Wesley Lovell said in his review, “The game in the film is called Free City, a type of Grand Theft Auto simulacrum with far better graphic output.” Ryan Reynolds plays Guy, a bank teller who goes on with his daily life unaware that he is simply a Non-Playable Character (NPC) in this video game and that the sunglass-wearing criminals that knock over his bank on an hourly basis are the playable characters (PC) people in the real world are controlling. When he looks at the woman of his dreams, he tries to break free of the programming that has kept completely oblivious of his identity, stealing a pair of sunglasses and discovering the truth somewhat about his existence. The truth is, he still doesn’t know he’s an NPC, but he believes that he has become a hero like the others he can now emulate. As he tries to become friendly with the PC Molotovgirl, played by Jodie Comer, her main frustration helps push him towards becoming an iconic figure in the real world and setting up the course of events for the film.
In the real world, Millie (Comer) has been looking into the Free City realm to try and locate proof that the man (Taika Waititi) who bought her and friend Keys’ (Joe Keery) proof of concept used that code as a foundation for the game he’s made a name for. Guy’s part in this plan become obvious early on, but it’s Reynolds’ trademark personality that keeps the audience engaged long after the audience understands what’s going on. Lovell said, “Unless you’ve delved into video games in general, understanding the sight gags and innuendos at play, or even picking up the exterior references that come on fast and obvious late in the film, a lot of what makes the film fun is going to be lost on you. Even Reynolds’ exuberant charm can’t make the whole affair more interesting to those who don’t understand.”
You can’t really look at the films of director Shawn Levy and automatically say that he’s a great director. He makes entertaining films, many of which make a lot of money (the “Night at the Museum” trilogy for instance). However, his juvenile humor sometimes comes at the expense of cinematically educated content. He can create some lovely settings for his characters to play in, but he never finds a way to get deeper into the heart of identity that more masterful popular directors like Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson can.
With all that said, “Free Guy” is a surprisingly complex story. Co-written by matt Lieberman and Zak Penn, it’s one of the few modern films that understands what it’s like to appreciate and enjoy video games. It’s not just the great graphics or the in-depth settings, it’s the characters and how they interact with the world around them. This is one of the reasons why so many video game adaptations released in theaters have been failed attempts. The depth and subtlety of the characters and situations are flattened.
Lovell said, “Further, the concept of idea theft and intellectual property is given a satisfyingly thorough exploration. When a studio forgets what it loved about creating games and focuses instead of bilking its players out of money, some of the magic and luster is lost. Games become tedious and job-like. Rather than playing something for fun, people play it to succeed at reaching the ever-extending goal-posts. What Millie and Keys find is not that they don’t love the creation of video game content, they just want to find the passion in the work they create and that passion is then enjoyed by those who consume it. As an indictment of cash-grab focused video game companies, the film works quite well. It evokes a sense of frustration and loss of joy associated with it.”
Lovell continued, “Free Guy was completely deserving of its Best Visual Effects nomination as the rich tapestry of effects shift from photorealism into mind-bending excess with surprising ease and credibility. The soundscape is equally solid as are Reynolds and Comer’s performances. Many of the in-jokes are quite amusing if you catch them, but if you’ve never really gotten into the video game aesthetic, you will likely be utterly lost and much of the enjoyment will go out the window. That isn’t to say that non-video game fans can’t find their own identity here. Apart from missing video game-related humor, there are similarities between this film and others like The Truman Show and Reynolds’ own The Nines where the central character doesn’t realize that he’s a character and nothing more. When connected to those other sources, it can be easy to find something to cling onto, but it might not be enough, nor will it be easy and perhaps not as rewarding if you don’t have that base understanding of video game systems and aesthetics.”
However, for fans of video games and those who’ve been around to see their change, identifying with the characters in the film becomes easy and finding yourself pulled into a video game realm where the excitement of discovery is the most important part. In that way, Guy is like one of the real people. We are the NPCs in life who, for a few hours of our time, are treated like we matter and presented something as engaging and rewarding as one is expected to feel in today’s quick-changing world of persistent consumer bitterness.
I saw my brother watching this and I had heard good things about this movie that I decided to check it out earlier this year. This is a very entertaining and funny movie that I think everyone should and enjoy. It’s not based on any video game, but it’s a good video game movie about a game that we would like to play. If you’re a Ryan Reynolds fan, you will find yourself thoroughly enjoying this because of the quippy persona he puts on.
Tomorrow I will look into the next MCU show in “Disney Month 2022.”
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