Free Guy Review

Ryan Reynolds has already profited from the reopening cinemas all over the world once this year with The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard that came out back in June. Now here he is once again leading another action comedy, Free Guy.

It’s directed by Shawn Levey, who in the past has given us all three Night At the Museum films along with his fair share of Stranger Things episodes, so there’s no reason to doubt the man’s competence as a director. Obviously though, this is very different to either of those projects, so I chose to remain sceptical even if I liked some of his previous work.

The film gets going more or less right away by introducing us to bank teller Guy (Reynolds) who has a very ordinary and boring life. He wears the same blue shirt every day and buys the same coffee every day, and always finds the time to talk to his bank security guard friend called Buddy (Lil Rel Howery). They all live in a city just called ‘Free City’, but what they don’t know is that they are not actually real people; they think they are, but they’re nothing more than characters in a video game – which explains the high level of violence and carnage that happens all around him that Guy accepts as normal. This includes having his place of work robbed every single day, but all he does is lie on the ground with hands behind his back. It can be assumed that the robbers are nothing more than the people who play in the game in the real world while Guy is an NPC (non-playable character). If you think of the hundreds of civilians you see (and potentially harm) in a game like Grand Theft Auto, that’s him.

Out in the real word ‘Free City’ is actually the product of stolen code from a game called ‘Life Itself’ and its sequel is about to be launched. Of course this don’t look good for the developers of ‘Life Itself’, Millie Rusk (Jodie Comer) and Walter McKey (Joe Keery). Comer spends most of her time playing the game to try to find what is rightfully theirs.

Back in the game, Guy decides to shake up his way of life and by doing this he becomes self-aware. He starts to do missions around the city and level up, all the while falling in love with a girl simply known as Molotov Girl (also Comer) and before long they are teaming up to try to find the code before the new game launches and everything from ‘Free City’ – including Guy – is erased forever. Guy becomes a sensation in the real world while becoming a problem for Free City’s developer Antwan (Taika Waititi).

I know if I say Ryan Reynolds just plays his usual likeable persona, it’s not going to surprise anyone. But he does get his head superimposed on a buff body along with a dumb personality when he briefly plays another character simply called Dude, so I guess that’s something different. Comer is okay playing both her video game character and the developer in the real world, but what she may lack in acting range she more than makes up for with believable chemistry with Reynolds as well as Keery. Speaking of Keery, he’s fine with role that he has, but I just couldn’t help but see Steve Harrington whenever he came on screen, except maybe when he’s in the game dressed as American police officers chasing down Reynolds along with his partner in a bunny suit. Waititi is surprisingly  good as Antwan, he makes it no secret that he’s the villain but to his credit he keeps his character amusing and charismatic and makes what could have been a generic performance as a dumb, narcissistic CEO very entertaining to watch.

Aside from the main cast there are quite a few cameos from famous faces such as a Youtuber called Jacksepticeye, and Channing Tatum as a gamer who in the real world is played by Matty Cardarople. I can’t help but wonder if this is secretly some kind of heavily disguised Stranger Things reunion to keep the fans happy until the new season. There is also a certain other cameo that I won’t spoil but if you have already seen the film you can guess who I’m referring to.

Zak Peen and Matt Lieberman haven’t created anything ground-breaking in terms of what their script has to offer, but they seem to have cracked down on the idea that it doesn’t have to be original as long as it’s entertaining and well executed. If that was their sentiment while writing this then their plan worked. There’s good pacing, things never get dull or boring, and as I said at the start of this review, we’re shown the title card right at the beginning and then everything kicks off from there.

Video games have obviously played a large part in influencing the look and feel of this film – the look of Free City is easy to imagine as the main setting of a Grand Theft Auto game. There are said to be several jokes throughout that gamers will appreciate; I don’t recall seeing that many but then again, I haven’t played them in a while.

If I thought there was anything that I didn’t like about the film it would have to be that at times it can come across as a bit too reliant on pop culture references, but I don’t think it’s as bad an offender on that score as say, Ready Player One.

Free Guy is another passable film to come out during a time where people may be apprehensive about going to the cinema, but if you want to see this one the cinema is currently your only option – I don’t think it’s on any streaming services. As a way of passing a couple of hours it’s not a bad option, it’s either this or The Suicide Squad, which I know is completely different from what came out back in 2016, but I stand by my decision to have seen this instead. I’m sure Free Guy will continue to win more audiences and acclaim but I don’t think I will be seeing it again or at least for a long time. To anyone who does go and see it, don’t have a good time – have a great time!