FREE FIRE: FULLY LOADED

I saw the trailer for FREE FIRE a while back and thought it looked to be an interesting film. Armie Hammer in one of the lead roles made me think could this be the breakout film for him? The more movies I’ve seen him in the better he has gotten. Well he does a great job here but I finished watching this unsure if I really liked it or not.

The year is 1978, the city Boston and the fight in Ireland still rages between the IRA and the British Army was still raging. The film opens with two low level hoods sitting and waiting to be called in. Bernie and Stevo (Enzo Cilenti and Sam Riley) are talking about their problems and the fight Stevo got into earlier. Beaten badly in the confrontation he says that if he ever runs into the same guy again he’s going to kill him.

The pair are told to come along by the men in charge, Stevo’s brother in law Frank (Michael Smiley), Chris (Cillian Murphy) with Justine (Brie Larson) with them. Members of the IRA they are here to purchase weapons for the fight back home. While there is no love lost between Stevo and Frank, they are related. An addict and womanizer Stevo is only there because of a sense of family. They enter a warehouse and wait for the sellers.

The sellers are led by Vernon (Sharlto Copley), his partner Martin (Babou Ceesay) and hired gunman to make sure things run smoothly Ord (Armie Hammer). Vernon is a talker and mover, a South African expatriate looking to make money. Ord is the cool, calm and collected go between trying to make sure nothing gets out of hand.

The two sides meet, discuss terms they already set and show off the wares brought along. Chris is unhappy because the agreed upon weapons are different than those he ordered. Vernon tells him he’s lucky these were available. After a short discussion and the exchange of money, Vernon calls for the truck to bring in the rest of the guns. And this is where things go wrong.

Harry (Jack Reynor), the man driving the truck, turns out to be the same guy that beat up Stevo. Stevo tries to avoid him but Harry eventually sees who he is and leaps toward him, trying to beat him up once again. It seems Stevo hurt someone close to Harry which is what set the fight in motion. As each group tries to calm down the two, Stevo launches a verbal assault on Harry who pulls out a gun and shoots him. Which leads to all parties pulling out weapons and firing at one another.

No, this is not the entire movie. This is only perhaps the first 20 minutes or so. The remaining 70 minutes is a back and forth wounding of everyone involved with banter being tossed back and forth, accusations made and verbal abuse called from one side to the other. Yes, this is a 70 minute shoot out. But here is where a touch of realism comes in. No one seems able to mortally wound someone on the other side. Yes, they all get shot but only wounded. Which means that rather than the standard run and shoot movie we are used to it becomes more of a crawl to a hiding place and shoot film. And until it ends we have no idea who if any of those involved will survive.

What there is to love about this movie are the characters and the portrayal of those characters by these great actors. All of the side characters are well fleshed out here and given the short time to understand who they are each actor does a great job on making them real. The lead actors are amazing to watch. Copley has become something to see and his fast talking arms dealer just adds to the list of characters he’s played. Murphy as the calm member of his team plays it smooth while at the same time an underlying sense of danger exudes from him. Hammer is fantastic, displaying a sense of humor in his character, perhaps the most deadly of all involved who not only knows his weapons but has a grasp of strategy as well. And Larson as a woman trying to help broker and deal and make money is an equal to the rest.

The question comes can a 70 minute shoot out involving everyone crawling from one spot to another be an interesting film or not? The answer is yes it can. Director Ben Wheatley is considered one of those up and coming directors that everyone talks about. What he’s done here is taken a standard shootout and made it something new. There is a deft combination of action, suspense and twisted humor that works for the most part. But while it works, as you near the end it can become tiresome. Had the film run more than 90 minutes it would have flipped from doable to torture. As it stands it is one worth watching, especially if like me you enjoy your humor dark. Will it stand up to multiple viewings? I’m not sure. But it one you might like at least once.

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