Free Fire, Ben Wheatley’s new action/dark comedy revolving around a meeting between two factions of ne’er do wells caught in an arms deal gone wrong, has a relentlessly anarchic spirit. The plotline is fairly straightforward, but it works as a solid setup for off-the-wall lead riddled mayhem that feels like a tribute to much of Quentin Tarantino’s work, Reservoir Dogs in particular. Though whereas Tarantino’s botched heist classic had a more psychological edge to it, Free Fire isn’t necessarily that deep, far more interested in lowbrow chaos and fun.
It’s the second film co-starring future Captain Marvel actor Brie Larson that features here in a 1970s period piece (Kong: Skull Island being the other one), and once again she gets to hold her own amongst a mostly male cast. As Justine, it’s up to her to act as the middleperson on behalf of IRA members Chris and Frank (Cillian Murphy and Michael Smiley) so they can get their hands on some high-powered weapons, which proves to be easier said than done.
As the smug and dapper Ord, Armie Hammer shows some good smarmy charisma working as the representative for the arms dealers. While his partner Marvin (Babou Ceesay) is more reserved, Sharlto Copley is frequently a show stealer as the high-strung and self-absorbed Vernon, who is plagued by a misdiagnosis stemming back to his childhood. This winds up being the root cause of his impulsiveness, and he has some of the funnier scenes in the film. Suddenly tension erupts when Vernon’s buddy Harry (Jack Reynor) catches sight of Stevo (Sam Riley), Frank’s driver.
When the two reignite a previous unseen conflict, it isn’t long before bullets are mixed with the ensuing brawling. The warehouse is now a battlefield, and while all of the criminals hope their respective sides can make it out in one piece, it very well may be every lowlife for themselves in the end.
There are a few more twists inserted into the story as it progresses, but overall Free Fire is more about style, technique and its concept than it is serious character development. Its villainous protagonists are only given just enough detail in their backgrounds to further along the situation and escalate the drama. It’s the cast that really makes the movie so watchable, they add a good amount of humor and personality to their characters.
One could easily imagine Justine as the most sympathetic figure here, but she’s just as driven by self-preservation as everyone else. Aside from Chris flirting with her in a couple of scenes, Ben Wheatley and co-writer Amy Jump are more than happy to put her down in the trenches.
It’s very telling that Wheatley revealed he planned out the planned out the area used in Boston with the help of his Minecraft game, because much of the gunfights in the film feel rather videogame-esque in their cartoonishness. The characters are gradually whittled down by grazed bullets, and I was never quite sure when exactly someone was finally finished off.
It’s as if they had their own lifebars, cut down as things go from bad to worse to disastrous to traumatic. With the way Stevo manically laughs during one particularly intense firefight and how much Ord is snarking, it may feel almost like a game to the cast as well.
If Free Fire is the shootout as performance art, it might be a shallow performance, but never a boring one. As a story, it doesn’t exactly have a lot to say in its message- the film is mostly about the ferocity of its experience. Wheatley never makes his film quite as nuanced brutal or as crude as some of Tarantino’s other work, but it certainly feels like 1970s film with its cinematography, fashion, musical choices and its B-movie attitude.
The Blu-Ray for Free Fire should come in a hard plastic VHS-style vintage cover. Don’t come in the theater expecting a masterpiece, but it’s a fun and atmospheric way to spend an hour and a half. Recommended, mostly for action movie aficionados.