Free Fire review: An assault on the senses, Ben Wheatley goes gung-ho for his TIFF ’16 crowd-pleaser.
Free Fire review by Paul Heath, TIFF ’16.
Midnight Madness is something to be experienced at Toronto. The film’s ten-day programme contains a variety of different movies from many genres and films like The Raid and Green Room have played in the past . Opening the section this year is Ben Wheatley‘s assault on the senses Free Fire, a film which will also close this year’s BFI London Film Festival in October.
Set in one location and in real-time, the film revolves around a gun deal between two parties in a warehouse somewhere in 1970s Massachusetts. On the one side you have a group of Irish men, led by Cillian Murphy‘s moustached Chris, as well as Sam Riley‘s hapless junkie Stevo and Michael Smiley‘s intense Frank. Selling them the guns is South African eccentric Vernon (a brilliant Sharlto Copley) and his right hand man Babou Ceesay. Brokering the deal from an apparent impartial point of view is the preened Ord (Armie Hammer), along with a post-Room Brie Larson as Justine. Soon after their initial meet, the deal goes south and tempers get frayed. What follows is a frenetic, 90 minute, deeply-dark-humoured slapstick shootout between the two sides where anything can and does happen.
Free Fire is Wheatley’s second film in as many years following last year’s Marmite movie High-Rise, a film that managed to split audiences and critics alike. His 2016 effort couldn’t be any different from his adaption of J.G. Ballard’s apparently un-filmable novel, and is absolutely perfect for its Midnight Madness placement at TIFF ’16. The film wastes no time in setting things up by introducing us to the few, but very well-written different characters within a matter of minutes. The likes of Cillian Murphy, Sam Riley, Michael Smiley and Brie Larson delight, as one may expect, but it is Sharlto Copley’s slightly off-kilter Vernon who is the real scene-stealer here. His unpredictable antics and off-beat humour shine through in every scene that he is in – which, due to the set-up of the film, is thankfully every single one. Despite Larson’s high-profile role in Oscar-winner Room, her role of Justine doesn’t get quite as much of the limelight as some of the other characters, and thus she is constantly out-shined by some spot-on turns from Murphy, Riley and particularly Copley. It really is his movie and is easily his best performance to date.
While the action wastes no time in starting up, the story-beats do get a little repetitive and I glanced at my watch more than once during the final third – surprising as the film only runs for 90 minutes. One can’t help but feel that the first third – easily its strongest part – is over too quickly with Wheatley and Amy Jump’s screenplay concentrating most of the film’s running-time on its huge shoot-out.
That said, there is so much fun to be had with Free Fire. A genuine crowd-pleaser, and a real assault on all the senses. The film constantly has bullets flying across the screen and over your head and is absolutely deafening.
Tons of fun from the off and ultra-violent throughout, Free Fire stands as possibly Wheatley’s most mainstream and accessible to date and will no doubt find a huge audience, which it really deserves to do.
Free Fire review by Paul Heath, Toronto International Film Festival 2016.
Free Fire plays at TIFF ’16 and will close the BFI London Film Festival in October. It will be released in the UK on March 31st, 2016.
