Free Fire Review (2017)

A light and easily digestible genre treat, “Free Fire” is pure cinematic joy.  At a scant eighty minutes the film is succinct (throwing us into its nutty and ultraviolent scenario) and freewheeling--fueled by snappy comedic dialogue, bullets and gore. Directed by rising British auteur Ben Wheatly, (“Kill List” “High Rise”) “Free Fire” giddily illustrates how easy it is for a seemingly stress free underworld deal to go terribly wrong. How exactly? Just throw ten testy, aggressive gangsters with fragile egos into an abandoned warehouse (circa 1978) and watch as chaos ensues over the course of a single night.

At the beginning of the night, two gangs arrive at an old Boston warehouse for a gun deal. They make small talk with one another, the usual tough guy ribbing for the most part. It’s nothing too serious, yet. But during the next ten minutes Wheatly shows how little things like petty insults can eventually snowball into something bigger. Other issues arise; the gang selling the guns brought the wrong type and personal vendettas between rival gang members find their way into the mix. The water quickly boils over and before long the first shot has been fired and the two gangs find themselves in a gunfight.

But even that doesn’t go as smoothly as it should. Instead of being a nonstop barrage of bullets and mayhem the gun battle is slow and clumsy, happening in fits and spurts. From time to time, they even forget why they’re fighting in the first place. The gangsters trade shots at one another—both gunshots and more petty insults. There’s an awful lot of bickering and joke making throughout but that’s what makes “Free Fire” so entertaining. Wheatly’s script (co written with Amy Jump) is full of delightful rapid-fire banter and one liners (“I’m not dead, I’m just regrouping”). It’s not enough for these impulsive, thin-skinned gangsters to shoot one another, they have to insult one other first. Wheatly seamlessly blends comedy with absurdist violence, violence that gets increasingly gory as the night goes on.

Wheatly assembles an impressive ensemble cast, including Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, Brie Larson and Sharlto Copley among others, who all deliver delectable scenery-chewing performances. Copley as an eccentric South African gangster, Hammer as the suave bushy bearded liaison between the two gangs and Larson as the token female and craftiest criminal of the bunch are the standouts.

And well, that’s pretty much it. “Free Fire” doesn’t have a lot of depth to it. The characters, while fun, remain fairly two-dimensional and I wish Wheatly would have established the setting/atmosphere a little more. There’s no real substantial reason why the action is set in the 70’s. Additionally, the film isn’t nearly as weird or as ambitious as some of Wheatly’s previous pictures. “Kill List” and its genius blend of mundane crime thriller and “The Wicker Man” remains his best work. Never the less, “Free Fire” is still a violent and funny good time.

B 

Kong: Skull Island Review (2017)

“Kong: Skull Island” takes a classic cheesy monster movie premise (a group of explorers encountering a new land/frontier and having to fight its strange, vicious inhabitants in order to survive) and infuses it with the turbulence and “war-is-hell” mindset of the Vietnam War/ counter-culture movement era. The picture is set days after the war’s conclusion and tension is still in the air. There are anti- war protesters demonstrating in Washington and returning soldiers are still haunted by the horror’s they’ve experienced.

We observe this post war disillusionment most clearly in Preston Packard (Samuel L Jackson), a bitter, slightly deranged, battle worn colonel who isn’t quite over the war. He’s been tasked with escorting a group of assorted travelers (made up of fellow soldiers, scientists, photographers and mercenaries) to a recently discovered Island in the Pacific wherein a variety of undiscovered monsters reside, including the titanic gorilla Kong.

This is an intriguing concept that sadly doesn’t hold together from a tonal standpoint and its execution is so sloppy and bland that you’re bored to tears when there isn’t a monster fight going on or a gnarly death scene.

The heavy-handed screenplay by Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein and Derek Connolly talks down to us like we’re eleven years old. Everything-- plot, exposition and major themes, is explained and over explained to the point of tedium. The opening fifteen minutes, as expedition leader Bill Randa (John Goodman) rounds up his rag tag group of travelers, consists of one boring and contrived expository scene after another. For example, we first meet tracker James Conrad (Tom Hiddelson) when he gets into a random scuffle with a switchblade wielding punk in the middle of a Bangkok bar while “While Rabbit” plays in the background. Later on, in a lame attempt to build anticipation and tension, the team has to fly through a CGI storm to reach the island.

Any interesting Vietnam/anti war subtext (the idea that war is hell, the idea that war can numb you to the point where seeing a giant gorilla isn’t very shocking, the idea that “the enemy” is a subjective construct) is violently pulled up to the surface during every scene through painfully clunky dialogue exchanges. Little is left for the audience to interpret or discover on their own. During one scene, in which war photographer Mason Weaver (Brie Larson) and Conrad talk about the negative effects of the conflict, Conrad says bluntly: “I suppose no man really comes home from the war.” Yeah. Cool. Thanks James.

