Free Guy

Free Guy
Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jodi Comer, Joe Keery, Taika Waititi
Directed by Shawn Levy

I like to label myself as an "average" gamer - someone who plays video games enough to know what I'm doing most of the time, but not one that would be a successful streamer because I often get bored after playing for a little bit of time. Still, they're a great release and escape from reality, and there's nary a moment where I think about the NPCs (Non-Player Characters) and the effect I have on their animated lives. After watching "Free Guy," it made me think that maybe these NPCs deserve their own freedoms, their own rights, and should band together to demand equality and stop being shot at - but then I realize it was just a movie, and these characters don't really have consciousness.

In the fictional gaming world of "Free City," Guy (Ryan Reynolds) repeats the same day over and over - wake up, feed his goldfish, change into his everyday blue button-down and slacks, get a bland cup of coffee, and go to work at the bank with his best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery). Every day the bank gets held up, and Guy and the other NPCs do their computer algorithmic duties until the day starts all over again. Life is good, but Guy thinks there might be something more out there.

"Free City" is the brainchild of millennials Millie Rusk (Jodie Comer) and Keys McKeys (Joe Keery), who originally designed a game that would allow NPCs to exist outside the realm of normal games, but their code was stolen by Soonami Games founder Antwan (Taika Waititi) and turned into a shooting online game where millions of people enter their avatars into the fictional town to wreak havoc. Millie enters the world as Molotov Girl to try to find the code, and in her search she runs into Guy, who develops feelings for her and in doing so breaks the algorithm and achieves consciousness. He wants to help, but he needs to level up - and he does so by doing nice things for people instead of violence, which draws viewership intrigue as everyone tries to figure out who is behind Guy. At first Antwan is happy about this, but as Guy and Molotov Girl get closer to finding out that he stole Millie and Keys's code, he sets out to shut down the game - and Guy - forever.

The online gaming community can be easily described as toxic, with the term "troll" having a whole new meaning than it did decades ago. Now, "trolls" roam the online gaming community where they spew their hatred rhetoric, their homophobic and racist remarks, and general nastiness without fear of retribution because of their online anonymity. "Free Guy" tackles this issue in the sense that Guy has literally never seen the outside world, and doesn't know of the term "troll," yet he does witness the daily violence occurring in his fictionalized city on a daily basis and regards it as merely background noise. When he finds out that he can help Molotov Girl find the truth, he needs to level up in order to really do any good, and instead of going out and stealing cars, beating up women, or trash talking newbs, he does good and protects people from bad guys in the game. It's refreshing to see someone actually being a truly "good" guy, and much like the genuine surprise of the audience, it shocks the viewers in the movie as well. It really is possible for a good guy to finish first, and "Free Guy" proves it.

Apart from this important life lesson, however, "Free Guy" is just your average cookie-cutter summer action blockbuster, a film that subtly (and not-so-subtly) steals from other movies and video games. The entire premise is easily a "Grand Theft Auto" ripoff as players go around the town and steal cars, hit people, and do otherwise nasty things to the NPCs. It's "The Lego Movie" in the fact that Guy wakes up with a cheery disposition, puts on the same outfit, gets the same coffee, goes to the same job, and basically says "everything is awesome." It's "The Matrix" in that Guy is the Neo of the movie, the chosen one who's destined to bring everyone together, with Molotov Girl's (aka Trinity) training. The film starts off on a strong foot, but soon it relies too much on other video games and video game movies to give it life, much like a Frankenstein's monster - but it doesn't turn into a creature of unwatchable visage due to the performances and the overall likability of them.

Ryan Reynolds does this type of movie in his sleep, and his shtick is sometimes oversimplified and generic, and there's moments where this happens in the movie, but fortunately those are few and far between. Reynolds calls on all his gentlemanly tongue-in-cheek charisma and pulls out a highly believable, affable performance that is surprisingly endearing. Jodie Comer pulls double duty as headstrong Millie in the real world, and tough-as-nails Molotov Girl in the game, and she manages to do so in a way where it seems like it's two separate actresses doing the roles. Joe Keery has his best big-screen presence here as the lovable, oftentimes clueless video game programmer Keys, while Taika Waititi verges on annoyance as the generic villain who only sees dollar signs and holds everything else subpar.

The film splits its time between the real world and the video game world, and director Shawn Levy does a great job at providing a realistic view of how the real world sees the action going on in the game, calling upon famous streamers like Ninja, Pokimane, and DanTDM to add credence to his film, as well as a touching cameo by Alex Trebek (the movie was filmed back in the 2018-2019 season, well before the beloved host's death) that helps drive home the overall theme of the importance of being a good person in a bad world. The gaming world itself is a visual marvel, as you'd expect, with epic explosions, fighting, and car chases that keeps your attention from start to finish, even if it runs laps around itself around the halfway point where it recycles its themes and plot points and includes a section that feels entirely unnecessary and seems only to serve to pad the film's runtime. Still, despite the small bugs in the system, it's an overall fun, funny action comedy that has a decent heart and a load of surprise cameos, and everything you'd expect from a generic summer action blockbuster.

With a capable cast and a strong message about being a good guy, "Free Guy" keeps your attention with epic action sequences, tongue-in-cheek comedy, metahumor and a highly capable cast that elevates it above its sometime repetitive pacing and allows us to not have a good day - but a great day.

The Score: A