Directed by Ben Wheatley
Written by Amy Jump & Ben Wheatley
Cast: Enzo Cilenti, Sam Riley, Michael Smiley, Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, Sharlto Copley, Babou Ceesay, Noah Taylor, Jack Reynor, Mark Monero, Patrick Bergin, Sara Dee (voice), Tom Davis
Soundtrack: Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury
This isn’t my first go ’round with this crew.
I saw Ben and Amy’s High-Rise last year, and wasn’t particularly impressed, but far be it from me to not give people second chances if it feels warranted. After all, Free Fire obviously features a whole lot of guns, and a good handful of actors I actually like, so how bad could it be?
Well, frankly, I wish I hadn’t even asked the question.
This movie sent up red flags almost immediately, thanks to some bad Boston accents, and it never got much better from there. The plot is razor thin (and boring), the characters are thin (and boring), and the action is poorly executed (look, I get that the joke is that they’re all bad shots, but you’ve got to give me some geography, man). Seriously, I haven’t been this bored watching people shoot at each other since Jason Bourne (at least Free Fire has the decency to not be two hours long, although, honestly, the shorter runtime doesn’t help much).
Much like with High-Rise, there’s just something missing with Free Fire (maybe a lot of things, actually). It’s not funny enough, violent enough (with the exception of a couple of quick moments), stylish enough, frightening enough, or clever enough to make you feel like you saw something worthwhile. I can’t even tell you how much of the runtime I spent asking myself, “What emotion am I supposed to be feeling right now?” I did chuckle a few times (which is why it’s not getting zero stars), but that was it; there was nothing else to grab onto.
Not every movie has to be the same, not every MacGuffin has to pay off, and not everything has to have “a point,” but every movie has to have something, and at the end of the day, Free Fire‘s pretty much got nothing. I didn’t think I liked High-Rise all that much, but it feels like a quantum leap ahead of this movie, I tell you what.
Maybe I’m just not on board with Ben Wheatley (who knows?), but this movie is not one to be seen.
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