I love milkshakes. I am not embarrassed to say it. I love them. Fidel’s cafe in Wellington has the best milkshakes in the country. I haven’t found anything that matches it in Auckland. It has been a real struggle. The Fidel’s milkshake has the perfect combination of price, thickness, quantity and flavour.
The trailer for Gunpower Milkshake (dir. Navot Papushado) felt like it could have a fun mix of elements. It looked stylish, violent, had retro vibes, strong female characters, It felt like John Wick but with women. I was excited, who doesn’t want a good revenge romp.
We are introduced to Eva (Karen Gillan) waiting in a 50’s themed diner with a vanilla milkshake. Yup, it’s where the title comes from. We learn that her mother, Scarlet (Lena Headey) abandoned her 15 years earlier as she was involved in some unsavoury activities. It turns out the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree and Eva is also involved in the same activities as her mother.
Eva’s handler, Nathan (Paul Giamatti) gives her her next assignment. A man stole money from the “Firm” a group of men in charge of a lot of organised crime. They want their money back. Eva easily finds the man responsibly but it turns out he was set up by someone else. They kidnapped his daughter and he was stealing the money to get her back.
Eva shows compassion for the 8-year-old daughter, Emily (Chloe Coleman) against Nathan’s orders and attempts to right a wrong she feels by having her mother leave her when she needed her. Now, to save Emily, Eva has to take of the “Firm”.
The film has a great cast with Madeleine (Carl Gugino), Anna May (Angela Bassett), Florence (Michelle Yeoh), Jim McAlester (Ralph Ineson) all playing large roles. The material is really elevated by their performances, but, the story is very thin on the ground. There is not a lot of emotional growth. Things work out due to elements outside of Eva’s control rather than her learning and adapting to the situation.
The fight scenes were very brutal and visually it’s quite entertaining, although, it is a little confusing. There are hard 80’s neon vibes but then lots of 50’s motifs. Gillan handles herself very well in the action scenes but her emotionless character could well be Nebula from the Marvel films without the make-up. The milkshakes from Fidel’s are weighty, when you pick them up there is a lot of substance to them. It’s what I look for in films, something of substance rather than that of spectacle that is ultimately empty. Gunpowder Milkshake had lots of flair and vibrancy but didn’t fill me up.
20 June 2021
By Luke McMeeken-Ruscoe