“Free Fire” (2016)
With “Free Fire,” Ben Wheatley sank his teeth into the kind of grimy criminal milieu normally reserved for authors like George V. Higgins or filmmakers like Sam Peckinpah, and he did so with the raw zaniness of a pulp-inspired “Looney Tunes” cartoon. There’s not much in the way of plot here: “Free Fire,” which pushes its R rating right to the limit, begins by gathering a motley assortment of lowlives, bottom-feeders, and human scum in one disgusting Boston warehouse. Everyone is harboring hidden agendas and every character is armed to the teeth. The film, then, proceeds to watch in amused horror as these petty idiots proceed to blast the living hell out of each other for ninety thrilling minutes. Considering how thin the premise is, and how shallow this kind of Tarantino-influenced hook reads on paper, it’s remarkable to consider that “Free Fire” ended up being one of Wheatley’s most energized and inspired films to date. The movie does away with anything that could be considered narratively extraneous, instead opting to hone in, with unerring sicko precision, on Wheatley’s gift for imaginatively unhinged brutality. It helps that Wheatley is working with a dynamite movie-star cast here, one that includes Cillian Murphy, Armie Hammer, and Brie Larson, all of whom are given license to be as shamelessly weird as possible (speaking of shamelessly weird, there’s an entirely separate piece that could be written about the warped majesty of Sharlto Copley’s performance). “Free Fire” isn’t just content to be a star showcase, as it also features delightful, live-wire supporting turns from fantastic, lesser-known performers like Jack Reynor and Sam Riley. Obviously “Free Fire” could be considered a tough sell in a country that’s mired in a seemingly never-ending epidemic of gun violence, but as pure, lizard-brained gangster slapstick, it stands as one of Wheatley’s most inventive films to date.
“Happy New Year, Colin Burstead” (2018)
Apart from “Down Terrance,” “Happy New Year, Colin Burstead,” originally titled “Colin, You Anus,” features what might be Ben Wheatley’s most clear-cut, uncomplicated premise. This is an odd, ultimately pretty tragic comedy about a family gathering that goes horribly wrong at some nebulous juncture, and it’s firmly within Wheatley’s wheelhouse, inasmuch as the screenplay is concerned with the discomfort that transpires when on-edge individuals are forced to cohabitate in close quarters. Underrated British actor Neil Maskell is far more toned down here than he was playing a disgruntled murderer in “Kill List,” and yet he brings a sense of poignant, somewhat unformed vulnerability to the titular role of Colin. Colin, you see, is an ordinary fellow who’s simply trying his best and frequently coming up short. Colin’s “best” involves gathering all of his extended family members together for a strained New Year’s celebration at an idyllic country house on the outskirts of Dorset. Because this is a Ben Wheatley film, cracks and fissures eventually begin to reveal themselves in the film’s otherwise unassuming facade. Colin’s dad is skint and badly needs a loan. Sam Riley, as he did in “Free Fire,” once again plays a reckless firestarter whose mere presence throws the film itself into a state of nerve-chafing disarray. Wheatley’s low-budget experiment ended up being one of his most stripped-down films, but, somewhat unsurprisingly, it’s also the most recognizably human movie he’s ever made. That Wheatley made this low-key gem in between a hyper-gory action flick and a stately Alfred Hitchcock adaptation says a great deal about his versatility.
