High-Strung Action Comedy On Max Brings The Biggest Shootout In Cinema History
In the modern landscape of cinema, many films are concerned with showcasing firearms, gun fights, and massive action set pieces that deliver sky-high body counts. While some film franchises such as Mission: Impossible and John Wick are content to offer numerous scenes centered on these explosive moments, they need to be stitched together using brief respites from the insanity, with characters traveling to multiple locations and espousing exposition to build a proper story. One 2016 film, Free Fire, completely flips this concept on its head by making the entire film a 90-minute shootout in a single location.
For A Moment, This Place Was Armageddon
You’re probably thinking that I’m exaggerating and that the narrative of Free Fire isn’t literally just a 90-minute-long gunfight. Well, there are a few minutes of introduction and a few minutes of credits, but other than that, it really is a narrative constructed entirely of shooting guns and funny accents. The movie centers on a massive arms deal between Irish separatists and South African smugglers, set in Boston, Massachusetts, in the late 1970s.
There Was A Fire Fight
Needless to say, the deal quickly goes horribly awry, and despite the best efforts of a few well-meaning mediators, tensions rise to an untenable point. The gunfight presented in Free Fire displays violence in stark and realistic tones rather than offering the cool cinematic bullseye shots usually committed to film. Here, characters are disoriented, ducking for cover wherever possible, and constantly missing each other, even at point-blank range.
Carried By The Quirky Cast
As the gunfight carries on, different characters trade allegiances, talk through their issues while reloading, and some even attempt to take the bag of money from its prominent place in the center of the warehouse and run. Obviously, the premise doesn’t make Free Fire sound like an engaging watch when it’s laid out in a bare-bones description, but this movie is one of the most fun and enjoyable cinematic experiences of its kind.
The layered and quirky performances elevate the material significantly, with exceptional cast members such as Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Cillian Murphy, Michael Smiley, and Captain Marvel‘s Brie Larson serving as major standouts.
Written And Directed By The Mind Behind Meg 2
Free Fire is currently streaming on Max for those interested in streaming the off-beat hyper-violent comedy today. The film was written and directed by Meg 2: The Trench filmmaker Ben Wheatley, with some writing assistance from his screenwriting partner Amy Jump. Free Fire was a British production that initially premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016 before A24 purchased the distribution rights to the film and launched a wide release in theaters across the United States.
Streaming On Max
REVIEW SCORE
Free Fire received mixed reviews from critics, with some maligning the film’s simplistic narrative and messy communication of space, resulting in a middling 69 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. Personally, I love the disorienting feel of this movie, as it transports the viewer into an anxiety-inducing situation wrought with uncertainty and danger. If you’re interested in seeing for yourself if the movie is worth checking out, be sure to stream Free Fire on Max today.
