104.
Free Fire
9/10
A star studded cast of Brie Larson, Sharlto Copley, Cillian Murphy and Armie Hammer are set in Boston in 1978 at a deserted warehouse, where a simple looking arms deal turns into two gangs in full out war leading to a game of survival. Even after seeing the trailer I couldn't wait to see this movie, Copley has been a success in the movies I've seen him in and the humorous dialogue in only the trailer won me over.
The pace is set as the first gang of Irish-Americans meet outside the warehouse to discuss how it's going to go down and one of the lads turns up looking a little worse after a beat down the night before. After climbing out of the getaway vehicle and meeting up with the rest we find out that Larson's character is the mediator of the arms deal and she I in the deal for herself. They are all met by Ord, Hammer's character who is in a smart suit and looking a bit too up tight for the deal that is about to take place but he is the rep for the dealers so I suppose he has an image to make up. Along with his dapper clothing he also has some smart arsed answers for the gang questions and this seems to rile up the older bloke.
Inside the scene is set in a scruffy warehouse full of broken walls, muddy puddles and very dim light corridors. The dealer is Copley and he is assisted by an African American called Martin and two other associates. Vernon, Copley's character, greets Larson and compliments her before telling her that she's put on a bit of weight. Their back and fore will continue to hilarious consequence. Soon we are down to action as the guns are shoved onto the table and until Chris, Cillian Murphy's guy, simply says that these are the wrong guns and not what they ordered. Vernon isn't happy with the way that this is going but its diffused again once they've decided to take the funs and the money is handed over in a brief case that will soon become a big part of he comedy. Once the transaction has finished, Vernon tries to ask Justine, Larson's character, out for dinner, to which she simply shoots him down.
The guns are wheeled in in the back of a van and Stevo, with the black eyes, notices the driver I the guy who beat him up the night before. Harry, the driver notices him and flips the fuck out. He tells everyone the real story, that Stevo tried it on with his cousin and then glassed her when she refused. Frank, the older buyer, takes Stevo aside and begins to work he body until he is slumped to the floor, then demands he apologises. Stevo begins but then turns and starts to mock the cousin instead. You can now feel the tension growing and your left wondering when this will finally kick off in all out war. Harry goes to the front seat and brings out a gun which he uses to shoot Stevo in the shoulder. Everyone scatters for cover and bullets are let fly, the only one that hits, grazes Martin, who passes out and leaves the briefcase unsecured.
In the middle of the gun fire, two unknown snipers turn up and start spraying. One gets killed and we have our first casualty, followed by Vernon shooting one of the Irish brothers, who isn't Stevo, until he slowly dies too. Stevo sees this and rushes to his brothers side, demanding vengeance whilst breaking down. Howie, the second sniper then speaks up and Ord recognises the voice. Before he can say who sent him, he's too shoot and killed but we don't find out who had the accuracy.
All Vernon is caring about right now is the money and he's asking everyone he trusts to go and grab it. He asks Larson because they wouldn't shoot at a bird and Vernon calls for everyone to stop firing so she can grab it. As she runs she is followed by one of Vernon's side guys but she's shot in the leg by Harry, who can do anything but miss with his bullets. As she's on her arse screaming, she shoots back at him for pay back. This all carries on until they can hear a phone ringing from somewhere in the warehouse. Frank, the older buyer tried to find it to call for back up and is followed by Vernon where the shooting continues once more. Gordon, the guy who followed Justine, continues to try and kill her but she gets the vital shoot in before passing out through blood loss. This film is now a hundred miles and hour and the cutting from fight to fight is brilliant and the camera work is done for all to see. Frank and Vernon have now made it upstairs and Frank has locked himself in a room before pouring flammable liquid all over the floor, pouring into the hallway where Vernon is standing. Its ignited and Vernon is set on fire but he turns an extinguisher on himself and manages to put it out before killing Frank, what a guy!
Martin has now decided he's had enough of a nap and it turns out that the snipers were sent by him so that they could have the money for themselves. He crack on with a shoot out of his own but soon dies from his earlier wounds which end up pretty much with his brain pushing out of a small hole in his skill when he fell an cracked it. Chris, Cillian Murphy, makes it upstairs to see Vernon slumped against a wall, looking like a well done steak and is trying to talk Chris down, but instead Chris decides to blow a new hole in his face. He gets to the room to call back up but Ord cuts the line whilst Harry and Stevo have now rekindled their fight. Chris's friend has now turned up and starts to fight Harry, soon loosing the upper hand and Harry beasts him to death with a metal bar. After that fight, Harry grabs the briefcase and hops into the van. Stevo continues shooting at him as he lies on the ground until he's run over, head getting crushed, he still manages to shoot Harry though his arse, which kills him and makes the van come to a crashing stop.
The fire from earlier now sets off sprinklers and it's Chris and Ord left standing. Chris takes the briefcase out of the van and they both calls a truce before the cops show up. As they take a seat a bullet whistles through Ord's head and another through Chris's chest. Justine is left standing in a shock turn of events. Chris mutters about regret of not being able to take her out for dinner to which she agrees as se picks up the money and uses a rifle as a crutch to escape from the warehouse, leaving Chris to die. The police have now turned up and the screen fades to black leaving us wonder if she escaped or got arrested.
