Thursday, June 16, 2022

Gunpowder Milkshake - An Enjoyable & Stylish Action Movie

This movie was finally released in Indonesian theaters after it was shown in other countries last year. I read somewhere about it in the internet and was intrigued by it. As usual, for non major blockbuster movies, I would give it a try first before my wife, just in case it's not to her liking. Besides, she was focusing on her TV series last night anyway. OK, let's get right to it.

Brief Story Line

Sam (Karen Gillan - The BubbleThe Circle etc) was a professional assassin working for a group called The Firm under one of their leaders Nathan (Paul Giamatti - Cinderella Man, Shoot 'Em Up etc). She had been working for the Firm for the last 15 years after her mother Scarlet (Lena Headey - Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, Game of Thrones TV series etc) who was also an assassin, left her. In her line of work, the Firm was supported by a group of women who were the supplier of weapons. They were Madeleine (Carla Gugino - Spy Kids trilogy, The Haunting of Hill Eyes TV series etc), Anna May (Angela Bassett - Bumblebee, Black Panther etc) and Florence (Michelle Yeoh - Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Crazy Rich Asians etc).  

Sam's life was turned upside down after she was involved in an assignment that hit too close to home. And as she was trying to rectify it, she was being hunted by endless group of assassins led by Virgil (Adam Nagaitis).

So how would the story conclude? You can find them all in this movie.

End of Brief Story Line

Now that was an entertaining action movie. At first glance, I felt that the film had a stylish approach with the very colourful settings and a little bit of noir feeling. But after a while, I was a bit annoyed with the lack of action as every time there was supposed to be action, the scene moved somewhere else or we were only shown the aftermath. It was like the director was just trying to tease us but never get to the nice part.

Luckily, the action finally came and it was truly satisfying. Once it started, it was almost nonstop and the action sequence was really exciting. Sometimes they were exhilarating with the very cool slow motion scenes that felt perfectly done, not to mention the brutality of the fights. No wonder it got an R rating in the US, while in Indonesia it was classified for 17+ which was spot on. There were graphic violence where people were killed with blood spattering all over the place, yet somehow they did not seem scary or disgusting. For me the action felt a bit like when watching 300 that was directed by Zack Snyder. Perhaps the director Navot Papushado (Rabies, Big Bad Wolves etc) was influenced by him?

The main cast were also the reason why this movie was interesting. Karen Gillan was quite convincing playing as this professional hitwoman with some good fight skills, while Lena Headey obviously experienced in action roles. Of course the rest of the ladies were amazing as well. It was such a treat watching all of them in action. And don't know why but I felt Paul Giamatti was perfect in this kind of role. Aside from the names I mentioned above, there was also the important appearance of Chloe Coleman (My Spy etc) as Emily, Ralph Ineson (The Witch, Chernobyl mini series etc) as Virgil's uncle/boss Jim McAlester and Freya Allan (The Witcher TV series etc) as young Sam.

Overall this is an entertaining action movie for me. It was stylistic with some amazing action fight sequence. Despite the early part did not really have real action, but the rest were truly satisfying. There were even some brief dark humor too every now and then where you would chuckled or at least grin. It has a duration of 114 minutes without any mid or end credit scene. The ending also felt like it was open for sequel and it looked like it's happening. So if you like John Wick movies, then you might find this one having a bit of similarity, except this one was more stylish and colorful instead of the no nonsense, direct and dark approach. Definitely recommended for fans of action films.

Happy watching!

Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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