Set in the 70s, two groups come together in an abandoned factory to conclude a gun deal. The buyers are Irish and purchasing guns for the struggle against the British in Northern Ireland. Leading the sellers is the South African, Vernon (Sharito Copely). Guns accepted, money paid and everyone is about to go their separate ways when one of the sellers recognizes a buyer from a bar fight the night before, things fall apart quickly, and a 62 minute gunfight erupts between the two groups.
One thing you might not expect is that Free Fire is very funny. Even in the midst of a gunfight, with everyone shot at least once, the quips fly as fast as the bullets. Everyone has good lines but I especially enjoyed Sharito Copely's vain South African gun dealer Vernon and Armie Hammer's fast talking and well groomed Ord. But everyone plays off against each other very well and Oscar winning Brie Larson's Justine performance as the only female in the testosterone fueled cast is marvelous.
Being set in the 70s we get terrific facial hair including awesome mutton chops. Vernon sports a Savile Row suit and orange shirt with huge lapels of which he is very proud and the object of some of the humor. Of her outfit, Brie Larson said she was very stylish but wearing the absolute worse thing for a gunfight.
On the origin of Free Fire, because Wheatley found that big action films weren't affecting him as much as they used to. For him, the tension had been swallowed up in big action, massive stunts, lots of explosions and things getting blown up. He finds that tension is in relatable smaller actions. Wheatley researched what happened in actual gunfights (messy) and Free Fire is his effort to present what gunfight would look like if it was treated a bit more realistically. For one thing, he found that it is a lot harder to hit a moving target. The actors kept track of the rounds they were firing and tried to have a realistic amount of ammunition on them. So you see them reloading and guns jamming.
The gunfight is beautifully executed. To plan, Wheatley used Minecraft to lay out the factory floor so that he could work out how much room he had to work with and who would go where. I think one of the strengths of the film is that it is confined to such a small area. Wheatley is right, it does make it more relatable and hightens the tension. It is worth watching the making of feature on the disk to see what went into choreographing the action. I have some links to a good article on this below. I also recommend watching the film with commentary turned on to hear Wheatley, Cillian Murphy (Chris), and Jack Reynor (Harry) talk—and joke— about the scenes. Between the making of and commentary, I learned about the subtle touches in the action that I missed. As I watched I had several "so that's what that meant" moments adn I need to re-watch to place these touches in context.
One last thing, Free Fire features John Denver's Annie's Song and you might not be able to think of it the same way again. Wheatley happens to like the song and he used it because he figured that it was last the last song you would want to hear when an event occurs. You'll know it when it happens.
All in all, Free Fire is a fun film.
Free Fire cast and crew on IMDB.
Wired Magazine has a good article on the making of Free Fire. The Secret to Free Fire's 62-Minute Shootout? Minecraft
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