Disclaimer: I apologize for the late post, but different matters got in the way of completion. That being said, this review will contain some spoilers, so I'd suggest watching the film before checking out this review. Thank you.
Free Fire is a 2017 action/comedy/thriller film starring Brie Larson (Room, Trainwreck), Armie Hammer (Call Me by Your Name, Nocturnal Animals), and a cast of well-known actors. The story follows several groups of gun dealers struggling to survive an arms deal gone awry. It first premiered in theaters on April 21, 2017, and can be viewed with an Amazon Prime account, depending on the subscription you've chosen.
Free Fire is a 2017 action/comedy/thriller film starring Brie Larson (Room, Trainwreck), Armie Hammer (Call Me by Your Name, Nocturnal Animals), and a cast of well-known actors. The story follows several groups of gun dealers struggling to survive an arms deal gone awry. It first premiered in theaters on April 21, 2017, and can be viewed with an Amazon Prime account, depending on the subscription you've chosen.
For the most part, what worked about the film were the performances. Brie Larson and most of the cast members were a bit convincing as gun dealers who knew what they were doing, even at the price of using heavy exposition to showcase their knowledge. We'll get into this part much later. Also, the actors' reactions to on-screen injuries were believable. Any time they were shot or had to crawl to safety, you could see how much pain they were in or how worried they were about dying, though some of the characters (e.g. Stevo, Vernon, and Bernie) were a bit over the top with their reactions.
Moreover, Armie Hammer’s Ord was rather unique due to the fact he not only utilized sarcasm against the other characters who despised him but also knew how to set up a gun deal without much of an issue. Sure, we’re not given much information as to how he’s so skilled at his sarcasm or arms dealing, but the overall performance was impressive and made the film watchable whenever the film cut back to him. One thing that can be said is that this performance is much different than the ones in his past films such as The Lone Ranger, J. Edgar, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and so on.
Unfortunately, Free Fire contains many problems with its characters, its storytelling, and much more. For instance, the film itself doesn't provide us with a protagonist we can root for. Maybe this was intentional of the writers and the director (Amy Jump and Ben Wheatley of Kill List), but I'd like to think a film about surviving a gun deal gone wrong would have, at least, one character for me to care about and/or root for. This obviously wasn't the case and has been a problem for other extremely violent films, which we'll discuss in future posts soon.
Another noticeable example involves the characters containing little to no backstory. Who were they prior to their lives as arms dealers? The film never provides an answer to this question. There also weren't any indicators as to how the characters personally knew each other. How does Stevo (Sam Riley) know Bernie (Enzo Cilenti) or how does Frank (Michael Smiley) know them, plus everyone else involved with the arms deal? Did they all meet a long time ago and go from there? If this is the case, then the film should've established this element in a manner that doesn't involve another character pouring out insignificant details about the other characters.
The third problem with the film is the reasoning for the gun deal falling apart. Sure, what Stevo did to Harry's (Jack Reynor) cousin or sister was despicable, but why would the writers and the director make this information the reason for Harry violently retaliating against him, knowing what's at stake? This doesn't make any sense and the film could've found a better reason for the gun deal falling apart at the seams. This leads me to another point.
Most of the dialogue in the film contains nothing but heavy exposition. This is problematic due to the fact that it's used to lecture the audience about insignificant character details. Were we really supposed to care about how Vernon got into the arms dealing business or the details about Stevo harassing and attacking Harry's sibling and/or cousin? Again, these are details we could've figured out on our own if the writers and the director took time to properly set up the characters and not lecture us about what they've said, done, and so on. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case, which makes the film suffer.
Finally, there were tonal issues that could've been solved by having the film not switch back and forth between comedy and drama. One example includes the shooting sequences. Most of the time, they were played for comedy, which doesn't make much sense for a film trying to utilize dark elements throughout its runtime. Additionally, it's baffling how the film also has the characters have unlimited ammo, which is a staple for first person/third person shooter games, and shouldn't be for a film about gun dealers trying to survive each other.
In conclusion, Free Fire is an enjoyable film if you're looking for a straight "shoot-em-up" type of film without much going for it. But, fans looking for much more substance than what this film has to offer will want to look elsewhere. Might I suggest films from Taylor Sheridan, the Coen brothers, or Quentin Tarantino? Thanks for reading.
Grade: C-
Rated R, 1h 31min
The third problem with the film is the reasoning for the gun deal falling apart. Sure, what Stevo did to Harry's (Jack Reynor) cousin or sister was despicable, but why would the writers and the director make this information the reason for Harry violently retaliating against him, knowing what's at stake? This doesn't make any sense and the film could've found a better reason for the gun deal falling apart at the seams. This leads me to another point.
Most of the dialogue in the film contains nothing but heavy exposition. This is problematic due to the fact that it's used to lecture the audience about insignificant character details. Were we really supposed to care about how Vernon got into the arms dealing business or the details about Stevo harassing and attacking Harry's sibling and/or cousin? Again, these are details we could've figured out on our own if the writers and the director took time to properly set up the characters and not lecture us about what they've said, done, and so on. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case, which makes the film suffer.
Finally, there were tonal issues that could've been solved by having the film not switch back and forth between comedy and drama. One example includes the shooting sequences. Most of the time, they were played for comedy, which doesn't make much sense for a film trying to utilize dark elements throughout its runtime. Additionally, it's baffling how the film also has the characters have unlimited ammo, which is a staple for first person/third person shooter games, and shouldn't be for a film about gun dealers trying to survive each other.
In conclusion, Free Fire is an enjoyable film if you're looking for a straight "shoot-em-up" type of film without much going for it. But, fans looking for much more substance than what this film has to offer will want to look elsewhere. Might I suggest films from Taylor Sheridan, the Coen brothers, or Quentin Tarantino? Thanks for reading.
Grade: C-
Rated R, 1h 31min
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