Director Ben Wheatley (High-Rise) is planning to bring his oddball sensibilities to the realm of comedy with Free Fire. Starring Oscar Winner Brie Larson and set in 1978 Boston, the film follows a group of gangsters as they meet for an arms deal. Needless to say, things go awry and they end up stuck in a shootout. Sounds like a bad time, doesn’t it? Well, it turns out that Free Fire looks like it could be one of the funniest movies of next year.
Give the NSFW trailer a watch and get ready to laugh a lot more than you might have expected.
People getting shot for humorous effect. Cavalier attitudes towards violence. A cast that includes Captain Marvel, the Scarecrow, and Wikus van de Merwe. Free Fire is looking to be an unmissable product. Leave it to the fantastic A24 Films to put out something this wacky and special.
Ben Wheatley’s aggressively weird films have given him a strong cult following. Compared to something like A Field in England, Free Fire is shaping up to be Wheatley’s most accessible film to date. Let’s hope it breaks out in a big way. Wheatley is a director worth keeping an eye on. His influences from cinema’s past are as vibrant as Quentin Tarantino but a lot less cheeky. We need more directors like him who know how to keep the spirit of old school movies alive while bringing something new to the table.
Free Fire will premiere in the UK on March 31. It just had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and the response looks to be extremely positive. As a result, the wait is now even more unbearable. So, as a parting treat, feast your eyeballs on this delightfully surreal poster for the film.
That could be adorning some college dorm room walls in a few years.
