Time's almost up: Cillian Murphy's cult classic 'Free Fire' departs Netflix very soon
Don’t dither, Murphy devotees: his action-packed, 1970s-set shootout is leaving Netflix shortly.
If you've been tracking Cillian Murphy's latest moves—and let's face it, with his profile these days, who hasn't—there's actually plenty going on, even with the Peaky Blinders era now well and truly wrapped. Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man landed its world premiere in Birmingham earlier this year, with the Netflix drop following on 20 March. Not long after that, Murphy started cropping up in other headlines: exhaling his relief about not following Christopher Nolan onto the next big project (Nolan's The Odyssey, which Murphy apparently said no to—with no regrets, by his own admission), and appearing among those paying tribute after Sam Neill passed away at 78.
When Deadline asked Murphy about his late Peaky Blinders co-star, here's what he had to say:
Like everyone who knew and worked with Sam, I admired him and adored him in equal measure. He was one of the kindest, funniest and gentlest people, and one of the finest actors. RIP.
Meanwhile, Murphy's diary doesn't seem any lighter. There's filming underway in Greece for a new drama set in a prison, directed by Damien Chazelle, with Daniel Craig also co-starring—that one's shaping up to be properly starry. Plus he's already confirmed for A Quiet Place: Part III, which is aiming for a 2027 release.
Going, going, nearly gone
So while Murphy himself stays hard to miss, his back catalogue is about to get a little thinner—at least if you're a Netflix subscriber. The crime thriller Free Fire, one of the more enjoyable mid-2010s entries in Murphy's long list of projects, is leaving Netflix on 11 August. That gives anyone who's interested roughly a week to stream it before it disappears.
Free Fire drops off Netflix on 11 August for UK subscribers.
A quick refresher: Free Fire came out in 2016, directed by Ben Wheatley (the fella behind Kill List and High-Rise). The whole thing is essentially one big warehouse shootout, kicked off by an arms deal in 1970s Boston going sideways due to a daft personal squabble. After that, it's just a parade of bullets, insults and temporary alliances as various factions try to crawl out alive. The tone—helped along by Martin Scorsese, who signed up as executive producer—lands somewhere between grimy crime thriller and jet-black farce, with enough nods to 1970s cinema to keep genre fans happy.
Murphy plays one-half of the buying crew, sharing scenes with Brie Larson (fresh off her Oscar win for Room at the time), plus Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Jack Reynor, and Michael Smiley (a Wheatley regular). Reviews were decent—nothing earth-shattering, but the film managed a 69% on Rotten Tomatoes and picked up a fair bit of cult affection, especially for its relentless pace and deadpan violence.
Why the rush?
As is usually the case with streaming, there's little explanation beyond the usual licensing shuffle. Free Fire could pop up again in six months—or be gone for years. If you're a Murphy completist, or just want to revisit one of his slightly less-seen genre turns, this week is your best bet.
- Free Fire (2016): Cillian Murphy, Brie Larson, Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Jack Reynor, Michael Smiley. Directed by Ben Wheatley. Exec produced by Martin Scorsese.