Gunpowder Milkshake

Yet another female assassin lays waste legions of armed gunmen in another quirky, ruthlessly entertaining shoot-’em-up.

Sugar rush: Lena Headey

In Navot Papushado's merry bloodbath, the milkshake is a symbol of affection, a token of love, between a mother and daughter. The image is not so much a replica of the shake shared by Mark Renton and Spud in Trainspotting, as the symbol of love displayed by Lady and Tramp sharing a strand of spaghetti in the 1955 Disney classic. The mother here, Scarlet (Lena Headey), arrives at a diner – she’s always late – as her daughter, Sam (Karen Gillan), stares in anticipation at the milky drink with two straws. On the first occasion, Scarlet is three hours late, the second it’s fifteen years. In the interim, Sam has had to make her own way in her mother’s business of killing people and staying alive, invariably to a fantastic soundtrack.

The soundtrack is one of the film’s better assets, although there is a lot to commend this parodic joyride of deadpan wisecrackery and bloodletting. The influences are everywhere, but mainly this pays heavy homage to Sergio Leone. And the Haifa-born director Navot Papushado can now count himself in the same fraternity occupied by Edgar Wright and James Gunn, which is saying a lot. Being Israeli, Papushado will have grown up in the shadow of such home-grown hits as Lemon Popsicle (1978) and Hot Bubblegum (1981), lightweight entertainments that liked a catchy confection in their titles.

Here, there’s actually more gunpowder than milkshake, although the weapons come in all shapes and sizes, from knuckledusters to a tomahawk. In fact, there’s a veritable arsenal of the hardware, many stored in extra-large editions of the classics in a library that serves as the main set of the film. And it’s a great library. Not only is it ornate and beautifully appointed, but its bookshelves don’t topple when a string of bloodied hoodlums are hurled at their contents. Titles by Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë and Virginia Woolf are favoured, while Louisa May Alcott’s Little Woman is saved for the film’s denouement. Such a penchant for female literature is unsurprising as the library is run by three strong women, played by Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh and Carla Gugino. In fact, they, like Sam’s mother, all worked for the same organisation, called ‘The Firm.’ Indeed, at times Gunpowder Milkshake feels like the female flipside of Reservoir Dogs.

A week ago, Netflix showcased a new film, Kate, about a female assassin who ends up being partnered with the young daughter of her last victim. Here, Sam finds herself teamed up with a young girl, Emily (Chloe Coleman), after she has just killed the girl’s father. Serendipity or bad luck? Gunpowder Milkshake is more fun than Kate, but only by a whisker. It is self-consciously stylish, and more of a cartoon, while the dialogue never lets us forget that this is a movie. Scarlet, to Sam: “You are a strong, smart, incredibly impressive young woman. There’s not a single person on earth I’d rather kill people with.” And there’s a car chase unequalled in the history of car chases, in which Emily, sitting on Sam’s lap with her eyes closed, steers the wheel as Sam works the pedals.

Patently aware of its own absurdities, the film hurtles along with a breezy panache, set in a place that could be anywhere, although it was actually filmed in Berlin. Everybody speaks English, Lena Headey speaks with an English accent, while Karen Gillan (who is Scottish) tries out an American twang. And with its ethnically diverse collection of female characters and villains, the film resides in a garish, American-tinged no-man’s-land. with Gillan, at 5’11”, striding over everybody with considerable éclat (even over the film’s token male character, played by Paul Giamatti). It’s a franchise waiting to be ignited.

JAMES CAMERON-WILSON

Cast: Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, Chloe Coleman, Ralph Ineson, Adam Nagaitis, Michael Smiley, Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, Paul Giamatti, Samuel Anderson, Ivan Kaye, Joanna Bobin, Mai Duong Kieu.

Dir Navot Papushado, Pro Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman, Screenplay Navot Papushado and Ehud Lavski, Ph Michael Seresin, Pro Des David Scheunemann, Ed Nicolas De Toth, Music Frank Ilfman, Costumes Louise Frogley, Sound Frank Kruse.

The Picture Company/Babelsberg Studio/Canal+/Ciné+-StudioCanal.

114 mins. USA/Germany/France. 2021. Rel: 17 September 2021. Available on Sky Cinema, Now and Virgin TV. Cert. 15.