I suppose that left to my own devices I might have watched Free Fire even in the absence of the mysterious unknown recommendation. After all, director Ben Wheatley scored high marks with the darkly comic Sightseers and darkly dark Kill List. So the film reviewers of YouTube can relax - no one is getting unsubscribed after all.
Free Fire is the story of a gun sale gone wrong. Two gangs (one with guns, one with money who want to buy the guns) meet in a warehouse and try to carry out the sale. Except that something goes wrong, someone recognises someone else, someone fires a gun, and before you know it everyone is scattered to the 4 corners of the warehouse wildly firing their guns around mouthing off.
The reason this isn't all over in 30 seconds is that everyone has a terrible aim. In fact it takes the remaining 70 minutes of the film for everyone to get shot (aside from the last man standing of course). The entire final 3/4 of the film takes place inside this bloody warehouse. I don't care if you're Martin Scorsese, but there are only so many ways you can direct a hectic scene with people wildly shooting in the general direction of each other and exchanging insults before it gets boring. And Ben Wheatley is not Martin Scorsese.
The plus points here are that Cillian Murphy and Michael Smiley are in it - a couple of actors I really like. Also Brie Larson is our token female - which is quite amusing as she won an Oscar at around the time it was filmed, one wonders if had a sudden rush of regret at being involved. Some of the banter before the gunfight breaks out is kind of amusing. But really, that is all.
More than anything it feels like a slightly duff student film. I say this as the location is static, effects easy to create, has a small cast that can all be contained in a single interior venue and seems to exist more to prove a point about film-making rather than do anything else. It would be ok if it was funny. Failing that at least make the action scenes exciting? Failing that at least end on a spectacular set piece? Failing that at least fill the film with interesting characters? This last point it almost does by creating a playful tension at the start of the film, but that falls apart as soon as everyone runs for cover and spends the rest of the film yelling at each other from distance. At times is becomes very confusing, which is impressive given that everything is happening in one place!
Sorry Ben Wheatley - I have really enjoyed much of your work to date, but this fails completely.
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