You know, I often try not to judge a book by its cover, but when I saw the poster for Freelance, I didn’t have high hopes. John Cena is always cast in the same role, and though I usually enjoy it, I had a bad feeling from the start, and unfortunately, my intuition was very, very right.
The premise is simple and has been done before, many times, even as recently as The Lost City with Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum and Daniel Radcliff. In Freelance, John Cena plays Mason, a retired special forces op who had a traumatic accident. Now living an unfulfilling suburban life with a failing marriage, he takes a one-time job to protect a tarnished journalist
Mason is protecting Clair (Alison Brie) as she heads out to give an exclusive interview to Dictator Juan Venegas. Within hours of being there, a military coup breaks out, and they need to fight their way to safety. Basically, girl needs protection, boy protects girl, some semblance of an attempted love story, the end, but with a political spin that had me a bit worried at the start.
The beginning of Freelance is all shot with what looks like a low-quality GoPro, aiming to put us in Mason’s shoes and go through what he is going through. This shaky camera style really just felt sub-par and was more distracting than anything. It felt like Director Pierre Morel (Taken) wanted us to feel a lot more than we did.
Freelance had a tendency to feel like the team was aiming for a hard-core action film with a few laughs here and there. When in reality, it felt like I was watching a high-budget Ernest Goes to the Jungle film. I’ve enjoyed Cena’s performance in things like The Suicide Squad and Vacation Friends (even if it wasn’t great), but in Freelance, it felt like he was a parody of himself. I often thought that instead of a special-ops performance, Cena was giving us more WWE than anything.
“I often thought that instead of a special-ops performance, Cena was giving us more WWE than anything.”
Whether it was the direction, writing, or acting itself, I can’t quite pin down, but poorly-timed jokes, cartoon-like facial expressions and next to no chemistry with anyone in the film made a film I knew would be campy, downright brutal to sit through. The only time I felt Cena did have chemistry in the film was during the outtakes when he had a playful back and forth with Juan Pablo Raba, who plays Juan Venegas—the hardest I laughed during the whole film.
I adore Alison Brie and love that she is being considered for sexy, leading woman roles (albeit a little dorky) rather than the sweet and innocent girl-next-door we usually see from her. However, nothing about the script or chemistry in Freelance really gave her a chance to show that off. There is a scene where Claire tries to entice Mason, and it is just an awkward moment no one wants to be a part of.
There were creative choices not to follow the usual formula in a movie of this type, where boy falls for girl. Though I can see they were trying to break the mould here and make Mason a family man, I almost wish they’d have just gone for it so we could see SOME connection between these characters. Venegas often hits on her, and she seems flattered but then tries to further the relationship with Mason, which makes little to no sense.
“Freelance tried to take a familiar action-comedy formula and bend and shape it into something new.”
Speaking of Venegas, Juan Pablo Raba was by far the best part of Freelance. His character is loveable, even though, from the beginning, we are set up to avoid trusting him. His comedic timing is on point, and he carries most of the scenes he is in, even when every performance around him falters.
Usually, this kind of action-comedy brings a certain level of cheesiness to the screen but is often saved by big-budget special effects. Unfortunately for Freelance, its massive budget couldn’t save it. During several scenes, I was taken aback by how bad the CGI was. In one scene, a helicopter comes crashing down, only to have a small branch on a fallen log completely stop the helicopter blades from spinning. The practical effects weren’t better, with blood spurting being completely unconvincing.
“Juan Pablo Raba was by far the best part of Freelance.”
Oh, and Christian Slater was there, too. Do we know why? Absolutely not. He likely shot the majority of his performance in one sitting. Any average Joe could have played his character off the street, and viewers wouldn’t have batted an eye. His character was yet another attempt at misdirection, and it just left me asking, “Why?”.
I will say that Freelance brings a bit of a political spin into this story. While, with our world’s current climate, I thought the film would be treading dangerous waters, it was a new take that showed different sides of the political story. Do I think people will be happy we want to sympathize with a Dictator? Probably not. But did I? Yep! I also enjoyed the final showdown. Though I don’t believe it was entirely logical, it was a welcomed fresh take.
Freelance tried to take a familiar action-comedy formula and bend and shape it into something new. With moments that felt like the team was taking itself too seriously, performances that felt like no more than slap-stick comedy (Including nudity, because why not?), and special effects that ripped viewers out of the moment, I’d call Freelance a must-miss this year.
