Nick (nickrissmeyer) Obviously similar to reservoir dogs and in a good way. The film manages to do a great job with character development during a constant gunfight and also with cinematography in the same warehouse the whole time. I did think the film could have used some higher stakes in all aspects though. Overall really enjoyable and memorable. A24 has not disappointed me yet.

Neil Welch It is the 1970s, and a small group of Irish republicans is in the USA arranging to buy automatic rifles from a South African supplier via a broker of illicit arms deals. No-one trusts anyone. As if that wasn't enough of a problem, it turns out that one of the Irishmen has an unhelpful drug habit. This fellow also fell foul of one of the American crew the previous evening. Oh, and there are a couple of snipers in the warehouse where the deal is taking place....Director and co-writer Ben Wheatley is flavour of the month in some quarters, despite having directed only a handful of cinema movies. Well, I saw A Field In England and High Rise, and I thought both were pretentious rubbish.But I'll cut him a break, because Free Fire definitely has something going for it. It's a really simple concept - an arms deal goes wrong, gunfire erupts, and there is an extended jockeying for position in a closed-in location (a derelict warehouse), with gunfire, over the next hour or so. What makes this film something to register on the radar is the way that hour is managed, and the dialogue within it. The set-up has established every character, so we understand personalities and motivations before all Hell breaks loose. I won't say that we care, because these are not nice people, but we are invested enough to want to see what happens to each of them, and who (if anyone) manages to escape alive.There is a good cast, headed by Brie Larson, Armie Hammer, Cillian Murphy and Sharlto Copley, all of whom give us nuanced characters. Copley, as is his tendency, goes wildly over the top but, then, that's how his character is written.And, importantly, notwithstanding the tension and death and destruction, there is a strong strand of dark humour running through this. I'm not saying you'll laugh out loud but, if you're anything like me, the script will please you.

The Movie Diorama If that sounds like your cup of tea then go ahead and give this a watch, you'll find it highly amusing. An arms deal goes terribly awry when a small fist fight turns into a factory shootout where nobody can be trusted. Think of this as a modernisation of 'Reservoir Dogs'. All set in one location, various personalities and plenty of violent profanity. Each character has their own accent and personable traits to differentiate themselves. A sarcastic American, an eccentric South African, a stupid Englishman and many more. I had to adjust my hearing for each character, I got there eventually. The chaos starts from one punch and, much like a ticking time bomb, escalates the tension and frantic mayhem. Approximately seventy minutes (excluding the introduction) of gunfire, verbal abuse and crawling along the floor. Literally. Bang Bang Bang "You shot my suit!" Bang Bang "Your breath stinks and you have a serious case of BO!" Bang Bang Bang. It kept me amused...for the first forty five minutes. The problem with using the same scenario and not changing it up for an entire film, is that it becomes tedious rapidly. There's no twists or turns, just two sides of a bad arms deal shooting each other. Couldn't keep my attention the whole way through. The amusement comes from the humorous screenplay and dialogue execution. Copley, Hammer, Murphy, Larson and everyone else manage to perform their lines in perfect comedic timing. You shan't be rolling on the floor laughing, yet it's enough to make you chuckle and smile. Heck I did, and I'm dead inside. Wheatley's directing style was clean, even amidst the chaos he was able to keep the camera and ensure we could see everything. The story, or lack of, is predictable however the writing style and acting is enough to withstand ninety minutes of carnage. Do not take this film seriously, it's just light hearted fun. I think I've seen enough guns for one day. Oh, and it seems most of these weapons have unlimited ammunition! Small nitpick...

The Scatman Ben Wheatley's 'Free Fire' venture is a shift towards more popular cinema, he did this with grace - and at no point did he sacrifice his own directing flair.Yes, this film has Tarantino's 'Reservoir Dogs' (1992) in mind; the use of one room throughout, a big bucks case that anyone could make off with, the huge element of trust, the use of a rock classic as a leading soundtrack, intense violence and suspense, and a big emphasis on characters and character development - but why is any of this a problem as some critics have pointed out? It simply worked here, and that's all that matters.Wheatley has proven himself to be a master of dialogue and character development; "substance over style" describes his approach perfectly; he managed to pull of the 'one room' formula, like Tarantino did, and keep it quite engaging.What needs to be understood is that this is a parody shootout film, a comedy, something Wheatley has always done exceptionally well; it's a funny, twisted caricature of criminals in a sticky, close-quarters situation with a Wheatley-grade touch of comedic realism that takes the mick out of generic action flicks - as very quickly all the seemingly infallible 'tough guy' characters were crawling due to gunshot wounds, this makes complete sense and is a humorous nudge to the viewer saying "you expected a bunch of running and gunning?" The fact there is no linear story is the point, it's a deliberately nonlinear hodgepodge - linearity would defeat the point of it. We could never expect Wheatley to make an orthodox action flick where everything just predictably falls into place, he flipped the script, everything falls out of place to great effect, it's calculated chaos done right.All in all, it's a weapons deal gone wrong at Shakespearean levels, the qualitative aspects of the film outweigh big-budget settings, firefights, CGI, car chases, and so on, Wheatley proves you don't need that. 'Free Fire' doesn't ever try to take itself that seriously and this gives the whole film a brilliantly ironic 'laissez faire' attitude and flavour, while still being serious enough to keep the suspense up.It's not without flaws though, as a slow intro prompted me to begin to lose interest until things finally kicked off. I also felt like there were times when characters weren't doing enough to keep the momentum going. "The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what fiction means." - Oscar Wilde8.4/10