at the same time. It makes no attempt to hide its influences, instead diving headlong into its cliches with full-throated sincerity, but it brings some great style and awesome action along with it, and that is reason enough to recommend it.
