Free Fire

Free Fire is about a group of people in ostentatiously seventies clothes screaming and shooting at each other in an old factory for an hour and a half. Though it is lengthier and less clear than I would have expected (conversely, the minimal total number of shots enables Wheatley to gradually reveal new corners of the factory), it can be enjoyed without greater reservations as stylish, uncomplicated entertainment that offers exactly what the trailer promises (and not much more than that). Ben Wheatley obviously wanted to find out whether he could manage to turn similarly high-concept material into an engaging genre flick. He did it and clearly very much enjoyed working with the actors, most of whom modelled their characters on a single characteristic trait (appearance, age, accent), so you don’t care who catches how many bullets. Just don’t expect a film that excels due to its sophistication or that rewrites the rules of the genre (I consider one of the cleverest screenwriting moves to be the fact that most of the actors are shot in the leg shortly after the beginning, so it subsequently takes them much longer to cover a relatively short distance and the story thus doesn’t end after half an hour). Compared to Tarantino’s works, Free Fire has a much simpler narrative structure (no jumps in time) and thus a more straightforward course, although there is an obvious, clear effort at setting the rhythm through the revelation of new facts (though in the end none of this really matters anyway, which the film itself ironically makes clear with the point of the scene with the ringing telephone). In comparison with Scorsese, it is not as polished in terms of the camerawork and editing. Wheatley kicks the narrative up a notch occasionally with a sudden zoom in, a shot from high overhead or cutting between two actions, but there is no methodical use of certain stylistic approaches to speak of. What most helps the film is that it refuses to take itself, let alone its characters, seriously, which is the ideal default setting for brutal slapstick scenes when we are supposed to laugh at someone getting shot in the head. The level of absurdity and irreverence for what is fitting and appropriate is at times such that I was reminded of Monty Python (“I'm not dead”), which is probably one of the greatest compliments that can be paid to a film that primarily wants to thoroughly entertain the viewer. 80% (03/30/2017)

I must admit that I was quite taken aback by the fact that it was possible to shoot a film essentially in real-time, in one location, with the premise revolving around the exchange of weapons and money, which took a turn for the worse. And all this in a full-length film. I didn't believe it at first, but the format chosen for it is simply effective, it has interesting characters, and it doesn't bore. (07/07/2017)