Rating of
2/4
Atomic Blonde by way of...Birds of Prey?
Indyfreak - wrote on 10/23/21
Action-comedy about an efficient if socially awkward assassin (Gillan) who becomes a young child's protector when some nasty villains come after them. She gets assistance from a group of gun toting women (Angela Bassett, Michelle Yeoh, Carla Gugino, Lenda Headey) disguised as librarians. It's cool seeing these four very talented actresses doing badass things.
There are some things that work. For instance, Karen Gillan wrestles with not telling the little girl that she killed her father. Meanwhile, Gillan herself has a strange familial relationship with her boss turned nemesis (Paul Giamatti).
The action is appropriately bloody given the R rating. But the story and its various subplots feel like an outline instead an actual script. It's oddly enough a similar structure to the superhero film BIRDS OF PREY except that movie has a wild anarchic energy that compensates its narrative problems. And if I was being honest, while I like Karen Gillan and she's not a bad actress, she's not quite as charismatic as Margot Robbie. GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE is adequate Netflix viewing but it could had been ironed out better.
