Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

Gunpowder Milkshake (2021)

Known by the equally lame title of ‘Bloody Milkshake’ in French-speaking Europe.

After twenty minutes, I knew I was watching a film I wasn’t going to like, but that I had to watch anyway for my review. Just because the soundtrack is great doesn’t make it a good film!

A disappointing and somewhat comical female-led, feminist action film, no doubt inspired by ‘John Wick’. A poor substitute! I haven’t liked action films for a long time. I’m old school and I especially liked the films of Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren, but also Arnold Schwarzenegger and possibly Jean-Claude Van Damme. I’m not a fan of John Wick, Kill Bill, Kingsman, Atomic Blonde, Colombiana and, more recently, Kate, even though it stars one of my all-time favourite actresses in the lead role. If you put all that in a blender, you get Gunpowder Milkshake, an action film with more or less successful gunfight scenes, but with a hollow and unoriginal storyline. It’s mainly for those who aren’t paying attention!

I understand those who say that Nikita (1990) is a masterpiece compared to this film. I even liked its remake – Nom de Code: Nina – Point of no Return (1993) – no offence to all those who will cry blasphemy as they do every time I give my opinion! 😉

I find this film even worse than The 355 (2022). And… yes, I’m definitely more of a fan of Charlie’s Angels 1 and 3 (2000 and 2019), I admit!

Navot Papushado, who previously directed Big Bad Wolves (2013) and Rabies (2010) with Ahron Keshales, both films intended to shock, never manages to breathe any innovative ideas into his films.

It’s heavy-handed, with distressing dialogue and ineptly slow editing. In short, it’s just another dud on Netflix.

A feature film in which good actresses have lost their way. The kind of film you make when you’re running out of money or when you’re no longer accepted to make big films.

Karen Gillan is adorable in interviews, but rather bland in this role. I don’t mind her character being cold, but here she’s really annoying. However, her fans will certainly be delighted. As far as I’m concerned, she’s excellent in Dual (2022) and Jumanji (2017), and decent in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy, even if she’s not particularly memorable. She apparently loves science fiction, as she’s also in yet another version of the British series Doctor Who, playing Matt Smith’s assistant. She is the fourth well-known actress in the not-so-great The Circle (2017), alongside the formidable trio of the excellent Emma Watson, the fabulous Tom Hanks and the late Bill Paxton. I still haven’t seen The Call of the Wild (2020) or Thor 4 (2022), though.

Lena Headey is an excellent actress (probably my favourite here), but this isn’t really the place to appreciate her talent.

I’ve never been a big fan of Carla Gugino, but she’s still in four films that I love, namely Watchmen (2009), Sucker Punch (2011), This Boy’s Life (1993) and Night at the Museum (2006). I haven’t seen Lisa Frankenstein (2024) yet, but I’d love to watch it. She is quite touching in her role here.

Michelle Yeoh is the one I know the least. Another blasphemy: I’m not a fan of Avatar (2009)! So I haven’t seen Avatar 2 (2022).
I really liked The Venice Mystery (2023), but Michelle didn’t make much of an impression on me. Nor did she in the fairly decent Morgan (2016), which also starred Paul Giamatti… who is the only male lead in this film. That said, I should watch Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), which looks totally absurd, but really excellent.

As for Angela Bassett, this woman has always had great class and charisma. It was nice to see her in Black Panther (2018), but I remember her most from Strange Days (1995). She was excellent in Contact (1997), Vampire In Brooklyn (1995), The Score (2001) and Malcolm X (1992) too. I really want to see her in Survivor (2015), even though it’s also an action film. But being in a film with Milla Jovovich and Pierce Brosnan in the lead roles could be very exciting!

So, despite some superb supporting actresses, it’s a very disappointing film and, instead of praising women, it’s rather degrading to them, as these films don’t do them any favours, just like the female Ghostbusters in 2016. Of course, it’s great to fight machismo, but not just any old way!

As for Paul Giamatti, if you’re a fan of his, this isn’t the film to watch him in. He doesn’t appear that much. Instead, check out the series Billions or films such as The Illusionist (2006), John Dies at the End (2012), Man on the Moon (1999), or even Cosmopolis (2011), where he also doesn’t appear much, but is relatively unsettling. It was quite surprising to see him in Private Parts (1997) or The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014).

It should be noted that his first feature film was Without No Remorse (1991), based on a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino.

Well, as you can see, I didn’t like this film, and the fact that it was shown in cinemas is nothing short of blasphemy! A superficial film, dripping with saccharine sentimentality to the point of nausea, which revels in plagiarism, full of cardboard sets with a Porsche 944 that gets riddled with bullets but whose windows don’t shatter, a woman who takes a bullet to the chest but continues to fight and wield an axe as if nothing had happened. The humour is good at times, but really bad and repetitive at others. It takes a long time to get going and I didn’t believe it for a second. With such poorly written characters, botched fight scenes, excessive use of slow motion and implausible scenes, it was impossible to create a film that will remain in the collective memory of cinema.

An Israeli director not to follow…