Movie Review: 'Freelance'

Freelance (2023)

Directed by Pierre Morel

Written by Jacob Lentz

Starring John Cena, Alison Brie, Martin Csokas, Christian Slater, Juan Pablo Rana

Release Date October 27th, 2023

Published October 30th, 2023

Freelance stars John Cena as an ex-special forces military man turned suburban-lawyer-dad. Miserable, and on the verge of divorce from his wife, played by Alice Eve, Cena's Mason Pettits' decides to re-enter the world of military security. With the help of his friend, played by Christian Slater, who Wikipedia credits as 'Mason's Boss,' Cena gets a 5 figure paycheck for what should be a cakewalk of a security job. Mason will accompany a disgraced journalist, Claire Wellington (Alison Brie), to some made up South American dictatorship and keep her safe while she interviews the legendary dictator Juan Venegas (Juan Pablo Rana).

Venegas hasn't given an interview in 10 years and he hopes that this interview will allow him to show how his country is changing. Meanwhile, Mason is no stranger to this country. He was here some 10 years earlier when he and a few fellow soldiers were nearly killed doing a mission. Naturally, Mason assumes it was the dictator who killed several of his fellow soldiers so his role here is a little tense. He has a grudge against Venegas and now he will be in close proximity to him. And hilariousness ensues.

Oh how I wish hilariousness would ensue. Freelance is a witless action comedy of a very stale variety. If you cannot predict every beat of this deeply derivative movie you have either never seen a movie before or you are just not paying attention. There is nothing remotely original or interesting in Freelance. Bad guys try to overthrow the government, Cena ends up protecting not only the journalist but also the dictator he hates. But surprise, the dictator isn't a bad guy. Indeed, it wasn't even him who ordered Cena's helicopter to be shot down 10 years ago.

Freelance is among the laziest movies that I have seen in some time. The laziness stems directly from Pierre Morel's careless direction. The lazy direction and overall production of Freelance shoddy at best and the editing is downright confusing. The geography of any given scene is bonkers to try and comprehend. Characters appear to be in one location and are then able to reach another location via some sort teleportation, I assume. We just can't tell where any one character is in relation to the set that they are inhabiting.

Why is that? Lazy direction. A lack of care to make sure that all of the visual elements of the scene make sense. This happens a lot in movies that are more interested in blowing things up and cracking wise. And sometimes, if the wisecracks are good enough, or the explosions are spectacular enough, you can choose to forgive the visual inconsistences. Not this time though because it's all so sloppy it's distracting. On top of that, the jokes aren't funny enough and the action is atrocious. There are so many scenes of baddies firing guns and never hitting anything that it almost appears like an intentional gag. It's not, just lazy.

I like John Cena and Alison Brie but these are nothing characters in a nothing movie. They are given little to work with and deliver the most basic, affable performances. Both are charismatic people whose natural likability comes through easily on screen, but without a good movie behind them, they are mostly left shrugging their shoulders and soldiering on toward their paychecks. Freelance is just bad. It's a waste of time and theater space. This should have been dumped on a streaming service and forgotten. This is just empty, mindless content and I hate it.

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