Though it isn’t just the Vietnam/anti war stuff that’s heavy-handed. Any and all basic plot/expository developments are sounded out for the viewer. In a later scene, when the team encounters a ditch containing the bones of other giant apes, island inhabitant Hank Marlow (John C Reilly) remarks that they are “the remains of Kong’s parents.” Gee, Hank, I think the other characters (and the audience) can come to that conclusion without your interjection. And Weaver then saying that she’s seen “enough mass graves to recognize one” further emphasizes just how little nuance/subtlety there is in the storytelling. Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts rarely just lets the images speak for themselves.

Speaking of characters, with the exception of Packard and Marlow, the explorers are entirely unmemorable-- they’re empty vessels used to explain plot points and themes to the audience…or get killed. Somehow the film manages to waste Brie Larson, Tom Hiddelson and John Goodman, an impressive and somewhat depressing feat. In fact, there are long stretches of time where Goodman is absent from the film, making you forget he even exists. It’s a sin for a movie to make you forget about John Goodman. For shame “Kong.” For shame.

Tonally, “Skull Island” is constantly at odds with itself as it tries to balance comedy and drama. While there’s nothing wrong with mixing drama with comedy, the tonal shifts here almost too abrupt and the comedy is played too broadly. Extremely silly screwball exchanges are immediately followed by intense, “war-is-hell, man!” moments. A stirring, unsettling homage to “Apocalypse Now” (this movie quotes excessively from Francis Ford Coppola’s film) is followed by a ludicrous, out of left field sequence in which a Samurai sword wielding gas mask wearing Tom Hiddelson charges in slow motion through a cloud of poisonous gas slicing and dicing some creepy-crawlies. Reilly, playing a bumbling and eccentric castaway, can be a hoot to watch but it feels like he’s in an entirely different movie. Most of the time the comedy grinds the action to a halt rather than propelling it forward. And ultimately, it undermines the Vietnam/anti war material—rendering it facile and cartoonish.

In the end, the only material that consistently works involves the monsters. It’s exciting and occasionally absurd--there are a number of memorable character deaths and man vs. creature (or creature vs. creature) fight scenes. You’ll be bored to tears one minute as characters take turns explaining the plot to each other and then suddenly someone will get carried off by a flock of winged reptiles or getting eaten by a giant lizard, making you perk up in delight.

But then the characters will go back to explaining the plot and you’ll wish you were the one who got carried off by winged reptiles. Much like “Jurassic World,” when the monsters are onscreen causing mayhem and killing people, “Kong: Skull Island” is watchable. Otherwise, the film is a powerful sleep aid.

D+

Digging For Fire Review (2015)

While staying at a friend’s house with his wife Lee (Rosemarie DeWitt) and young son Jude, (Jude Swanberg) Tim (Jake Johnson) discovers a mysterious human bone and handgun buried in the backyard. That sounds like a set up for a murder mystery, however Mumblecore director Joe Swanberg’s “Digging for Fire” is a mid life crisis drama instead. More specifically it’s about adults in their late thirties to early forties having second thoughts about being adults, about growing up. Tim and Lee have been married for eleven years and the pressures of parenthood and adulthood are overwhelming them. They begin to wonder: “is this the life I really want to live?” Lee hasn’t had a night out by herself in years. Tim wants to believe he still has a leather jacket wearing wild streak in him. During a single weekend the two go on separate soul searching adventures.

If anything, “Digging for Fire” demonstrates Swanberg’s ability to craft a laidback atmosphere free of melodrama; the performances and dialogue are casual and naturalistic. The massive supporting cast (Orlando Bloom, Anna Kendrick, Sam Elliott, Sam Rockwell, Brie Larson, Mike Birbiglia, Ron Livingston, Jenny Slate and Melanie Lynskey) is used so nonchalantly. Recognizable actors like Bloom or Elliot make brief appearances in such normal unassuming roles. If you’ve seen any of Swanberg’s other movies (“Drinking Buddies” and “Happy Christmas”) you know that that’s his modus operandi. Also like his other movies, “Digging for Fire” was heavily improvised; the script consisted of a three-page outline. As a result it feels more like an informal hangout session than a movie-- as if Swanberg called up his actor buddies and asked them to riff about adulthood while he filmed them.

It’s mildly entertaining to watch this group of talented actors free style but “Digging For Fire” is ultimately a slight, undercooked effort. You get to the end and there isn’t much to discuss or mull over. Nothing very surprising happens over the course of the eighty-five minute running time; the resolution is underwhelming and obvious. Overall Swanberg is saying that getting married and having children drastically changes things; you have more responsibilities and less freedom. While this is a relatable message, it’s certainly nothing new and has been explored in greater depth in better movies. The bone and gun side plot becomes the only intriguing aspect of the movie. Tim continues to excavate the backyard, finding more bones and human accessories. At one point a creepy old neighbor tells him that some “bad stuff” happened at that house. But even this side plot never blossoms into anything very substantial and instead feels more like a quirky afterthought. It has nothing to do with the central relationship drama and could have been jettisoned from the movie without any change.

Thankfully, the impressive cast keeps “Digging For Fire” watchable. I wish Swanberg had given them more to do (some of the cast, like Lynskey and Livingston, have only one scene) but without their talent and easygoing charm, the movie would be even more forgettable.

 C+