The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Barry Hertz
This is regurgitated shoot-’em-up nothingness fetishistically dressed in the cosplay of equality. The women are not characters to care about, but props to kill and be killed.
France, United States, Germany · 2021
1h 54m
Director Navot Papushado
Starring Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Chloe Coleman, Carla Gugino
Genre Action, Crime, Thriller
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In the assassin genre with a story that spans multiple generations.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Barry Hertz
This is regurgitated shoot-’em-up nothingness fetishistically dressed in the cosplay of equality. The women are not characters to care about, but props to kill and be killed.
The A.V. Club by Caroline Siede
Gunpowder Milkshake comes alive in its darkly comic action sequences, which prioritize creativity as much as brutality, with an uncommon focus on props, locations, and wide compositions.
The fundamental ineptness of Gunpowder Milkshake appears to be a consequence of the exponentially swelling glut of streaming options.
Overall, the whole project feels weirdly empty and off-puttingly self-congratulatory, as though the very idea of turning women into action heroes is revolutionary.
The Film Stage by Glenn Heath Jr.
When Papushado’s film finds the right tonal balance, meshing noir bleakness with pops of art deco color, there are fireworks to behold.
The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore
Though not without its moments, the film offers too little of interest for its leading ladies to do, and feels throughout like an adaptation of a comic book that was written for the sole purpose of being sold to an IP-hungry film studio.
There’s a lot of flash and style, and all in service of an empty story with unmemorable gunplay.
This first entry could stand to be a bit more satisfying on its own, but the sugar rush that accompanies “Gunpowder Milkshake” is more than sweet enough to prove its place in a fast-growing sub-genre, with a cherry on top.
Chicago Sun-Times by Richard Roeper
Please leave all logic and reality at the door as you settle in for a violent slice of Netflix original movie entertainment featuring an outstanding cast of first-rate actors clearly having a great time shooting up the joint.
If Israeli B-movie maker Navot Papushado (“Rabies,” “Big Bad Wolves”) had kept this thing on its feet and sprinting — fewer pauses for motherly pathos, Spaghetti Western face-offs, etc. — “Milkshake” would have gone down easier, no matter how much gunpowder was used.
Jurek is targeted by the Communist government in 1980's Poland for being the only witness to a police sanctioned murder.