Gunpowder Milkshake, the new action-packed thriller from Netflix, is here and it is not only a girl power powder keg but also has heaps of heart that accompanies its explosive Karen Gillan-driven action.
The Guardians of the Galaxy star is right in her element here as an elite assassin hired by a criminal organization that goes by the name of The Firm. When they send her on a hit and a mobster’s son happens to be amongst the casualties, Gilian’s Sam is on her own. Or is she?
Sam heads to The Library, a facility for female assassins with whom she has a colorful history. When we meet Madeline (Carla Gugino), Anna May (Angela Bassett), and Florence (Michelle Yeoh), not only does she find help in the form of weapons, but also a camaraderie that has been missing for the last 15 years since her mother, Scarlet (Lena Headey), left and just disappeared.
Turns out Sam is in the family business. Mom was (and is) a hired killer as well whose decade-and-a-half disappearance is explained pretty well in Ehud Lavski and Navot Papushado’s script.
Needless to say, the mourning mob boss will stop at nothing and go through anything—including the sacred “Library” to exact revenge on the woman who killed his son and those who help her.
When Sam’s mother left, Scarlet had her friend Nathan (Paul Giamatti) look after her and train her for “the life.” Sam’s a one-woman wrecking crew, so it’s safe to say that Nathan did well. Thing is, there’s something about Giamatti’s character and the way the brilliant actor portrays him that leads us to believe the only thing to trust is oneself, and perhaps this sisterhood at The Library.
Director Navot Papushado has crafted a landscape littered with neon colors and an overly explosive colorful palette that truly pops off the screen in the most visually stunning ways. His command of the action scenes is right out of some of the newer, envelope-pushing films such as John Wick. There is a world that is created where it seems it is only inhabited by bad people and those who work for them or alongside them. It is a rich locale that Papushado has created that pulsates with life that is surrounded by ferociously bloody soaked death.
The film is an utter ball that never lets its foot off the gas, except for a few impeccably placed emotional beats where characters connect. That can be oftentimes overlooked in the action genre. Not so with Gunpowder Milkshake. There’s the relationship between Sam and her mother Scarlet, her and an eight-and-a-half-year-old orphan Emily (My Spy’s Chloe Coleman) who within moments of meeting Sam, refers to herself as her “apprentice.” It’s adorable, trust me. The rich sisterhood with Yeoh, Gugino, and Bassett feels like a group of women who have known each other since Sam was “yay high.”
In films like this, the key to the group, whether it’s The Expendables, Tower Heist, or the Ocean films, is that there has to be a crackle to the interpersonal relationships between the characters that are simultaneous as raw and real as it is capable of supreme danger that has us cheering when the “Good Girls” beat the “Bad Guys.”
Screenwriters Lavski and Papushado have imagined a world where hired killers and mobsters operate almost worry-free, and it is as sharp as a steak house knife. There is real danger in the air that is palpable, and we feel it most powerfully through Sam.
Gillan gives one of her most indelible performances. One can see that the action gene is strong in this one. What makes her so special is that yes, she can create a soul who can really take out a dozen well-armed men, all while being as maternal as a mother hen to Emily. After her Guardians and Avengers films, and of course, the Jumanji Films, with Gunpowder Milkshake one can firmly say that the next Sigourney Weaver or Linda Hamilton has been found. Yet, she is very much her own cinematic persona. It’s hard to compare her to those previous action movie titans because she is so much her own person, and so are they. There is something inherently electric about Gillan and her ability to morph from rage-filled violent revenge to protective “parent-type” that is dazzling. Few in the cinematic arts possess that gift.
Her co-stars are brilliantly cast. It was an utter joy witnessing Bassett and Yeoh, in particular, kicking butt. Both don’t look like they’ve aged a day in movie action time. Badasses will always be badasses. Bassett is a tough, but understanding “leader” of the library, while librarian Florence (Yeoh) is a character whose book is not her cover. She may seem demure, but she is as vicious and vivacious as the rest of her librarian team. Then, there’s Gugino’s Madeline. She’s as sweet as they come. Yet, you still might want to duck when she gets behind a car-mounted heavy artillery machine gun. Gugino is also perfectly cast. This group is a large reason why Gunpowder Milkshake works so well.
Coleman is a find. She was fantastic opposite Dave Bautista in My Spy and here she is a fish out of water… at first. But within minutes of embracing her new reality and feeding off the bonding of these women, her Emily truly feels like one of the women of The Library. Watch out for this one, she has an enormous future.
Yes, there is a large amount of suspension of disbelief needed. That should be obvious. There aren’t real communities like this out there! The ability to escape into the screen as these ladies put the power in Girl Power is summer fun right at home, thanks to Netflix.
PS: Netflix, I hear we can expect a sequel! Cannot wait to see these ladies back in action. Also, as for the film’s moniker. It’s perfection.
Grade: A