Director: Ben Wheatley
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, Sharlto Copley, Michael Smiley, Sam Riley, Babou Ceesay
Rating: 15
Running Time: 91 mins
DVD Release Date: 7th August
Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire features a star-studded ensemble cast battling it out in an abandoned warehouse after an arms deal gone wrong.Â
Given the film’s punchy marketing campaign, viewers expect a darkly funny 91 minutes full of action and witty exchanges. Unfortunately, Free Fire suffers the common issue of having all its highlights in the trailers. Everything aside from the sparse moments of humour is mundane and repetitive. It’s really disappointing, especially when you have familiar and established actors like Michael Smiley and Cillian Murphy, fan favourites like Sharlto Copley and rising stars Brie Larson and Armie Hammer, you expect something a little special.
Starting off promising, the film quickly descends into an hour of people crawling on the ground, shouting at each other and occasionally shooting. All tension is lost fairly early on as you soon realise this is going to be the rest of the film.
There are a few moments of humour in Free Fire, and due to the talent of the cast, these scenes work really well. The premise of a low action shootout in a realistic yet funny style seems like it should work. However, the lack of a score and the long, drawn out plot make for a terribly boring film. Characters are focused on in close-up shots alone, so you don’t really know where people are in relation to everyone else in the room, perhaps a deliberate intention from Ben Wheatley, but it just leaves audiences confused and annoyed.
Overall, Free Fire is a disappointingly dull film with some flickers of potential.
Verdict
Free Fire is available on Blu Ray and DVD from Monday 7th of August.
Disc extras:
Audio commentary with Ben Wheatley, Cillian Murphy and Jack Reynor
‘Making of Free Fire’ featurette
Interviews with cast and crew
