Freelance

One super common trope in recent American films is the ex-military guy pulled back in, either for one more job or because of some personal connection. It’s not brand new, mind you: Rambo comes to mind, and I’m sure there are others. But I’ve seen so many just in the past few months: The Retirement Plan, The Creator, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, even Meg 2: The Trench. And that ignores a few more from the first half of the year. Sure, they represent a variety of approaches to that story, but it’s still a common template. I can’t compare to previous years, as I saw fewer new releases, and primarily focused on movies I thought I’d like rather than just watching whatever I can get my hands on. I have to imagine that it’s related to United States remaining involved in two incredibly unpopular wars for so long, bolstering the idea of the hero solider returning to the battlefield and learning the horrible truth about the impact of their actions, and by extension, their government’s. Rambo came along in the wake of another futile and costly war, so that seems to check out.

Whatever the reason, that’s the premise of Freelance. Mason Petit (John Cena) is a former Army Special Forces operative. His career was terminated by a back injury during a botched raid in Paldonia during which his entire team was killed. Now, an old Army buddy Sebastian (Christian Slater) runs a private military contractor, and wants Mason to join him. Specifically, Mason is to protect journalist Claire Wellington (Allison Brie) as she travels to interview Paldonia’s President Juan Venegas (Juan Pablo Raba). Ya know, the guy whose men shot down and killed his entire unit a few years ago. What could go wrong?

Of course, things almost immediately go awry, as there’s an attempt on Venegas’ life while they’re traveling to the interview. And so the bulk of the film finds the three unlikely companions hiding out in the forest, traveling to various villages, and attempting to get the heck outta Dodge. Will they survive the assassination attempts - and each other???

The film opens strong, with a five minute montage shot entirely in the first-person, with Mason narrating the events which led him here - a boring desk job he hates, a back issue, and on the verge of divorce. The setup is very bland and whatever, full of cringey jokes which land quite flat, but the first-person viewpoint gave me hope we were going to see something fresh. While it wouldn’t be the first (see Hardcore Henry, Russian Ark, and Enter the Void, amongst others), it’s a fascinating exercise which can really transform the experience of the movie, since it messes with some of the language of cinema to which we’re so accustomed. But alas, director Pierre Morel abandons it after the intro, never returning. Which raises the question as to what his goal was by using it at all? It’s not like audiences need to literally see through someone’s eyes to understand the story is from their perspective. So it comes off as feeling flashy rather than effective.

The story itself is chock full of tropes. Along with the one mentioned up top, you’ve got the disgraced journalist trying to salvage her career, the womanizing foreigner, the woman oblivious that others aren’t interested in her skills, the American who knows it all, the characters who hate each other being forced together by extreme circumstances where they learn there’s more to them than meets the eye, and on and on. Oh, and as this is an action-comedy, our hero must be perpetually sarcastic, the foreigner has to be a little bit kooky, and the woman has to be fairly clueless as to how to make it in the world.

Needless to say, none of it worked for me.

On the story front, I won’t claim it’s completely hollow. True, the characters are very poorly written, and the plot is recycled from other low-rent action movies. However, it is trying to say something, namely discussing the relationship between imperialism and capitalism, especially in an American context, and its fallout around the world. Nothing new, and it lands in a very awkward and questionable way (leading to this post’s subtitle), but it’s not wrong. They hit you over the head with it repeatedly, just to make sure you couldn’t miss it, so it’s not a very satisfying message, but it’s worth acknowledging its presence.

The comedy is lowest common denominator every step of the way. Wife jokes, characters bashfully catching a glimpse of each other naked, and unrecognized chivalry. Hell, we’ve even got a homophobic joke, just for good measure. To say nothing of the characterization of Venegas as a weirdo. The strangest thing is that all of this could have worked, but they were way too cautious. If you’re going to hit these notes, you need to push them way over the top to sell this as a ridiculous world with goofy characters. Otherwise, the comedic actions feel out of place, since they’re largely too goofy to be how people interact with the world. So it induces eye rolls and groans rather than laughter.

I will say that Raba is clearly having a blast, really leaning into his character’s unique charms. As such, while he still didn’t get me to laugh, I’d say he got away with more silliness than anyone else. For example, when all three of them step out of separate shower stalls at the same time. Mason and Claire are bashful and cover up, but Venegas proudly walks around, barely noticing anyone’s lack of clothing, even his own. It kind of lands, in part because you’ve likely encountered that person in a gym locker room at some point, and he’s slick enough to pull it off.

Cena does a good job, but can’t salvage an underwritten character. He’s an incredibly charismatic person, which is the only reason his character’s incessant quips aren’t grating, but that can only take you so far when you’re made to spout inane comments every other line. But Brie is dealt the worst hand of them all. She’s a journalist disgraced because her sources lied for some unspecified story, and that somehow lands her hosting Spring Break recaps? And man cave tours? Fine, I guess, but feels like it’s just arbitrary dunking on journalists more than anything else. In any case, she embodies a journalist fine, but the script undermines that by immediately showing she has no integrity or ability to stay impartial with respect to her source. She’s whiny and completely out of her element and has zero ability to deal with the situation in which she’s landed. During most of the action sequences, it’s all she can do to keep from shrieking throughout. So the direction isn’t helping her much either.

And that’s kinda it. The action isn’t noteworthy in either direction (although there sure is a lot of it), the story beats are pretty predictable, and the politics are weird in ways I can’t talk about without spoilers. It’s a soft R, mostly for uttering “fuck” a few times and for bleeding bullet wounds, a couple of which spurt. All of which demonstrates the fundamental problem here: they didn’t want to commit. Either really go hard on all fronts and earn that R, or round off the already dull corners to grab more potential audience. Instead, we’re left with a bland and forgettable story which really isn’t worth your time.