Given the only thing I knew about this movie going in was the title and that title reminded me of the video game Lollipop Chainsaw, I assumed it was going to be a stylized action flick starring teen cheerleaders, possibly with a 50s vibe. Close… but not quite. When Karen Gillan appeared, I was pleased. I’ve liked her since her Doctor Who days and certainly in Guardians of the Galaxy and Jumanji. When she was joined by Lena Heady, my interested was peaked. Obviously we love to hate Cersie Lannister but I was reminded of her Sarah Connor days too. And then the hits kept on coming with legends Michelle Yeoh, Carla Gugino, and Angela Bassett – all bad-ass female actors who I love seeing on screen.

Gillan plays a hired killer/fixer for a nebulous criminal agency called The Firm. She takes on a job that has her kill a man only to find out he was trying to save his little girl. So she sets out to save her but that puts her on a hit list of her own. Joining up with her mother (Heady) and extended family, she and the gang take on an army of goons straight out of a John Wick film.

And references to John Wick are apt since this is the kind of stylized hyper-violent action flicks that, if you told me was part of the JohnWickaVerse, I’d believe you. We get criminal-run hospitals, diners with rules about guns, and an armory disguised as a library. This is a similar kind of “don’t explain it, just live it” type of criminal universe world-building. And it’s clever, even if its cribbing a little too much.

And the action – which is what we bought this milkshake for – is of the similar rapid fire, killer soundtrack, action-heavy, stunt-based chaos complete with slow-mo-so-you-know-its-cool and excellent CG squib-work (aka blood spray). The action set pieces weren’t always the top of the line – some seemed a little awkward or at least gimmicky – but others were fantastic. Not sure why the split but it made the second half of the film MUCH better than the first.

I can’t say I was always buying the family drama of this flick, but it grew on me with time. The little girl they are fighting to save is played by Chloe Coleman who is a fine young actress that nobody last saw in the barely tolerable My Spy from last year. She’s good here in a similar part and is a bright spot in a film full of bright spots. In the end, her charm and the acting chops of the adults are good enough to sway me that the film has a blood-splattered heart.

It was ultimately a film on teeter-totter… but I ultimately came down on the side of kind of digging it. Not universally… but if it’s any indication, I was looking forward to the sequel during the film’s closing minutes. So obviously something had worked.

Score: 82