TORONTO — Sorry, Ben (Affleck). The best Boston shootout scene might just belong to another Ben (Wheatley), who recently unveiled “Free Fire’’ at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Of course it’s not really fair to compare “Free Fire’’ to other Boston-set crime films, by Affleck or anyone else, because Wheatley’s idea of a shootout isn’t so much a scene as it is the whole movie. That idea proves too slight to go the distance, unfortunately. But what doesn’t always hold up as a full-length feature hits its marks plenty often enough to be a darkly entertaining, Tarantino-esque piece of sketch comedy — groovy clothes, uneven regional accents, and all.
It’s the late 1970s. First we get a flyover of Boston, looking particularly grimy and uninviting. Then the action moves inside an abandoned umbrella factory on the waterfront, where a deal is about to go down among a quirky collection of arms dealers, middle men, and Irish rebels looking to buy assault rifles. Director Wheatley (“High-Rise’’) and co-writer/wife Amy Jump assemble a colorful if thinly drawn cast of characters (led by Armie Hammer and Brie Larson) and give them a load of banter and bullets to play with.
That’s as far as the thinking goes. “Free Fire’’ is a crazy, loud, mostly amusing idea until it starts to run out of ammo and plausibility. As a storyteller, Ben Wheatley is no Ben Affleck. But this jumpy, ironic movie is one far-out scene, and that’s enough to recommend it.
Speaking of far out, Toronto seems to have been invaded by aliens this festival season. I saw three notable creature features in as many days of moviegoing.
Most surprising was “Arrival,’’ a far more measured and cerebral affair than I was expecting from Denis Villeneuve, the director of “Sicario’’ and “Prisoners.’’ Amy Adams plays Louise Banks, a linguistics professor enlisted to decipher the intention of squid-like space invaders who’ve landed in a dozen locations around the globe, where they hover in ships that resemble teed-up footballs. Louise has lost her only child, which, in the grammar of sci-fi, means she’s untethered and up for the job. “Arrival’’ has a lot to say about evolution and order and how we either come together as a civilization or we perish. If some of that comes across as a little too earnest and neatly poetic, well, score one for the aliens; it’s about time.
I would probably see any movie that credits “Liam Neeson as the monster.’’ The one playing at TIFF is “A Monster Calls,’’ directed by Juan Antonio Bayona (“The Orphanage,’’ “The Impossible’’). Adapted by Paul Ness from his own novel, it’s the story of a boy who imagines he’s haunted by a tree as he’s coping with his mother’s terminal illness. The cast is stellar, including Felicity Jones as the mother. Neeson’s deep-voiced monster is both menacing and wise. It’s a tear-jerker, and too straightforwardly so, but you knew that and brought plenty of Kleenex.
And then there is “Colossal,’’ which is one of the strangest monster movies ever made.
It stars Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis as former schoolmates who reunite when Hathaway’s character, recently returned home, discovers she’s spiritually connected to a Godzilla-like creature that’s been terrorizing South Korea. No, really. This is not a dream, or a hoax, and that’s what makes Nacho Vigalondo’s bizarre, witty film so impressive. It has the confidence to stomp all over expectations, delivering something wonderful about 70 percent of the time. When it misses, it misses just as big. The unconvincing final act goes down in flames, quite literally, but at least it dies trying too hard.
“Colossal’’ may be the oddest English-speaking thing at this festival. Then again, there’s a little movie called “Catfight,’’ starring Anne Heche and Sandra Oh as estranged frenemies who come back together periodically just to beat each other into a coma. Talk about a monster grudge match. I’d see that even if it didn’t costar Alicia (“Clueless’’) Silverstone.
The Toronto International Film Festival runs through Sept. 18.
Janice Page can be reached at janice.page@globe.com.
