Ben Wheatley’s previous film, the enigmatic “High Rise,” was quite the head trip with its high-minded look at societal collapse, finding its fair share of both supporters and detractors. With his stylish display of class war anarchy at work, Wheatley nonetheless solidified his status as a visionary. Now, one year later, a new Ben Wheatley film already awaits us. It seems A24 hopes to now repeat the formula of the previous film, bringing “Free Fire” to Toronto International Film Festival‘s Midnight Madness program for its World Premiere. The film has been described as a cat and mouse game of survival following a warehouse shootout when an arms deal goes wrong. But what makes “Free Fire” unique is that the shootout is captured in real time. We couldn’t be more excited to hear about its most audacious element, sticking the viewer in the middle of the gun battle, as it mixes with Wheatley’s signature incisively wry and often dark sense of humor.
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“It’s kind of pure cinema. I wanted to do something that was dynamic and kinetic, that played up to things I really enjoy, like editing.” Wheatley said in the recently released press notes explaining how “Free Fire” propelled his longtime love of action cinema. “You can see a bit of it in stuff like ‘Kill List’ and it’s in the ‘Doctor Who’ episodes I did as well. I grew up watching Sam Peckinpah films, I remember having a heightened reaction to things like the editing in ‘The Wild Bunch,’ ‘Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia’ and ‘Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid,’ incredible.”
Wheatley also mentions it wasn’t just the classics that inspired “Free Fire,” but also the discrepancies between accounts of real life gun fights and how they were conceived on screen. “I’d read a lot of transcripts of shootouts. There’d been a big one that the FBI had in Miami, there’s a blow-by-blow account of what happened online. It’s insane and it’s always been at the back of my mind to put that into a film,” he said.
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An initial trailer for “Free Fire” was first released exclusively in theaters with “Swiss Army Man” two months ago, suggesting a 2016 bow, but the trailer suspiciously never surfaced online. With a packed fall theatrical slate including “American Honey,” “Moonlight,” and “20th Century Women,” A24 has now shifted “Free Fire” to a first quarter 2017 release (exact date, TBD).
So, a little patience, please. And as we wait for the trailer to appear online, here’s a quick synopsis of the film:
Justine (Brie Larson) has brokered a meeting in a deserted warehouse between two Irishmen (Cillian Murphy, Michael Smiley) and a gang led by Vernon (Sharlto Copley) and Ord (Armie Hammer) who are selling them a stash of guns. But when shots are fired in the handover, a heart stopping game of survival ensues.