Free Guy (2021)

Free Guy (2021)

 

8/10

Starring

Ryan Reynolds

Jodie Comer

Lil Rel Howery

Utkarsh Ambudkar

Joe Keery

Taika Waititi

 

Directed by Shawn Levy

 

Free Guy is like taking one of the coolest ideas (A.I.) and wrapping it around one of the coolest inventions (video games), which seem to have absorbed human existence. For years now, Ryan Reynolds has carved a space for himself in Hollywood as that actor who is funny, cool, and can really kick ass. Free Guy is everything his persona is, and the role fits him like a glove. The movie’s plot unveils like you’re eating your favorite dessert, munching gently until you get to the cherry in the middle.

The movie isn’t perfect, though. In the end, the realization of the love interest and the romance, which was set in the background, could have had a better reveal.

The movie takes place in a video game world called Free Guy. The multitude of characters are NPCs (non-playable characters) whose only role is to be taken down by real-world players. The players roam free and level up by causing as much destruction as they can. The game belongs to a company run by Taika Waititi’s character, Antwan. The Antwan character is crafted to be one of those guys you just love to punch, which makes the acting so much more appreciated. The world we see before us reminds me of the video games Grand Theft Auto, Cyberpunk 2077, and Fortnite. The movie takes a lot from those games and merges some concepts from The Matrix and the book Ready Player One.

The film is about realization and taking charge of your life, which the character Guy (Reynolds) does. Guy is written to be love-starved and empty, looking for the one. As the regular NPC, he lives the same life every day, not knowing any different, until a lady walks past him: Molotov Girl. Molotov Girl is a character in the game controlled by Millie (Jodie Comer), who is combing through the game looking for proof that Antwan stole her code and used it in the making of the game.

Millie and her friend created a video game where NPCs have next-level A.I.s and can live constructive lives of their choosing. They sold the game to Antwan’s company for him to publish, but Antwan shelved it and never did. Instead, he stole the A.I. code from it and built his own game (Free Guy) and denied the duo royalties and recognition.

Upon seeing Millie’s character in the game, Guy (an NPC) went rogue off his regular settings and went after her. He died, got respawned (which he didn’t know was happening), and decided to do something different. At first, everything around him almost crumbled, and he gave up. Then he tried again, saw a difference, and went after Millie.

She tells him to leave her be and that he needs to go level up if he wants to even talk to her (she thinking she’s talking to a player, not an NPC who has taken a liking to her). He took her words seriously and decided to go do that, in his own way, by being the only good guy in the video game.

The makers were going crazy trying to stop him, but he was causing a frenzy in the outside world. Everyone was talking about him and wanted to be like him, but Guy had one focus: to level up to over 100 so he could meet his dream girl. He succeeded and soon found himself sucked into her quest.

There’s much fun set before you as you watch this movie, and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t.