Filmology Rating: 2 out of 4

Have you ever wanted to watch a Quentin Tarantino shootout take place for an entire film?  If you have then Free Fire might be the film for you, but if you haven’t wanted that then you might be in for the longest hour and a half of your life.  

Two factions, one consisting of Chris, played by Cillian Murphy, Frank, played by Michael Smiley, Stevo, played by Sam Riley, and Bernie, played by Enzo Cilenti,and other other consisting of Vernon, played by Sharlto Copley, Ord, played by Armie Hammer, Martin, played by Babou Ceesay, Harry, played by Jack Reynor, and Gordon, played by Noah Taylor, meet to make a trade - money for guns.   It should be a simple night for Chris and Frank, but what they don’t realize is one member of their team betrayed them and wants to walk out with both the guns and the money.  

I love most of this cast.  Sharlto Copley was one of the best parts of Hardcore Henry and District 9, Armie Hammer was fantastic in The Man from UNCLE and The Birth of a Nation, Brie Larson shattered my heart in Short Term 12 and Room, Cillian Murphy was great in 28 Days Later and Batman Begins; I could continue going through the entire cast but the point that I’m trying to make is this cast is fantastic.  Every actor brings a unique performance to the character they are playing and, while some of the performances are over the top and rather cartoonish, they fit the tone of this movie.  The actors in this film are not the problem with the film, they all come and play the characters well and some add a sense of charm to rather unlikable people.      

I have two big issues with this film, the first being the geography of the warehouse and the second being the length of the shootout.  I compare this to a horror film because most good horror films like Halloween and Alien take place in one central location, but what makes those locations terrifying is that you as a viewer understand the layout of the location.  You don’t want Ripley to run down the corridor that she is running down because you know that the Alien is waiting for her down at the other end.  You never get anything that suspenseful in this film.  The opening shot of Halloween where you watch Michael Myers walk through the house to kill his first victim, you know that victim cannot escape because you are with Michael as he walks through the entire house giving you a sense of space.  Free Fire has hallways the lead to locked doors for no reason and you never understand where that locked door leads, why would the character want to go it?  Does it lead to the exit or just another hallway? The film never takes the time to explain the layout of the warehouse which leads to confusion about where the characters are compared to the others.  My second big issue with this film is the length of the shootout.  Was anyone clamoring for a hour and a half shootout?  Perhaps this only appeals to the video game audience which I’m not part of, but I found it to be completely boring and uninventive.  What makes the shootouts in Tarantino films so exciting is that you care about the characters, you understand the motives they have because the film built up to the climax of the shootout, but if you open with the shootout you have no climax, no actual act structure to follow.  The film just starts with climax and has no way that it can peak or grow, just one constant boring line.  

While I haven’t seen many of the films that Ben Wheatley has directed I can say that he is not a director I will ever be excited for.  Wheatley wants to give his films gravitas and act like they will solve all the problems in the world with a darkly comedic tone but I think he needs to look at what the definition of comedy means again.  Now before I get emails or comments telling me that I’m missing the point of the film, I ask you what is the point of this film?  It cannot be that males overreact and are always quick to pull the trigger because you have Brie Larson in this film who acts just as foolish as her male counterparts and she disappears for huge moments of this film.  Is the point to be titillated by the sound of guns going off?  If that is then I’m the complete wrong audience for this film.   Is the point to not go into a situation expecting everything to go as expected?  That seems too simple, but perhaps I’m overthinking this film, maybe it is just a hour and a half shootout, but that doesn’t feel like enough to contain a film and it simply doesn’t work.

Rating: Skip It

-Jonny G