Why do so many badass action ladies get saddled with a kid to take care of? Let’s discuss.
Gunpowder Milkshake (2021) introduces an assassin society with its own rules of conduct, similar to John Wick. When Sam (Karen Gillan) is about 12 years old, her assassin mother, Scarlet (Lena Headey), disappears after some assassin stuff goes awry. Rather than seeing that as a warning to not become an assassin, Sam follows in her mother’s footsteps to become one of the best killers the world has ever seen. It all starts to unravel when one assignment leads to her killing the son of a big wig in the criminal world. (Logically you would think that’s a known risk these guys are taking by being in the criminal world but daddy dearest still wants Sam’s head on a platter). An army of henchmen get dispatched to hunt Sam as she goes on another assignment in which she kills a dude who’s just trying to rescue his 8 year old daughter, Emily (Chole Coleman). Having killed Emily’s only family member in the world, Sam takes Emily with her to try to find someplace safe to drop her off, preferably somewhere with efficient rules about the parent dropoff/pickup line, but the endless army of henchmen make it tough to get to drop-off.
There are plenty of action films in which the protagonist is rescuing/protecting a kid. When it comes to male vs female protagonists, however, there seems to be a disproportionate number of films where the female protagonists are directly saddled with the kid, whereas, the male protagonists are on their journey by themselves to rescue the kid.
From there we get to the central thesis: another story about a badass lady having to take care of a kid. While, obviously, there are plenty of stories with action men doing the whole foster-dad thing, there’s also just a lot more stories about action men in general. Us Action Chicks don’t get to see that many flicks with ass-kicking heroines, so it’s kind of a drag to see so, so many of them use this same trope. Why are women always saddled with the kids while men get to go on their rescue journeys by themselves? This action-woman-as-foster-mom trope is so common I recently reviewed a similar movie. (which came out around the same time as GPMS). Too many writers lean toward the stereotypical constructs of men being protectors but not capable of direct child care, whereas obviously every woman just naturally has the instinct to mother. Men can be active dads, and women are more than mothers, dummies!
With that said, Gunpowder Milkshake writers Navot Papushado and Ehud Lavski do at least manage a serviceable job at incorporating the kid without jeopardizing the action. Sam engages in several brutal fights with Emily nearby, using her to inject some grounded humanity with her reactions when she’s hiding, or covering her eyes, or wearing headphones so she’s not hearing/watching people get slaughtered three feet in front of her face. You can’t help but think about how messed up this situation really is and how traumatized this kid would be in real life. But, to enjoy this flick Emily and audience alike need to shove those thoughts into a box and lock ‘em up.
Suspending disbelief is a major requirement for watching Gunpowder Milkshake. It stretches the boundaries of reality, resulting in an unrealistic but fun and unique journey. At one point Sam is injected with some magical drug that makes her lose the ability to move only her arms so she’s forced to figure out creative ways to kill henchmen in hand-to-no hand combat. Then she has to figure out how to drive a car and escape 20 more henchmen in pursuit. Ridiculous? Yes. Amusing and distinct? Yes!
To make it to the fun no-handed combat you have to make it through the more noir-ish first act of the film, which drags with the intensity of a RuPaul contestant. Things start getting great once Sam starts the ass kicking, and truly shine like a new penny when all the rest of the ladies show up- Carla Gugino, Michelle Yeoh, Angela Bassett, and Lena Headey. Unfortunately, they are extremely underutilized as they don’t show up until the end of the film. They’re each so terrific onscreen that it makes you wish this was a different movie, one that featured all of them from the beginning.
Still, despite playing into the tiring action-women-as-moms trope and having a first act with some seriously bland lumps in it, Gunpowder Milkshake is one milkshake I enjoyed drinking up.
Action Rating: 4 teeth in your hair, out of 5
This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!
