Writers: Amy Jump, Ben Wheatley
Director: Ben Wheatley
In 1978 Boston, Justine (Larson) is brokering an arms deal which will see Vernon (Copley) and his associates selling a cache of machine guns to a group representing the IRA. Firstly Vern doesn't have the specific type of machine gun which Chris (Murphy) and his colleagues were expecting and then an unexpected conflict between one member of each party turns the situation from bad to much, much worse...
The antithesis of many a choreographed bullet ballet, Free Fire doesn't have people twisting acrobatically through the air, shooting enemies with deadly accuracy. It doesn't have a bunch of characters who shrug off gunshot wounds with a grimace and supernaturally limited physical impairment. No, shots go high and wide on a regular basis and those that do hit their mark cause serious pain for their targets.
As the shootout wears on the cast becomes ever more grimy and soaked in claret, some of them reduced to an agonising crawl as they attempt to reach their goal. Even at this point the protagonists are still cracking wise with each other and the barbed comments fly just as regularly as the slugs.
After the trippy, multi-layered delights of High-Rise some might view this latest from Ben Wheatley as being relatively straightforward and perhaps even a little lightweight. Nonsense. This is both bloody and hilarious, continually reloading with a ready supply of cracking dialogue executed with relish by a cast to die for.
It may be a trifle churlish to single out a performance for special mention as everyone in this is very, very good but for me Sharlto Copley steals the piece as the swaggering, spectacularly gauche Vernon who brings the chuckles and the cringes in equal measure. Sample behaviour from Vern: suggesting that Justine goes to retrieve something mid-firefight because "nobody will shoot the bird". He's amusingly awful throughout.
Let's be honest, there isn't a duff performance here. Hammer is excellent as the unruffled Ord, whether he's trying to reason with the increasingly excitable Vern or stopping to light up a joint in the midst of the chaos. Wheatley regular Michael Smiley is as thoroughly watchable as ever and Brie Larson makes sure that it isn't just left to the blokes to kick arse.
The run of excellent Ben Wheatley/Amy Jump movies continues with the smart, slick, Seventies-set shenanigans of Free Fire. It's brash, breezy (at just 91 minutes) and brilliant. Bravo!
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