If you like your films on the ridiculously gin heavy side of the spectrum, then you might want to check out the trailer for action-comedy crime thriller, Free Fire. Packed with more shootout than Dodge City, and doffing a slightly tongue-in-cheek, supersized cap to the Reservoir Dogs-style confined-space shooter, it’s the latest film from British writer and director, Ben Wheatley, following up on 2015’s High Rise.
The cast is a bit of a random mix, which adds to the frenetic nature of the trailer below, with Academy Award winning actress Brie Larson (Kong: Skull Island), Armie Hammer (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.) and Cillian Murphy (Dunkirk (2017)) in the lead roles. The British stand-off has been backed by Film4 and with decent reviews following it’s Toronto International Film Festival premier in September 2016 it could be one to add to the watcher’s watch list.
Release date
The Free Fire UK release date has been confirmed for the 31st March 2017 and it will then go on to arrive at the US box office from the 21st April 2017. It’ll be out in the UK on the same weekend as the Hollywood adaptation of Manga epic, Ghost In The Shell, starring Scarlett Johansson, as well as Smurfs: The Lost Village and Shia Labeouf war drama, Man Down.
Story
The plot centres around a meetup in an abandoned warehouse to close out an arms deal brokered by Justine. She introduces two Irishmen to an illegal weapons gang, but when shots go off midway through the exchange it all gets pretty frenetic, turning the situation into a classic standoff in the industrial confines of the warehouse.
Free Fire trailer:
Age rating
Free Fire has been given an age rating of 15 in the UK by the British Board Of Film Classification with strong violence, language, and drug misuse.
Cast
Brie Larsonn plays broker Justine with support from Army Hammer as Ord, Sharlto Copley (The A-Team) as Vernon, Jack Reynor (Macbeth (2015)) as Harry, and Michael Smiley (Rogue One), making up the arms gang. On the Irish side of the blast-a-thon is Cillian Murphy as Chris and Sam Riley (Pride And Prejudice And Zombies) as Stevo.
Production
Ben Wheatley directs the film from a screenplay he wrote with Amy Jump. It was produced by Andy Starke and Wheatley, with director of photography Laurie Rose and music by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow. You can see more on the production with the film’s official Twitter page.
First impressions
Free Fire looks a bit like a messed-up TV ad for gun fun, which feels a bit on the gratuitous side, but with positive reviews and a strong cast it could be a contender during its release week in the UK if you’re not into the sci-fi styling of Ghost In The Shell. The question is whether or not it can go beyond the simple comedy shooter that it looks like in the trailer. If it can add in some clever comedy and fine-tuned dialogue then it might live up to the promise of the reviews.
