Did you enjoy John Wick and wish more of its fight scenes took place in a library? Do you want to watch an action movie that doesn’t involve superheroes? Would you like to watch Michelle Yeoh choke a man with a big chain? The latter is a rhetorical question because duh, obviously. Regardless, Gunpowder Milkshake is what you seek.
Netflix’s forthcoming action flick stars Karen Gillan (sans Scottish accent, unfortunately) as an assassin who unexpectedly must protect an 8-year-old girl. Like Léon: The Professional but with bisexual lighting. It’s got Lena Headey (and her British accent), equal parts maternal and terrifying, twirling guns and wielding ancient-looking weapons. There’s Angela Bassett, Carla Gugino, and Yeoh as librarian assassins and my personal neo-noir Holy Trinity. There’s car chases, bowling-alley fight scenes, and Paul Giamatti being as Paul Giamatti as ever.
While there’s been a noted increase in women-led action movies in the past few years, it’s mostly been relegated to superheroes. And while I’m all for watching Gal Gadot ride horses and Florence Pugh put on a Russian accent, it’s refreshing to see a female-led movie in this genre that is smart, doesn’t shy from gore, and isn’t an obscure comic-book character called, like, Lady Gun Woman.
Gunpowder Milkshake is funnier than I expected, and though I am admittedly not the biggest action-movie buff, it’s a pretty fun and bloody romp. At the very least, the movie will have you convinced that you too can pull off a bowling jacket as well as Gillan. (Watch your scorpion-emblazoned back, Ryan Gosling.)
You can watch these women kick ass on Wednesday, July 14.
