{"id":23126,"date":"2021-07-13T16:48:19","date_gmt":"2021-07-13T23:48:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=23126"},"modified":"2021-07-13T16:48:19","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T23:48:19","slug":"gunpowder-milkshake-looks-great-but-doesnt-resonate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=23126","title":{"rendered":"GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE Looks Great, But Doesn\u2019t Resonate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This Netflix feature will make its steaming debut on Wednesday,\nJuly 14th<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writing\/directing team of Navot Papushado and Aharon Kashales garnered a lot of press in 2013 for their gritty and disturbing Israeli genre picture Big Bad Wolves<\/em>. It earned a sizable cult following. While the team still collaborate, each has gone off to create individual works along the way. Gunpowder Milkshake<\/em> is Papushado\u2019s English-language film debut, an over-the-top, bloody action picture with plenty of style to burn. The movie certainly looks great, but the story and plight of the characters aren\u2019t as well developed as the visuals and the end result doesn\u2019t make an emotional connection.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sam (Karen Gillan) is an assassin for a mysterious\norganization known as The Firm, taking assignments from an agent named Nathan\n(Paul Giamatti). The opening scene reveals that her mother (Lena Headey), who\nalso worked in the same profession, left her as a teen and never returned home.\nOver the years, Sam has transformed herself into a cold and efficient killer,\nbut still harbors deep resentment about her mom\u2019s disappearance. A new assignment\nrequires her to eliminate a target and retrieve stolen money. However, things\ndon\u2019t go as planned. The protagonist saves a young girl Emily (Chloe Coleman) after\ncarrying out the job and feels compelled to take care of her. This act causes\nfriction between the hired gun and her employers. Sam and Emily go on the run\nand are pursued by various thugs, as well the leader of a gang seeking revenge\nfor one of killer\u2019s earlier hits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, the movie looks slick. It is shot in bright\nneon hues, taking place in an almost surreal world. The fights are graphic and\nbloody (with many crooks going down in a hail of bullets or under a blade of\nthe main character), but it is clear that the filmmaker is aiming for laughs\ninstead of shocks. Some of it is very striking and well-choreographed. There is\na lengthy battle in which Sam\u2019s arms are nullified by a numbing agent and she\nis forced to adapt to the situation. A car chase sequence in a parking lot involves\nplenty of impressive maneuvers in tight spaces. And a climactic shoot-out\nfeatures a camera tracking slowly through a diner as various figures trade\ngunfire.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even the costumes and sets are over-the-top, with the lead\ndecked out in an amusingly garish orange bowling jacket and moving through stylized\nlocations. But while it is visually arresting, in truth it is unlikely that\nanyone watching will be fully engaging in the proceedings. Story elements feel\npieced together from other, stronger movies (most notably \u201cLeon: The\nProfessional\u201d). Other than being left behind as a youth, Sam isn\u2019t chatty and\nwe don\u2019t get much of an opportunity to relate her or get a real sense of her\ntrauma. Most of the attempts at humor and bickering between the protagonist and\nother characters land with a thud. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another concern involves the villains themselves. A clever,\ndiabolical villain can provide plenty of tension in a story, as well as some\ngreat back and forth between the protagonist as they discuss their motivations.\nSadly, in this picture it\u2019s a group of dim and buffoonish thugs who exist\nsimply to be mowed down. They don\u2019t feel like threats, just target practice. The\nprimary villain doesn\u2019t even interact with the protagonist until the climax. The\nincredible supporting cast isn\u2019t utilized particularly well either. A group of\nkillers played by Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh and Carla Gugino are introduced\nlate in the story. They certainly kick butt, but even their wisecracks aren\u2019t\nas biting or funny as they should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All of the elements are here for an over-the-top slice of action movie fun, but the movie doesn\u2019t land enough jokes and never feels as dangerous or exciting as it should. Gunpowder Milkshake<\/em> is reasonable enough to entertain in the moment, but lacks the substance or relatability required to make a deeper and more lasting impression.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Netflix feature will make its steaming debut on Wednesday, July 14th. The writing\/directing team of Navot Papushado and Aharon Kashales garnered a lot of press in 2013 for their gritty and disturbing Israeli genre picture Big Bad Wolves. It earned a sizable cult following. While the team still collaborate, each has gone off to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[206,697,1424,1896,3910,4271,4660,8737,8738,8739,8740,9216,11445,12245,13877,14680,15822,22825,23833],"class_list":["post-23126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-206","tag-action","tag-angela-bassett","tag-assassin","tag-carla-gugino","tag-chloe-coleman","tag-comedy","tag-gunpowder-milkshake","tag-gunpowder-milkshake-film-review","tag-gunpowder-milkshake-movie-review","tag-gunpowder-milkshake-review","tag-hitman","tag-karen-gillan","tag-lena-headey","tag-michelle-yeoh","tag-netflix","tag-paul-giamatti","tag-thriller","tag-violence"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23126\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}