GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE

US, 2021, 114 minutes, Colour.

Karen Gillen, Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh, Joanna Bobbin, Chloe Coleman, Freya Allen, Ed Birch, Paul Giamatti, Ralph Ineson, Angela Bassett, Michael Smiley.

Directed by Navot Papushado.

Now that’s a title! Or, it might have been called Female Assassins like a Diner that Serves Double Scoop Milkshakes!!

In fact, we visit the diner several times, first of all with Samantha, Sam (a tough leading lady, Karen Gillen) and, as she sits, we see her 15 years earlier, with her mother, Starlet, similarly employed (Game of Throne’s Lena Headey) – and her mother going off, absent for 15 years, entrusting her daughter to a company boss, Nathan (Paul Giamatti). As it turns out, Nathan is not particularly happy with Sam, she exceeded her task and, instead of eliminating one, she eliminated the whole group, including the rival boss, McAlester’s (Ralph Inesen) only son.

Clearly, vengeance is going to be to the fore. And eluding vengeance will be more than a task ahead.

With its cleverly flip dialogue, with its stylised sets (gold-tinted), the diner, an immense library, a bowling alley and mall, this is not a story to be taken absolutely literally. Part of the enjoyment is exactly that it is all highly stylised, tongue-in-cheek. The word that often accompanies a review of this kind of film is, and here it is here, Tarantino-esque! I think Quentin would enjoy this one.

Nathan has an issue. An employee has stolen a lot of money and Sam has to get it back. But, it turns out that the man stole the money because some very comic book thugs (four of them wearing masks from popular past horror films including Dracula and Frankenstein) have abducted the man’s daughter and are holding her to ransom. It looks as though Sam is not reliable, shoot first and ask questions afterwards. However, she has a heart, gets the wounded man to hospital, takes care of his daughter, Emily (Chloe Coleman) who endears herself to Sam and to the audience.

Nathan is not happy and Sam has some comic battles in the hospital with three nincompoops that he sends and who get high on laughing gas and so go to the final shootout, laughing uncontrollably. Nathan seems to the head of a large corporation, all-male executives at the meetings, all with the presumption that this world can function only with male control.

But, and here is quite a bonus for older audiences, Sam’s mother had three associates in the past who staff the enormous library – which is, in fact, a cover for a weapons bureau (with many of the guns concealed in the self-help section). And so, it is a pleasure to see Carlo Gugino, Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett – and see them in toughest action against the thugs. And, thank goodness, after an hour Lena Headey turns up again and joins her daughter in battle.

Hard to find vocabulary now to comment on the film’s perspective. Feminist used to be the word, perhaps still is (and this despite the fact that the screenplay was written and directed by a male). There is an effectively written misogynistic speech from McAlester (when we go for the final confrontation back to the diner). McAlester solemnly tells Sam that he’d had three daughters, could not understand them in the least, was irritated by their giggling manner, then very happy to have a son whom he could bond with and with whom he could understand!

And, there are some gender equality issues that Nathan learns and has to live with.

There is a happy ending, of course, Emily, despite her assertions that she is 8 ¾, is obviously going to be the next generation of these female assassins. But not before the shootout – and a striking tracking shot along the length of the diner, the assassins in for action, wreaking vengeance and justice on the thugs. It’s that kind of film.

1. The title, the tone? Echoes of Quentin Tarantino, characters, situations, studio sets, violence?
2. The style, Graphic Novel, bold and direct characters, stylised dialogue, contrived situations, audiences suspending disbelief, enjoying the conventions rather than expecting realism?
3. The writer and director? Yet the feminist texts and subtexts? Women as elites? Men and power, to be undermined and destroyed?
4. Sam’s story? The summons, the symbol of the milkshake and double scoop, the two straws? Rose and her continued help? 15 years earlier, her mother arriving, the bond between mother and daughter, the mother and her career, hit woman, having to escape, entrusting Sam to Nathan? Her mother disappearing for 15 years? The emotional setup?
5. Sam, in action, employed by The Firm, commissions, her talent as a hit woman, a job, no conscience and emotion? In the corridor, the massacre of the attackers? The irony of the death of the boss’s son? His wanting revenge?
6. Nathan, his relationship with Scarlett, protecting Sam, giving her commissions? Arrival at the diner? His warnings about the consequences of the massacre? His role, The Firm, all men, hits, criminals, power?
7. Sam as a kind of super hero, powers, yet vulnerable? The commission about the man who stole the money from The Firm? Discovering the truth? Shooting him? Taking him to the hospital? His daughter abducted by thugs? Stealing the money to pay the ransom? Sam, going to the rendezvous, the thugs in their horror film masks? The little girl, the supermarket trolleys? The group in the car, the betrayal, their being shot, Sam and the confrontation, rescuing Emily?
8. Going to the library, the three women, the humorous dialogue about borrowing books yet referring to weapons? Madeline, demure, reception? Anna May, the wild look, in charge, severity? Florence, quiet, in the background? Recognising Sam, memories of her mother, helping her, the weapons, the humour of the books in which they were concealed, self-help?
9. Mc Alester, boss, the death of his son, wanting revenge, the range of henchmen?
10. Nathan, his three thugs, their appearance, going to hospital, in league with the doctor, injecting Sam, her inability to move her arms, getting Emily to take the knife and the gun, her confrontation with the thugs, the fights? Their wounds? Their inhaling the laughing gas, the parody of the fights with the giggling? The deaths? Nathan and his reaction?
11. The reappearance of Scarlet, Sam and her reaction, recriminations, Scarlet and her wanting to protect her daughter?
12. The setup for the confrontation, the thugs tracking Sam, going to the library? The preparations for the siege, the women agreeing? Madeline and her packing the boxes in the van? Protecting Emily? The range of fights in the library, the older women and their martial arts, fighting tactics, weapons? Sam and Scarlet working together?
13. The leader and the confrontation with Madeline, the fight, her going, Emily with the headphones and not hearing, Madeline’s death? The leader escaping?
14. The return to the diner, Rose and her help, Sam going alone to take responsibility, the leader abducting Emily? The milkshake? Scarlet and saying she did not have any ideas?
15. The discussions, the waitress appearing, Scarlet has the waitress, her plan, Anna May and Florence as waitresses? Mc Alester, his long speech to Sam, misogynist, not understanding women, his daughters, love, but their giggling and secrecy, bonding with his son, the male bonding, his son’s death? Wanting to torture Sam?
16. The attack, the long tracking shot along the aisle of the diner, each of the women and their weapons, attacking the thugs, their deaths?
17. The final bonding, Emily and Sam’s nightmare that she would kill her, Emily understanding and forgiving Sam for her father’s death? Joining the group? Three generations of female, feminist action heroes?