Free Fire

Ben Wheatley certainly has a twisted sense of humour, evident in films such as Sightseers and High-Rise, and he brings it to proceedings once again in Free Fire, a relentlessly entertaining action comedy. Featuring an impressive ensemble cast, Free Fire was a film that had been on my radar for a while.

Boston, 1978, and two gangs set a meeting in an abandoned warehouse for an arms deal. It doesn't all exactly go to plan and it's not long before a full on shootout between the two gangs occurs, leading to bullets flying all over the place and a game of survival for everyone involved.

Free Fire wastes no time in getting into things and when the entire cast are together, the film really does fire on all cylinders. Ben Wheatley's film is by no means the best film I'll ever see but it is the perfect choice for an entertaining time at the cinema, making sure it doesn't overstay its welcome with a swift ninety minute runtime.

Wheatley collaborates once again with Amy Jump to write the film and the result is a quick screenplay that delivers plenty of wit and humour, as well as a shootout that the films builds itself around, which becomes farcical due to the sheer amount of incompetent characters the film plays host to.

A screenplay like this deserves a cast to do it justice and Free Fire has exactly that in the shape of an ensemble cast to get excited about. Cillian Murphy has one of the more prominent roles and he manages to bring the coldness we are so used to seeing from him to the role of Chris. Brie Larson gives the film its singular female character and she's certainly no pushover, Larson playing Justine with a sense of grit and superior intellect over her male counterparts. Then there is Armie Hammer, who shines as the overly sarcastic and suave Ord.

The man who steals the film from everyone else though is Sharlto Copley as Vernon, an arms dealer who runs his mouth a little too much. Sure, his South African accent makes him sound funnier but there is no doubt that Copley's Vernon gets the majority of the film's quips., and he absolutely revels in them. There's some fine support from Jack Reynor and Sam Riley on show too as a couple of warring members from their respective gangs.

For a fun night at the cinema, I can't recommend Free Fire enough. If you're someone who is easily offended by foul language or doesn't like loud noises though, I feel as if you'd take an instant dislike to this film, which would certainly be your loss.

I watched this at a Cineworld Unlimited showing. Before it played, there was a little intro from Ben Wheatley the director. He described the movie as a fun action film, with lots of violence and lots of swearing, and that it was mercifully short. I'm not sure I can characterise it much better than that. So I'm not going to try.

When I saw the trailers for this film, I turned to my wife and said "I really hope this whole film is contained in the one room, if they do that, then it will have to stand and fall on the script, the characters and the acting, rather than just rely on some special effects and the action". I am pleased to report, I got my wish.

The setup is simple. We're in 1978, a group of Irish men (presumably IRA) are trying to buy guns in American, Boston to be precise, so they ship them back to Ireland, and use them to shoot the British. The 'brains' of the outfit are Chris and Frank played by Cillian Murphy and Michael Smiley respectively. The (and I'm using this next word in the loosest possible way) 'muscle' (but in all fairness, they certainly don't seem to have any brains) are Stevo and Bernie.

On the other side, we have the sellers, headed up by Vern, played by Sharlto Copley, and Ord played by Armie Hammer.

Both parties seem to have been brought together by the only woman in the film, Justine played by Brie Larson.

So, we have a briefcase full of cash, and a van full of guns, all we have to do is swap one for the other. What could go wrong?

Let's just say that there is a disagreement over someone's actions, and things quickly spiral out of control.

I'm not going to get into details, because to be honest, there aren't very many, and if you've read any of my other reviews I don't like to spoil. We can just say that bullets start flying, left, right and centre, and we have a film.

The films hangs on the humour of the situation. The one liners, the insanely inappropriate comments, the wonderful character interactions.

The exchanges between Frank and Ord are wonderful.

Vern is hilarious, and his reactions to Chris chatting up Justine are a great running joke. It really will make you giggle, often at things you'd wish didn't make you laugh. Watching people get shot shouldn't be funny, but in this context, it just is.

This is the ultimate Mexican standoff. Luckily none of the characters have a particularly good aim, so the ridiculousness lasts exactly 90 minutes, and that feels just about right. There is only so much chaos, bursts of gunfire interlinked with witty banter that an audience can take.

This isn't a great film by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a wonderful example of a guilty pleasure movie. Lots of action, lots of jokes, and a little more intrigue then you originally expect. Oh, didn't I say it doesn't play out quite as simply as you'd assume? No? Well it doesn't, it actually keeps you on your toes, that is when you're not rolling around on the floor.

Remember to listen carefully, because some of the best jokes come in the middle of gunshots, or are said in a ridiculously over the top South African accent.

Well worth 90 minutes of anyone's time.

This film tells the story of two gangs in the United States of America, who meet in a warehouse to do a transaction on heavy firearms. Their deal quickly goes haywire when a fight breaks out, and a shootout ensues.

"Free Fire" is exactly what it says. The story is basically a free for all, shoot all you like as if there's no tomorrow kind of affair. It could have been an intense crime film, but it is not. The thing is that the plot has nothing else, just shooting. I really wonder how the film manages to carry on for ninety minutes, when all it shows is one person shooting another. I keep thinking to myself why don't the characters just die already, and end the horrible film right away! I wonder why this film with a non existent plot can attract so many actors and actresses who are famous.

By no means an "important" movie, but a good way to kill a Thursday afternoon in an empty theater. "Free Fire" makes no pretense at anything other than a sustained warehouse shootout intermixed with snatches of dialogue (snarky banter for the most part). Its cast of reprobates in gaudy '70s wear is really what makes this fun (in particular the foxy Brie Larson, and both Armie Hammer and Sharlto Copley providing yuks).

I really did grow to like these people (some more so) and that helps when the whizzing bullets start to lose their appeal (I say that as an ardent admirer of cinematic gun-play); enough so that the loss of one character was a real disappointment. We never got to hear the John Denver story!

7/10

Boston, 1973. Members of the IRA and an arms dealer come to an abandoned warehouse to make a deal to buy some machine guns. Everything is supposed to go smoothly until one member from the one group draws out a gun and shoots the other because of a previous incident. And all hell breaks.

Ben Wheatley's previous film, High Rise, I was not a fan of. High Rise felt too disturbing with heavy-handed messaging while lacking a coherent plot. Free Fire is by far a major improvement with hilarious dialogue, fun and well-written characters and non-stop action. I saw the movie at TIFF today and was pleasantly surprised. Wheatley turns this empty warehouse into a war zone with each of these character taking cover behind various objects and firing blindly. Unlike a lot of generic action movies where characters seem to magically dodge bullets, no one is safe and everyone eventually gets scraped or hit by bullets. This leads to some fun sequences of characters crawling on the ground to get from one cover to the next.

Surprisingly the two standouts are Cillian Murphy and Armie Hammer. Both were surprisingly funny in subtle ways. Sharlto Copley once again plays another weird but yet still hilarious and fun character. I also give strong shout-outs to Sam Riley and Jack Reynor. And Brie Larson is bad-ass as she holds her own weight against her male co- stars.

If I can say one negative it's that this isn't a movie with a lot of depth. It's not flat but don't expect this to be too much of a complex film. It is just simply about the these 2 trigger-happy groups trying either to kill or survive. It is more of a black comedy/thriller.

Free Fire is definitely one of the most fun and exciting action movies you will see so it is definitely worth a shot to watch once it releases in theatres.