Common Sense Media Review
By Brian Costello
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Formulaic action thriller has language, violence, sex.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 16+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Freestyle
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In FREESTYLE, Diego (Maciej Musialowski) is an up-and-coming rap performer in Krakow, Poland. He has just gotten out of rehab and jail for dealing drugs, and wants to live a clean life while taking his career to the next level. But his musical cohort Flour keeps screwing it up for him, and when it's revealed that Flour stole a microphone from the studio where Diego recorded his music, Diego needs to pay the studio to acquire the recordings. The lack of money and the opportunity to make a big money deal with a Slovakian drug dealer seems too good to pass up, but once Diego decides to do the job, he soon finds himself mired in pursuits from mob bosses, the police, and the psychotic boyfriend of the woman Diego has been sleeping with. In this whirwind, Diego must find a way to make the money, elude those who wish to do him harm, reclaim his recordings, and get to the next gig on time.
Is It Any Good?
This is an overly-frenzied and unoriginal Polish action thriller. Freestyle, for all its chronicles of misadventure and chaos in the Krakow, Poland criminal underworld, has a style and sensibility we've all seen so many times before in contemporary noir action like these. Fast dialogue laced with profanities, gratuitous sex, over-the-top violence, psychotic bad guys, and so on. The movie doesn't really break out into anything new from this well-trodden genre.
The acting isn't bad, but the characters aren't that inspired. The lead character, Diego, has some depth, but most of the characters come across as cartoonish. Overall, nothing original really emerges, except that the movie is set in Krakow instead of London or New York City.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about noir action movies like Freestyle. How is this similar to and different from other noir action movies you've seen?
Does the movie glamorize the lives of criminals, or is the movie too over the top to be viewed as behavior for anyone to emulate? Why?
Was the language, sex, and violence necessary to the story, or did it seem excessive? Why?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : September 14, 2023
- Cast : Maciej Musialowski , Roman Gancarczyk , Ariana Nicole George
- Director : Maciej Bochniak
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Netflix
- Genre : Action/Adventure
- Run time : 88 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : October 5, 2023
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