Rating of
3/4
Worth an Extra Life
Chris Kavan - wrote on 08/19/21
How do you make a video game movie that's not actually based on a video game? AND make it better than 90% of actual video game movies that have come before it? Don't ask me how, but Ryan Reynolds has struck gold with Free Guy and let's give a hand to director Shawn Levy, a tremendous cast (with a LOT of great cameos) and some fun, flashy effects that combine to make Free Guy the feel-good movie of the summer.
Welcome to Free City - an amalgamation of GTV style violence and Fortnite-style dancing, where Guy (Reynolds) does the same thing every day - wakes up, greets his goldfish, watches the news, flicks his shades and goes to work at the bank - he's oblivious to the explosions, walking mechs, car chases and blatant robberies going on around him - that's for the "glasses people" the special ones who can do whatever they want. Guy, along with is best friend security guard Buddy (Lil Rel Howery) just take their own daily robberies with a smile. But everything changes when Guy gets a glimpse of Molotovgirl (Jodie Comer) - and does something irrational - breaks out of his daily routine to follow her. This, in turn, leads him to doing the unthinkable - getting his own pair of glasses and finding out just what is behind Free City.
But besides Free City - we also have the real world where Molotovgirl is actually Millie, who is desperately trying to uncover evidence that the mega video game company Soonami, led by total douche-bro Antwan (an all-in Taika Waititi) has stolen and profited off her ideas and AI to create their masterpiece. She is not alone as programmer Keys (a down-to-Earth Joe Keery), her one-time game design partner, has reluctantly took a position at the enemies' company and seems to have all but given up on getting justice. All this changes, however, when Guy becomes a phenomena - and may prove the key to uncovering the truth - and, of course, this is all set against the backdrop of the launch of Free City 2 - that will delete the original game altogether.
The most fun in Free Guy is watching Guy, an NPC who has no idea he is in a game at all, adapting to his new-found powers be it launching himself in the air via special-powered sneakers or simply upending the system by being a nice guy and returning stolen money. The film also delights in throwing in a boatload of cameos. This includes the last film performance from the late Alex Trebec, along with a variety of the biggest real-life game streamers including Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins, Imane 'Pokimane' Anys and Seán McLoughlin aka Jacksepticeye. But Reynolds also got a lot of celebrity cameos too - some are easy to spot like Chris Evans and Channing Tatum to some really sneaky ones like Dwayne Johnson, Hugh Jackman and John Krasinski.
Speaking of Tatum, he has hands-down the best cameo scene playing the avatar of video game trope nerd Keith (also a scene-stealing turn from great character-actor Matty Cardarople), who, of course, still lives with his mother and has a completely different persona than his online handle - even if he tries to get Guy to dance with him multiple times and say his catchphrase. Yes, this is a worn-out trope, but damn if it doesn't play out perfectly.
And, for anyone following current video game news about toxic culture, Waititi's ultimate douch-bro boss perfectly encapsulates all that is wrong in corporate culture. And he plays it to the hilt. I especially like how he want's to capitalize on Guy's popularity by making him a character in the new game - and, of course, is represented by a Dude - a who has Reynolds head on top of a muscle-bound moron whose catchphrase is literally "Catchphrase" because it hasn't been programmed yet. The fight between Guy and Dude is a highlight as well.
While you don't have to be a fan of video games to enjoy Free Guy - you'll probably get a few more laughs out of it if you are. But all in all, the film is just a blast, funny, uplifting and just good. You probably know where things are going - but even so, the journey there is worth the time. It seems to end on a fairly solid note so I'm interested to see where they go from a supposed sequel that's already in the works. If it follows the same pattern, though, I'm willing to go another round with this Guy.
