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‘Gunpowder Milkshake’ Review: Karen Gillan Kicks Butt in Kitschy, Colorful Netflix Assassin Actioner
Subtlety isn’t on offer in Navot Papushado’s assassin actioner “Gunpowder Milkshake,” though nearly everything else is, from enough neon lights to make Vegas jealous, a nefarious group of bad men known as “The Firm,” to Karen Gillan beating up baddies with a panda-shaped suitcase, blood the consistency of Jell-O, and an extended sequence involving Michelle Yeoh killing dudes with a chain. These aren’t even the highlights, but simply a brief selection of standouts moments from the Netflix Original, which aims to put a kitschy, colorful, feminist spin on everything from the John Wick franchise to Quentin Tarantino’s oeuvre. Featuring Karen Gillan in a genuinely butt-kicking role, Papushado’s film joins a growing sub-genre of all-female action outings (see: “Atomic Blonde,” “The 355,” the just-announced “Alice, Darling,” and many more), but its winking sense of humor seems primed to help it stand out.
Netflix Watch Guide | Gunpowder Milkshake
Set in and around a nameless European city — the film was shot mostly in Germany, but there’s something purposely anonymous about the world Sam (Gillan) and her compatriots and antagonizers alike occupy — “Gunpowder Milkshake” opens with the minimum of information we might need to get invested. Sam is a contract killer, she’s very good at her job, and she loves nothing more than a giant, slurpy glass of ice cream and milk after a job well done. Sam was born into this world, care of her fellow assassin mom Scarlet (Lena Headey), who somewhat unwillingly brought her cute kid (played in flashbacks by Freya Allan) under the sway of “The Firm,” a group of men who are in charge of everything (especially the killer ladies like Scarlet and Sam they employ for their dirty work).
Fifteen years before the film opened, Scarlet went missing after running afoul of some Russian baddies, leaving young Sam to her handler Nathan (Paul Giamatti) and away from the fellow lady assassins of “The Library,” who had previously helped raise her. In the years since, Sam has mostly kept to herself, taking her orders from Nathan and doing her best not to think too hard about her mom or the other wild women who were once such a major part of her life. In the course of her recent duties, Sam kills the wrong guy — the son of a dude The Firm does not want to cross — and is sent on another mission that involves some major unforeseen complications. Suddenly cut off from Nathan and The Firm, Sam (plus one very cute kiddo she picks up along the way, played by the charming Chloe Coleman) must kick a ton of ass in the (perhaps short-sighted) hope of living another day.
