When I first saw John Wick, I didn’t really get the appeal. It was a fun film, sure, but I thought it was a bit forgettable, if I’m honest. However, when the next 2 came around and went completely bonkers, the schtick became clear… flashy gunplay is fun to watch, so keep the plot basic enough not to drag down the action, and be sure to keep things moving so your audience doesn’t notice the fact that there isn’t much beyond the fight scenes. Another movie that does this fairly well was the woefully underappreciated “Shoot ’em Up”… Same thing; nonexistent plot, entertaining action.
I think at this point, these sorts of movies have become a genre all on its own. Just like Die Hard spawned a bunch of lesser clones (even though some were quite entertaining), John Wick has now done the same. Three notable examples are probably both from the past few years; “Extraction” (or John Wick with Chris Hemsworth), “Nobody” (or John Wick with Saul Goodman) and “Gunpowder Milkshake” (or Girl Power John Wick). Today we are discussing the latter, “Gunpowder Milkshake”, starring Lena Heady and Karen Gillian. Here is the trailer.
First off, I feel like I should say that this movie isn’t “bad”, per say. It’s on Netflix, and it wasn’t like I want my past 2 hours back. Its just… unnecessary. But lets start off with the actresses.
First off, Karen Gillian is great. I mean that in general… She was great in Doctor Who, she is great in Guardians of the Galaxy, she is great in the Jumanji movies… Hell, a few years back I watched her in a 30 minute comedy called “Selfie”, and she was pretty good there too. I think she is generally pretty quippy, and her character from the MCU aside, I think she generally thrives on the fact that she is relatively bubbly. In the Jumanji’s, she is essentially a bubbly bad-ass, and it absolutely works. In Doctor Who, she was the bubbly companion. She wasn’t that way in this movie, however… It isn’t that she is bad in it, but it definitely lacks something. The script also asked her to be very physical, as in fighting 240 lb men hand-to-hand believably. I’m sorry, every time I saw her manhandling guys twice her size, it took me out of the story. Her performance wasn’t bad, but it was a bit jarring at times.
Next comes Lena Heady. I consider her one of the best character actresses working today. She is great in 300, Game of Thrones, Dredd, that terminator TV show… she just brings an almost gravitas to the screen. She also plays the “bad-ass maternal figure” very well, and it works here. She didn’t put forth an award-winning performance here, but the script didn’t really call for it. I give her a pass.
So what is the plot on this? Well, I don’t think it is worth it to go through in detail, so let me keep it brief… Lena Heady is Karen Gillian’s mother, an assassin who kills the wrong guy and needs to go on the run. Heady leaves her teenage daughter with the “librarians”, who are essentially gun suppliers that work out of a library. In her mothers absence, Karen Gillian (who plays a character named Samantha) starts to work for the same firm that employed her mother. Then, one night, Samantha ends up getting caught in a room with a bunch of people unexpectedly, and she needs to shoot her way out.
Then, same night, she gets called to recover a suitcase of cash from a guy who stole from the firm. She shows up and ends up killing the guy, only to find out that he stole the cash to recover his daughter who is being ransomed. Samantha grows a heart and goes to rescue the 8 year old girl. After rescuing the girl, they find a few excuses to do some more shootouts/fight scenes before heading to a mysterious address, where Samantha’s mother is apparently hiding.
So yeah, now we have our team of 2 women and an 8 year old running to the library, where the other 3 librarians join in a huge fight scene, where one librarian dies and the girl is kidnapped. Samantha sacrifices herself to rescue the girl, but the remaining librarians step in at the last minute to save the day. Boom… roll credits.
Its a near 2 hour movie, but the plot is pretty limited either way. Its not a horrible way to spend a few hours, but there are better films if you are looking for this type of experience. Any of the John Wick’s are an improvement, but if you want to see something new, go ahead and give this a shot.
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