Free Fire

An abandoned warehouse in late 1970s Boston: this is supposed to be the site of a surefire gun deal that Justine (Brie Larson) has set up: On one side are Chris (Cillian Murphy), Stevo (Sam Riley), Bernie (Enzo Cilenti) and Frank (Michael Smiley); on the other, Ord (Armie Hammer) and his men Vernon (Sharlto Copley), Martin (Babou Ceesay), Gordon (Noah Taylor) and Harry (Jack Reynor). Everything goes as planned until it turns out that Stevo and Harry had a messy run-in the night before. Now the situation threatens to escalate. Just as things manage to calm down, shots are fired - and the warehouse turns into a large shooting range from which there seems to be only one way out - in a body bag.

With Free Fire, director Ben Wheatley (High Rise) once again offers plenty of black humor and quirky characters. At least since his acclaimed Sightseers, the Brit is known for his non-conformist style with derb humorous brutality. And that is also celebrated here with relish. A little too gleefully, though. After Wheatley takes a long time to introduce the characters, with the entertainment value at an average level, the whole thing degenerates after about 20 minutes into one long shootout. While this has some great moments, it comes across as tedious in the long run.

There was once a sketch on British comedian Lenny Henry's Comdy sketch show about 17 years ago where three gangsters were facing each other and no one would lower their gun - leading to some absurdly funny moments. Free Fire feels like the blown-up feature film version of that barely 5-minute skit. Here, an inherently amusing idea is cannibalized until even the last viewer loses interest. The characters are completely indifferent and at some point you completely lose track of who is shooting at whom and why.

No question, the good actors, some wonderfully nasty moments and also some of the dialogues have quite a high entertainment value, which is why the film is a lot of fun in parts. But unfortunately, that's not enough to carry the thin story over 90 minutes. What in the best case would have had the makings of a cult movie, ultimately only offers quite nice entertainment for fans of bloody gangster comedies. It's just enough for an enjoyable evening at the movies, but still falls far short of its potential. And that's why it only gets one: Worth seeing with cutbacks!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp