Free Fire - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Free Fire

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
The trailer for Free Fire had me from the first 30 seconds, but I was naturally curious just how much of the movie was going to be an unmitigated fire fight. Amusingly enough Martin Scorsese’s name was plastered all over previews and the front cover, even though he is nothing more than one of SEVERAL executive producers of the low budget film. Well, my suspicions were right, that there was not nearly enough material to flesh out a 90 minute movie over the course of one giant gunfight. The first 20 minutes or so of the film sets up the operation that going to go sideways, and then we have a FULL hour of nonstop guns, yelling, and bloody battling to get out of a single warehouse, followed by a final few minutes of wrap up work. I would have liked the film to have been better, as the talent was obviously having a blast, but this works more as a short film, or with a truncated runtime to work properly, and Director Ben Wheatley sadly overstays his welcome.

The premise of Free Fire is pretty stinking simple. A small group of IRA freedom fighters named Chris (Cillian Murphy) and Frank (Michael Smiley) have jumped across the pond to meet up with a group of arms dealers thanks to middlemen (and woman) Ord (Armie Hammer) and Justine (Brie Larson). Unbeknownst to everyone in the group, one of the arms dealers named Vernon (Sharlto Copley) has “altered” the terms of the deal by substituting another group of weapons for the weapons actually ordered. You would think that this would set the giant gunfight in motion, but you can relax for just a moment, as the situation just involves some renegotiating. However, all good things must come to an end, and when a confrontation breaks out with some of the hired grunt work a bullet is interchanged and now both sides (and the middlemen) are diving for cover as they spray each other with gunfire.

How is this stretched on for over an hour you might ask? Well, there’s a few twists and turns along the way, such as another group of armed people trying to break up the party for their own goals, and the fact that after a few minutes of sustained fire most of the remaining survivors are all badly wounded and have to resort to hunkering down and yelling epithets at each other. One of the biggest problems the film has going for it comes from the fact that you really don’t LIKE anyone. There’s no good guys, there’s no bad guys, there’s just ticked off arms dealers and terrorists gunning each other down in a warehouse and yelling. There’s some definite black comedy going on, especially with Sharlto Copley and Armie Hammer gleefully making wisecracks and bantering with each other as gunfire is exchanged, but that can only last so long before it feels a bit stretched and wearing around the edges.

There’s very little context given to the film’s premise, except for the fact that Chris and Frank are jonesing for some weapons. There’s hints here and there that Justine is the object of attraction for Chris and Vernon, but other than that the film is really an effort in witty banter and an excuse to fire of their guns at each other. In that respect, it really is a rousing success. Armie Hammer is normally a wooden actor who feels out of place in everything he does, but here his boyish good looks and witty dialog crafted by Ben Wheatley actually make him rather entertaining. Sharlto Copley is nothing short of hilarious, and combined with his Afrikaner accent makes some of the best jokes of the movie. The rest of the cast are all appropriately scummy and grungy, and the black humor as they try to murder each other elicited more than a few chuckles out of me personally.

The thing is though, it’s hard to sustain that much momentum for a full movie JUST being located in one warehouse (the whole film was shot inside of a big abandoned warehouse, which really cuts down on the budget) with people shooting at each other. By the time the 50 minute mark is reached your sitting there looking at your watch and wondering just when the film is going to end. Only to realize that there’s a good 35 minutes of film left before the credit rolls.




Rating:

Rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, sexual references and drug use




Video:

Supposedly Free Fire was filmed with Arri Alexa digital cameras (not much information can be found except through the grapevine) and I see nothing that would dissuade that ascertain from the grungy little film. The movie is graded heavily with oranges, yellows and earthy tones to give us a very grungy and dirty look to the meeting of the criminals. Colors tend to be earthy and pastel in nature, but everything is well articulated on screen and shows off quite a bit of detail amidst the dirt and blood. Sharlto Copley’s pastel blue suit is fantastically detailed, and you can see every smear of dirt and blood on the actor’s faces and body parts. Blacks can be hit or miss, with some shots looking a bit murky, or plagued with banding, while others are inky dark and show of incredible details. The dim lighting and yellow/orange filter used for the camera is the biggest detriment, as it keeps fine detail from reaching full potential and tends to wreck havoc on the darker moments.








Audio:

Free Fire comes to Blu-ray with a single 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio track, and it is quite the energetic little fella, let me tell you. The copious amounts of gunfire makes for lots and lots of energy, with the surrounds blasting away at full steam. Bullets whiz over your shoulder, and plink off of the surround backstops from all direction, and the LFE levels are very VERY intense. Dialog is never a problem, even with the chaos and mayhem, but I’m a little curious how Atmos would have done on the track as the multidirectional nature of the track would have been perfect for the movie. That’s not to take anything away from the 5.1 mix, as it does an incredible job and the robust nature of the track really elevates the movie ever so slightly.






Extras:

• Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Director Ben Wheatley
• “The Making of Free Fire Featurette

Final Score: ​

Free Fire has a fun premise, and the trailer is a hoot to watch. The only thing is that there just isn’t enough information for a full movie out of the simple scenario. Ben Wheatley blithely ignores the shortcomings of his film and blast ahead at full steam for a rousing romp that really does have a lot of things going for it. I laughed, I had fun with a lot of the action, but at the end of the day I have to recognize that the movie simply wasn’t complex enough to really stand on its own. The film really could have been an hour long at most and worked much better, or used it as a short film, but stretching it out to a full 90 minutes very obviously made use of padding to get there. Lionsgate’s Blu-ray has good video and amazing audio, but the extras are a bit anemic for my taste. Even the commentary on the film isn’t as exciting as you would have hoped for. It’s a fun little movie, but definitely a flawed one. Rental for sure.
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Technical Specifications:

Starring: Armie Hammer, Brie Larson, Sharlto Copley, Cillian Murphy
Directed by: Ben Wheatley
Written by: Ben Wheatley, Amy Jump
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 90 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: July 18th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Rental