Killer Cocktail is a new cinematic action movie about killer girls. Is it more than a poor John Wick copy with women this time?
The Killer Cocktail is not a copy of John Wick, as associations are often built when we have female killers at the center of the story. In terms of creating action scenes, it is unfortunately not the best level based on surprise, skills, excellent camera work and ingenious choreography. This film is closer to the style of Quentin Tarantino, which is used in promotion in Poland, but it is not that good. Lack of the zest, claw and character of a Tarantino. You can even get the impression that the creators really wanted their film to be as "cool" as the specificities of Tarantino, but they never reach the intended level. There is a perceptible waste of the potential of something that is by no means captivating. The action scenes look average, because although the choreography is inventive and sometimes funny, the performance is too schematic: too quick editing, camera work failed, because it does not show exactly who, who and why, and it also hides many times that although we have actresses known for their roles tough guys headed by Karen Gillan, Michelle Yeoh or Lena Headey, they are often replaced by doubles.
The double-edged sword here is the mentioned comparison to Tarantino. Director Navot Papushado creates a story with character, style and nice ideas. I cannot deny him this, because I feel - especially in the visual sphere - that the Killer Cocktail has its identity depicted in a very fascinating atmosphere. This sometimes works well with action scenes (bowling alley fight in wonderful lighting), and sometimes it is an overwhelmed display of weirdness for the sake of weirdness (fighting thugs at the doctor's office). You can feel that this world of killers is well-thought-out and, like John Wick's, based on accurate, but simple solutions. The trouble is that, apart from these few generalities, not much comes out of it and the further you go, the more you feel that the decisions about form and specificity bring nothing but the impression that "the movie wants to be cool, but it doesn't work out". Such proof is one of the last action scenes in the cafe, which is a fun form (slow motion, one shot) and nothing else comes out of it.
I can't say, however, that Killer Cocktail is a very bad movie and it doesn't feel like anything at all. It is a very uneven thing, because next to these failed ideas, empty specificity that wants to pretend to be Tarantino at all costs and average execution of action scenes, there are also good ideas and solutions that evoke emotions. It's just not enough to be able to say: it's worth it, watch it. Even great actresses are not enough to make up for these shortcomings, although each here leaves her heart and tries as best she can to enter this form and have fun at the same time. One can feel, however, that there was a much better film in this concept that would not waste the actors, and with a better director who was aware of how action movies were made, he could be a good action fighter. In fact, even if they would go more into the climate a la John Wick (and this structure of the world evokes these associations), it could be successful.
The killer cocktail promised to be great, but somewhere these ambitions and ideas are lost in the emotionless play of Tarantino, which thus loses the chance to gain their own character and style, which, at times, resonate somewhere, never get full scope to show off.