Freelance

Watching Freelance was such a strange experience. There is so much wrong with it. It's filled with stupid moments and things that make no sense. The story and action are completely unrealistic. Yet I found myself invested and entertained. Not once did I feel bored or like "I don't want to be here."

I guess it's just an amusing premise with some charming actors. And while unrealistic, the action scenes are pretty fun and mostly well-shot. There are a couple decent fight scenes and a few memorable moments.

Having said all that, there are so many flaws. The most egregious examples occur during the action scenes. Bullets seem to be the least effective method of killing. There is an extensive scene with two characters running through an open field with no cover. And a helicopter is UNLOADING bullets and missiles on them. It's basically two minutes of them running with bullets and explosions all around them.

In multiple other scenes, someone will fire numerous shots at short distances and hit nothing. It's so obvious. It would offend even the most lenient of viewers. Also, for a comedy there isn't much humor. I only laughed a few times.

Even with all the flaws, I didn't mind watching this. It's not "good." But I'll take this over 95% of the straight-to-streaming (straight-to-boredom) movies.

(1 viewing, 1/15/2024)

Freelance has a strangely low budget feel that is coupled with very tongue-in-cheek lines. It is a film that cannot be taken seriously. However... the silliness rests on a quite poignant issue. How malign private operators exploit countries for their resources. Although this is buried away under the cheesy action scenes, looking back it is something that has stuck with me. Whether this is by design, I do not know. But the more I think about it, the more I realise the film included some clever nods towards recent dictators and various situations around the world. At the very least, some thought has gone into the film.

That to one side. John Cena is John Cena. I would like to see more of Alison Brie on the big screen, she is someone who seems to have a lot of talent that is not being used to its full extent. That is evident here, she brings something extra to her two-dimensional character in Freelance. Not a lot, though.

It is a film without revelation. If you watch it, you cannot be surprised by its mediocrity.

In silly action comedy "Freelance" ex-Special forces John Cena's bored with civilian life (married to Alice Eve) til his ex-boss Christian Slater (now running a private security firm) hires him to bodyguard journalist Alison Brie (always likeable) as she goes to interview flashy dictator Juan Pablo Raba (good) in his South American republic... where mercenary Marton Csokas leads a coup attempt, and twisty chaos, bloodshed & double-dealing ensues. It's poorly directed (especially the fight scenes) by the experienced Pierre Morel, but written engagingly enough by the debuting Jacob Lentz. It's light & forgettable, but passable enough entertainment for undemanding viewers.

I am gonna echo a few of the reviewers before me. This movie is somewhat in between a comedy and an action movie, yet never fully goes into any of the 2 genres despite not holding on the blood. There is a few "chuckles" moment but there was never really big hillarious moments. There is a few cool action scenes but they are not that numerous considering the 1h50 runtime.

That said the movie does have us guessing a bit in parts of the plot and never get too predictable, and John Cena charisma truly manage to keep us invested. Alison Brie is both gorgeous and charismatic as well as the sidekick. Juan Pablo Raba also has some pretty cool moments as the over the top dictator.

Basically this is a movie i enjoyed watching but i don't see myself rewatching until a pretty long time. It did the job it was suppose to do wich is entertain me for roughly 2 hours.

Supposedly an action comedy, but it was both lacking in comedy and in action.

The bad; I didnt laugh once, I smirked a few times (at the start) that was about it. Comedy is personal, maybe other folks might find it hilarious, but it left me cold.

What's good though is that it doesnt aim to be a farce. It does inject enough reality into the story to make it believable (ish).

What's lacking as well though is the action part. There is little to none action and when there is some it is kinda childish. Not riveting or excting in any way.

This movie seems targetted at a teenage / family audience. So you wont get annoyed by it or offended, the worst that could happen (and did happen to me) is that you might get pretty bored by the bland story and the lack of humour.