"Free Fire" = Lots of Gun Fire, Army Crawling, and Quippy One-Liners

   As the summer movie season creeps ever so near, the weeks leading up still have some interesting selections to offer for your viewing pleasure. This weekend in particular features the wide release of the Ben Wheatley-directed Free Fire, an interesting action/shoot-em-up that was not quite what I had expected. It was if Reservoir Dogs decided it was going to be almost a slapstick comedy rather than an intense drama with comedic aspects. With a packed cast and quipy dialogue, this movie offers some serious laughs among the barrage of gunfire that spans almost the entire run time.

   Set in Boston in the late 1970s, an arms deal in a deserted warehouse between two gangs turns into a shootout and a game of survival. The tone of the movie is set early on and does a pretty decent job of maintaining that tone throughout. As we are introduced to the characters we get a sense early on that this is going to be an exaggerated narrative. Sharlto Copley plays the arms dealer selling the weapons who happens to also be a complete moron. Armie Hammer and the rest of his gang have to constantly talk him down and keep him in line. The exchanges between Copley and every other character is really funny, and he is by far the standout. Cillian Murphy heads the gang looking to purchase the weapons and he's probably the most interesting character. In reality though there is no arc for anyone and I found myself okay with that. A movie like this doesn't need all that. As the movie moves from a simple exchange to an all-out fire fight, the quips fly just as frequently as the bullets. Now, this film isn't marketed as a comedy, and I'm not trying to sell it as one, but in many ways it kind of is? I know that's really unhelpful, but this movie is technically not a comedy, but I was laughing throughout at the intentionally funny moments. Okay, moving on.

   The unfortunate aspect is that this movie is poorly directed. The acting is great and that's mainly attributed to the wonderful cast who understood and balanced that line between hyper-realism and straight-up silliness. I'm mostly talking about the actual production. The movie takes place in a single location the entire time, which means you have the chance to really be creative. The bummer is that director Ben Wheatley decided to use a shaky handheld approach the entire time, often cutting away from shooter to shooter without purpose. There are so many shots of people shooting guns without ever really knowing where those shots land. It became repetitive and not-very exciting about half way through. There really isn't anything that goes on in this movie other than shooting. That's the crux of the narrative. The most story you get is within the first third during the negotiations. Then it's constant gunfire and people crawling around to survive. But...it's funny.

   I appreciate what this movie was trying to do. I found myself enjoying it as I watched. I laughed far more than I had anticipated, but ultimately I left wondering what the point of this movie was. If you want quality, mindless entertainment, check out Fast 8 again. Free Fire was fun, but lacking. If you're thinking about seeing it in theaters, catch a matinee.