This was as gritty as it could get with brilliant humour delivered through one liners and between different characters. The cut scenes to be able to show all of the action and twists were great for a film that I was hoping weren't showing all its best bits within the trailer. All of the cast worked well and I left knowing I'd seen a good film that will probably fly under a lot of peoples radars because of what else was in the cinema at the time.
Inside the scene is set in a scruffy warehouse full of broken walls, muddy puddles and very dim light corridors. The dealer is Copley and he is assisted by an African American called Martin and two other associates. Vernon, Copley's character, greets Larson and compliments her before telling her that she's put on a bit of weight. Their back and fore will continue to hilarious consequence. Soon we are down to action as the guns are shoved onto the table and until Chris, Cillian Murphy's guy, simply says that these are the wrong guns and not what they ordered. Vernon isn't happy with the way that this is going but its diffused again once they've decided to take the funs and the money is handed over in a brief case that will soon become a big part of he comedy. Once the transaction has finished, Vernon tries to ask Justine, Larson's character, out for dinner, to which she simply shoots him down.
The guns are wheeled in in the back of a van and Stevo, with the black eyes, notices the driver I the guy who beat him up the night before. Harry, the driver notices him and flips the fuck out. He tells everyone the real story, that Stevo tried it on with his cousin and then glassed her when she refused. Frank, the older buyer, takes Stevo aside and begins to work he body until he is slumped to the floor, then demands he apologises. Stevo begins but then turns and starts to mock the cousin instead. You can now feel the tension growing and your left wondering when this will finally kick off in all out war. Harry goes to the front seat and brings out a gun which he uses to shoot Stevo in the shoulder. Everyone scatters for cover and bullets are let fly, the only one that hits, grazes Martin, who passes out and leaves the briefcase unsecured.
In the middle of the gun fire, two unknown snipers turn up and start spraying. One gets killed and we have our first casualty, followed by Vernon shooting one of the Irish brothers, who isn't Stevo, until he slowly dies too. Stevo sees this and rushes to his brothers side, demanding vengeance whilst breaking down. Howie, the second sniper then speaks up and Ord recognises the voice. Before he can say who sent him, he's too shoot and killed but we don't find out who had the accuracy.
All Vernon is caring about right now is the money and he's asking everyone he trusts to go and grab it. He asks Larson because they wouldn't shoot at a bird and Vernon calls for everyone to stop firing so she can grab it. As she runs she is followed by one of Vernon's side guys but she's shot in the leg by Harry, who can do anything but miss with his bullets. As she's on her arse screaming, she shoots back at him for pay back. This all carries on until they can hear a phone ringing from somewhere in the warehouse. Frank, the older buyer tried to find it to call for back up and is followed by Vernon where the shooting continues once more. Gordon, the guy who followed Justine, continues to try and kill her but she gets the vital shoot in before passing out through blood loss. This film is now a hundred miles and hour and the cutting from fight to fight is brilliant and the camera work is done for all to see. Frank and Vernon have now made it upstairs and Frank has locked himself in a room before pouring flammable liquid all over the floor, pouring into the hallway where Vernon is standing. Its ignited and Vernon is set on fire but he turns an extinguisher on himself and manages to put it out before killing Frank, what a guy!
Martin has now decided he's had enough of a nap and it turns out that the snipers were sent by him so that they could have the money for themselves. He crack on with a shoot out of his own but soon dies from his earlier wounds which end up pretty much with his brain pushing out of a small hole in his skill when he fell an cracked it. Chris, Cillian Murphy, makes it upstairs to see Vernon slumped against a wall, looking like a well done steak and is trying to talk Chris down, but instead Chris decides to blow a new hole in his face. He gets to the room to call back up but Ord cuts the line whilst Harry and Stevo have now rekindled their fight. Chris's friend has now turned up and starts to fight Harry, soon loosing the upper hand and Harry beasts him to death with a metal bar. After that fight, Harry grabs the briefcase and hops into the van. Stevo continues shooting at him as he lies on the ground until he's run over, head getting crushed, he still manages to shoot Harry though his arse, which kills him and makes the van come to a crashing stop.
The fire from earlier now sets off sprinklers and it's Chris and Ord left standing. Chris takes the briefcase out of the van and they both calls a truce before the cops show up. As they take a seat a bullet whistles through Ord's head and another through Chris's chest. Justine is left standing in a shock turn of events. Chris mutters about regret of not being able to take her out for dinner to which she agrees as se picks up the money and uses a rifle as a crutch to escape from the warehouse, leaving Chris to die. The police have now turned up and the screen fades to black leaving us wonder if she escaped or got arrested.
This was as gritty as it could get with brilliant humour delivered through one liners and between different characters. The cut scenes to be able to show all of the action and twists were great for a film that I was hoping weren't showing all its best bits within the trailer. All of the cast worked well and I left knowing I'd seen a good film that will probably fly under a lot of peoples radars because of what else was in the cinema at the time.
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