20 Best Films Of 2017 (So Far)

14. Free Fire

It almost goes without saying now that Ben Wheatley is an incredibly gifted film-maker. Even his least mainstream and least legible film - High Rise - was a triumph of a particular type of film-making and there's a certain assured confidence about every project he turns his hand to.

Free Fire looked like a step up on High Rise from the very first moment of its announcement - a delightful, star-packed 70s throw-back shoot-out set mostly in a single warehouse venue as two groups of criminals try to kill each other.

It's the kind of film Quentin Tarantino wishes he could make, layered in genre references and nostalgia and with eloquent goons and mooks trading as much smart banter as they do bullets while the plot hurtles towards an explosive, bloody finale. It cost nothing, made nothing, but it's a classic in the making.