“Rebecca” (2020)
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1940 film, “Rebecca,” can be appreciated for many reasons, among them its sumptuous set design, its eye-popping mise-en-scene, and its darkly arresting performances. And yet, when one strips away the master of suspense’s signature aesthetic virtuosity, “Rebecca” is really a story about a cunning yet irrevocably broken man who is desperate to sculpt his new love into a manufactured manifestation of his tragically departed ex-wife. Of course, there are sinister layers and deliriously heightened twists to the tale of “Rebecca,” and one of the biggest surprises regarding Wheatley’s take on the material is how traditional it feels – and, sadly, how little it feels like a Ben Wheatley movie much of the time. Granted, Daphne Du Maurier’s seminal romance is its own kind of narrative hybrid, and we all know that Wheatley director doesn’t make a movie without trying to sew at least three or four separate genres together. Hitch’s “Rebecca” has inspired all manners of imitations, from Paul Thomas Anderson’s gorgeous “Phantom Thread” to Guillermo del Toro’s “Crimson Peak,” and, for better or worse, Wheatley’s latest feels like the first of the imitators to be in direct dialogue with its predecessor. This visually ravishing nouveau-Gothic remake showcases a much glossier modernizing of these classic, doomed archetypes. Armie Hammer and Lily James certainly give it everything they’ve got, and when you’re trying to live up to the standard originally set by Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine, that is quite a challenge (Kristen Scott Thomas does make a fine Mrs. Danvers, we admit). The strongest moments in Wheatley’s re-imagining are when he makes the presence of Maxim’s late wife felt within the walls of Manderley itself, obviously without an excess of CGI-bloated horror-movie theatrics. He understands that gaslighting and cruelty are what exist at the heart of this story, and that, in some ways, it is a haunted house story where the house in question is haunted by a memory, not a specter. Whenever Wheatley allows himself to get freaky, “Rebecca” comes to life, but it nevertheless feels like a movie with its creator’s signature edges sanded down.
Ben Wheatley’s Unmade Projects:
Since Wheatley burst onto the scene with the one-two punch of “Down Terrace” and “Kill List,” he’s found himself attached to an ever-growing number of strange and exciting projects. In 2013, it was reported that Wheatley was working a gritty crime flick called “Two for Hell,” which sounds very on-brand for him. That same year, Wheatley was inked to develop a drama series for HBO called “Silk Road,” but the project, regrettably, never manifested.
Another Wheatley joint that never saw the light of day was the intriguing-sounding “I, Microbane” a time-travel comedy that would have starred English comedy royalty Nick Frost and regular Wheatley collaborator/national treasure Michael Smiley. Wheatley was also supposed to helm his own twisted take on a stop-motion animated film, fabulously titled “Mega Evil Motherfuckers.” One can only hope that a project with a title like that sees the light of day sooner rather than later.
One of the most insane-sounding Wheatley films that he’s talked about for years is “Freakshift,” a creature feature in the 50’s B-movie vein that was said to feature “monsters, shotguns, trucks, fighting at night… and crabs.” That Wheatley mentioned “Hill Street Blues” and “Doom” as references for “Freakshift” makes the movie sound like one of his most potentially promising unmade projects. Wheatley was also supposed to helm an adaptation of Frank Miller’s gonzo dystopian-cyborg noir graphic novel “Hard Boiled,” with none other than his “High-Rise” lead Tom Hiddleston slated to star.
Wheatley has toyed with the idea of making a second remake of “The Wages of Fear” (after William Friedkin’s “Sorcerer”), and also, apparently, a lighthearted rom-com in the vein of the Peter Bogdonavich screwball classic “What’s Up, Doc?” We’re not sure what a Ben Wheatley rom-com looks like, but something tells us it could just as easily involve broken bones as hurt feelings. As of 2019, Wheatley was still attached to “Generation Z,” a six-part series for Channel 4 that would take a scathing satirical look at the class divide amongst a British populace afflicted by a zombie plague. Speaking of television, we should also mention that Wheatley has directed two very fine episodes of “Doctor Who,” a program he’s been a fan of since he was a child.
Wheatley has also lent his name as an E.P. to several projects, including fetishistic Peter Strickland mind-melters like “In Fabric” and “The Duke of Burgundy,” and also “The Greasy Strangler,” arguably the most unpleasant movie of 2016. Wheatley has been announced as the director of the second installment of the recently-rebooted, Alicia Vikander-starring “Tomb Raider” franchise, and he’s still attached to develop a feature-length adaptation of the BBC sitcom “Ideal,” about the strange, scurrilous world of a small-time London ganja dealer. Recently, Wheatley completed a 15-day shoot for a new, secret project while in lockdown, which will have to sate his fans as they wait for “Tomb Raider 2.”
“Rebecca” hits Netflix on October 21st.
