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Freelance
Movie

Freelance

2023 • Action, Comedy

Woke Score
3
out of 10

Plot

An ex-special forces operative takes a job to provide security for a journalist as she interviews a dictator, but when a military coup breaks out in the middle of the interview, they are forced to escape into the jungle.

Overall Series Review

The film follows ex-Special Forces operative Mason Pettits, who is bored with his lawyer job and rocky suburban marriage, as he takes a security job protecting journalist Claire Wellington during her interview with dictator Juan Venegas. When a military coup erupts, the three are forced to escape into the jungle. The central conflict shifts from a political struggle to a fight against 'greedy global corporations' who are the true puppet masters exploiting the fictional country's resources. The narrative structure is a classic action-comedy and the film avoids contemporary sexual or identity-based political lecturing. Its mild critique comes from framing the American/Western suburban lifestyle as emasculating and purposeless, and identifying a foreign dictator as the morally righteous figure fighting Western corporate evil. The main character successfully reclaims his sense of purpose and ultimately returns to his family, which counterbalances the initial critique of domestic life.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics3/10

The story does not rely on intersectional hierarchy or race-based vilification. Characters are judged by their actions in the central conflict, not their immutable characteristics. The antagonist is framed as a corporate entity and the dictator's coup-minded nephew, not a white male scapegoat. The casting is colorblind for the genre without political lecturing, but a non-white character is given a heroic moral arc against implied Western corporate greed, pulling the score slightly above a 1.

Oikophobia6/10

The film features a central narrative critique of Western-aligned 'greedy global corporations' as the primary source of evil and destabilization in a developing nation. The American hero, Mason Pettits, is established as suffering from a lack of purpose in his 'well-ordered American life,' which he only finds by escaping to a 'foreign place.' The dictator, Venegas, is a surprisingly charismatic and moral character shown to be fighting for his country's resources against corporate interests. This deconstruction of American corporate structure and the suburban routine rates as a moderate hostility toward the home civilization.

Feminism4/10

Journalist Claire Wellington is ambitious and career-focused, but she is not presented as a 'Mary Sue.' The male lead, Mason, is initially depicted as feeling emasculated and purposeless in his lawyer job and 'rocky marriage,' suggesting a critique of the domestic sphere as a cage for men. However, his arc involves regaining his masculinity and purpose, a theme that is anti-feminist, and he ultimately returns to his wife and daughter. This mixed messaging keeps the score at a moderate level.

LGBTQ+1/10

The narrative focuses exclusively on the male-female relationship dynamics between the two leads and the hero's struggle with his traditional family. The film contains no overt sexual ideology, alternative sexuality narratives, or commentary on gender theory.

Anti-Theism1/10

The film does not portray traditional religion as the root of evil; in one scene, the dictator character is shown praying in a church as a moral figure fighting evil corporate interests. The movie is described as having an overall 'strong moral, pro-family worldview' and a theme about finding purpose, which runs counter to moral relativism and anti-theism.