Movie Review – Gunpowder Milkshake – Fun to watch
Table of Contents
My Rating – 3 out of 5
Plot Summary (Storyline) – Gunpowder Milkshake
Scarlet: You are an incredibly impressive young woman. There’s not a single person on Earth I’d rather kill people with.
Sam: Thanks, Mom.
Mother – Daughter conversation from Gunpowder Milkshake
This was quite a bit of fun to watch, though not really great from the cinematic point of view. Then again, every movie doesn’t have to be intellectually stimulating, they can just be entertaining as well. A stellar cast including Karen Gillan (Sam or Samantha), Leana Headey (Scarlet, Sam’s Mom), Michelle Yeoh (Florence), Angela Bassett (Anna May), Carla Gugino (Madeleine), Paul Giamatti (Nathan), and Ralph Ineson (Jim McAlester) is more attractive than the movie itself. But what I liked most about this movie was the background score and the set-piece cinematography, both were quite brilliant! Now coming to the storyline, which is not much unlike John Wick, the female variety!
Sam, is a second-generation assassin, following in her mother Scarlet’s footsteps. She works for a shadowy organization called The Firm as their troubleshooter. Scarlet had deserted her daughter 15 years ago, to keep her away from her dangerous line of work, but as fate would have it, Sam became an assassin for hire as well. Now on a job for The Firm, she nearly walks into an ambush due to dodgy intel but kills all who come in her way – including the son of Jim McAlester – who now wants revenge. To put all that right, Nathan – Sam’s handler in The Firm – sends her to recover some stolen money from one of their employees, but again Sam goofs up!
Emily: You’re bleeding.
Sam: It’s just a scratch.
Emily: It can get infected. Worms will get in there and lay eggs. And then they’ll have to cut your arm off.
Sam: That’s what they teach you in school these days?
Sam and 8 3/4th year old Emily discuss a bullet wound in Gunpowder Milkshake
As a result of that goof up, Sam has not only lost the money she was supposed to recover, she is now saddled with Eight and a Three-Quarters-year-old Emily. Adding to her woes, The Firm is no longer protecting her for having lost their money but Jim McAlester also wants his revenge. Forced into a corner, Sam and Emily reach the Library (her childhood haunt) and are joined there by her estranged mother Scarlet for the last stand. Well, the library and the librarians – Florence, Madeleine, and Anna May are no ordinary folk. The books have weapons hidden in them and the librarians are trained assassins themselves!
So while all the thugs in the city line up to kill Sam, the ladies line up to return the favor and with interest! The action set-ups are quite brilliantly done, with the glitzy lighting, slow-mo, and jerky movements combined add a zing to the movie’s fluidity. Little Emily (Chloe Coleman) is a big attraction here, her spontaneity and natural acting talents stealing the show from some of the stalwarts around her.
Conclusion – Movie Review of Gunpowder Milkshake
As I began by saying, the storyline has a lot of holes, but the overall package is quite a lot of fun, particularly in the action sequences and the background score. Angela Bassett and Michele Yeoh have little to do but come into their own as the movie draws to a close. Karen Gillan has little to do in terms of acting but does her best as the unsmiling, troubled assassin. Her relations with her mother, Scarlet, who deserted her 15 years ago with nary a note, add a good touch to the narrative given the short time it is dwelt upon.
In short, a good enough one-time watch but if you decide to skip it, you won’t be missing anything!
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