Another review, another John Cena movie. He's been busy lately hasn't he? I wasn't expecting too much from Freelance, but the trailer looked OK and there wasn't much else at the cinema, and of course I've enjoyed John Cena in most of what I've seen him in, so here we are.The movie was not exactly all I'd hoped for. I guess I was expecting more of an action-heavy flick, while Freelance seems more focused on it's characters, story, and comedy. Which is certainly not a bad thing, generally speaking, but in this case it did leave the action feeling a bit lackluster. Action scenes were more about the little jokes they could squeeze in, than the actual, you know, action. It's fine, it just could have been better.
But that's OK, because the comedy worked, I did like the characters (mostly), and I even enjoyed the story. Some people might feel the movie is a bit preachy or something like that, but personally I thought what the movie was saying about politics and foreign intervention was mostly fair - if a bit exaggerated (I hope). Regardless, I found the story engaging, and I enjoyed the movie overall.
John Cena was entertaining as Mason Pettits. I appreciate that they tried to flesh out the character and give him an interesting story arc, but to be honest I felt it didn't quite come together. I wasn't really sure how he felt about his wife, for example, which was a bit of a problem because it was kind of important as far as the resolution of his story arc. Partly as a result of that, I didn't really feel like the resolution of his arc really worked all that well; it didn't quite make sense to me anyway. Still, he was likeable, somewhat relateable, and pretty funny.
Alison Brie's performance as Claire Wellington fit the tone of the movie, but I didn't think the character was very well written. When she's first introduced she's very unlikeable, being quite rude and antagonistic towards Mason for no reason. Yes, she was portrayed in a better light later, but her initial behaviour was never justified; she genuinely just treated him poorly for no reason, while he was nothing but polite and respectful towards her. It didn't help that she never really did very much in the movie other than, you know, demand that other people risk their lives for her story. She didn't really help to solve any of the problems they faced, she never really contributed very much.
Juan Pablo Raba was a lot of fun as President Venegas, who turned out to be a rather surprising character. Something of a free-spirited agent of chaos, my feelings towards him changed a lot as the story progressed and I was quite fond of him by the end.
Christian Slater's role as Sebastian Earle was rather small, but he was great in it. Marton Csokas had his moments as Jan Koehorst, the dangerous mercenary chasing the heroes, but I felt like the movie wanted to give him some more depth but didn't quite commit to it, making the character feel a bit underdeveloped. He was still better off than Alice Eve's Jenny Pettits though; I really didn't get a sense for her character at all.
I'd say the movie is a 6/10, perhaps bordering on a 7. It's entertaining enough, and I at least enjoyed it, even if it could have been better.
The movie does sell Mason as pretty competent without making him too hyper-competent, but it kinda felt inconsistent. There were moments where he used a compact handgun to shoot down armed solders who were firing fully automatic weapons at him, and moments when he made incredibly careless mistakes that I wouldn't expect from someone with a decent level of training and experience.
Like after Mason shoots down the helicopter, takes out one of the two soldiers who were chasing them, and then just relaxes and lets down his guard. I think it was pretty clear he knew there were at least two of them, after taking one out he should absolutely have been on his guard for the second. And even if he didn't know, he's still in hostile territory and should probably be constantly checking his surroundings just on general principle.
Or when they snuck into Venegas' office, and Mason was pointing his gun at the nephew, but then the general walked in, stood there for a few seconds, then drew his gun and shot two people without Mason (who already had his gun in hand) doing anything about it. Like, surely the moment someone opens the door any soldier would have their gun trained at them, and the moment they go for a weapon said soldier would immediately gun them down?
On a similar note it was a bit weird the way they kinda hit the big bad evil mercenary guy one time then just forgot about him and walked away, leaving him clearly still alive (he was rocking back and forth in pain) on the floor. This is right after finding out he was the guy who killed all Mason's friends. That's just stupid to begin with, but then nothing happens. We don't see him again. It's really bizzare.
Why did Mason grab the Barett and not any of the other firearms lying around? It's a bit of a specialised tool, and it's a lot heavier than the assault rifles that were lying around.
There was a weird scene that I think was meant to humanize Koehorst, where his daughter is showing off her balet skills and I guess he's supporting her like a devoted father. This is his introduction; I'm not sure why they felt the need to humanize him before we even know who he is, and then try to make him look scary and dangerous (and occasionally pretty much evil) the rest of the time? I just didn't really get what that was all about, I wonder if they intended to make him a more nuanced character and then scrapped the idea but didn't have an alternate introduction ready or something.
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