Today’s quick review: Free Fire. Late one evening, Frank (Michael Smiley), Justine (Brie Larson), and Chris (Cillian Murphy) show up at an abandoned factory to buy a shipment of guns from a South African arms dealer named Vernon (Sharlto Copley) and his assistant Ord (Armie Hammer). But when a petty squabble erupts in gunfire, the deal turns into a hectic shootout as each side struggles to escape with the money and their lives.
Free Fire is an experimental crime comedy based around one protracted shootout. The premise is a simple one: a gun deal gone wrong leads to a messy fight involving a dozen people, several crates of guns, and a building full of rubble, scrap, and pillars to hide behind. As the bullets start to fly, tempers flare and the few remaining cool heads try to untangle the hairy situation.
Unfortunately, Free Fire ends up caught somewhere between comedy and drama. The characters, their incompetence, and the farcical nature of the shootout all scream comedy, but the movie never manages to be all that funny. The best it can offer are a few hurled insults and some bullet-based slapstick. On the drama side, Free Fire suffers from a dearth of likable characters, chaotic plot progression, and little story to work with.
As such, Free Fire has a peculiar, hybrid tone that is hard to take in. It is stylized, but not punchy enough for style to carry the movie alone. It is comedic, with characters trading flesh wounds as readily as verbal barbs, yet it tempers its comedy with downer moments and real strife. It is dramatic, with characters thrust into a tense and dangerous situation, but dilutes its drama with absurdity.
Free Fire does have a few points in its favor. The cast is talented in ways that become more apparent as the movie progresses. The premise is unusual in both its elegance and its opportunities for mayhem. The situation eventually develops some real tension, and a few of the turnabouts are almost poetic. But the muddy tone, slow start, and myriad failings offset even these virtues.
Watch Free Fire only if you feel like taking a chance on a crime movie with a peculiar tone and an experimental premise. Free Fire is stylized enough that it is bound to scratch some viewers the right way, but those expecting either a taut thriller or a side-splitting comedy will be disappointed. For better takes on similar themes, check out Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels for comedy or Reservoir Dogs for drama.
7.2 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 for vision and style let down by tone issues and a lack of real comedy.