By Keith Walther
A new action movie from the director of “Taken” may pique your interest, but “Freelance” is at times confused, sometimes goofy, and other times just plain bad. It currently has a 0% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which says a lot but doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. There are redeeming moments to be had that offer some good laughs and entertaining action sequences, however they are few and far between.
After sustaining a severe back injury on his last operation, ex-special forces operative Mason Pettits (John Cena) is trying to acclimate and cope with a normal day-to-day life as an uninvested lawyer. His wife Jenny (Alice Eve) grows tired of his apathy, threatening separation. When his squad mate, Sebastian Earle (Christian Slater), comes calling with a job opportunity to get back in the field for a well-paying security gig, Mason jumps at the opportunity.
The job is simple. Mason must protect freelance journalist Claire Wellington (Alison Brie) while she travels to the fictitious South American country Paldonia to interview the reclusive dictator, President Venegas (Juan Pablo Raba) for the scoop of a lifetime. What was promised as a quick and easy job quickly turns sideways when the two Americans find themselves in the middle of an assassination attempt and military coup. Not knowing who to trust, getting out of the country to safety may not be an option.
French director Pierre Morel is better known for more serious action thrillers like “Taken,” “From Paris with Love,” and “Peppermint,” but he decides to change it up and create a more lighthearted action film with “Freelance.” He begins the film rather creatively, shooting the opening backstory memory montage of the main character from a first-person perspective with some comedic narration that sets the appropriate tone for the type of movie audiences are about to watch. From there, Pierre allows the filmmaking and writing to get rather sloppy with gaffs in continuity and poorly timed jokes that miss the mark. One moment, he’ll have the audience laughing with some witty banter between characters while the next they’ll be rolling their eyes and shaking their heads at completely unnecessary scenes to deliver poorly contrived jokes, like the shower scene. This seesaw continues through the very end of the film.
Similarly, Pierre creates some very realistic sequences involving hand-to-hand combat, and then some over the top ridiculously improbable action scenes, like the untrained journalist character disarming a trained soldier and knocking him out with his own rifle. He also misses an opportunity to create romantic tension between the main characters that could have better invested viewers to the outcome of the film, creating a “Romancing the Stone” or “Jewel of the Nile” type of entertainment. Instead, he opts for a misunderstood dictator angle that fails to move the excitement needle in the right direction.
WWE star John Cena has moments in the film that show he can be a serviceable action film star with limited comedic ability, but there are other times that illustrate his lack of acting talent and improvisation. The outtakes during the credit roll, which are supposed to facilitate one last laugh as audiences exit the theater, actually create awkwardness as viewers watch Cena struggle to improv for a scene that was cut. Simply put, he’s not The Rock.
Co-star Alison Brie is a talented veteran actress who never had that breakout role to put her on the map. She has the ability to channel a serious intensity into her roles while providing witty comedy as evidenced in her starring role in the Netflix series “Glow.” Brie reminds audiences of this ability in “Freelance,” overcoming some poorly written dialogue.
While Christian Slater and Martin Csokas were poorly miscast for their roles, negating their importance in the movie, Juan Pablo Raba of “Narcos” fame plays his dictator role to a tee. He gets to demonstrate his previously unknown comedic talent with well-timed line delivery that creates some of the more entertaining moments in the film.
This tried so hard to mimic the action-comedy formula of last year’s “The Lost City,” but when you shop at the discount store for your talent, you usually get what you pay for. “Freelance” is largely a forgettable film designed more for a streaming platform than the theater. This is a fitting end to a very disappointing and unimpressive October.
This movie generously earns
