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A Review of “Free Guy (2021)”

 

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Video game adaption movies are notorious for being atrociously bad. There have been some good video game movies recently, but never great. Then there are video game movies such as Wreck-it Ralph and Ready Player One that are centred around video games. Free Guy is another video game movie that is centred around it. The premise is “When a bank teller discovers he’s actually a background player in an open-world video game, he decides to become the hero of his own story – one that he can rewrite himself. In a world where there are no limits, he’s determined to save the day his way before it’s too late, and maybe find a little romance with the coder who conceived him”. So is Free Guy a great movie or something to be shut down?

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Firstly, the concept of an NPC becoming more self-aware is such a great idea. The whole concept is so intriguing and engaging but what amazes me is that Free Guy succeeds in the delivery and the landing. The story is also surprisingly good as Guy trying to gain the affections of Millie Rusk/Molotov Girl is quite sweet and endearing to watch. Additionally, there is a plot with an evil CEO that give the film the tension and stakes necessary for a very satisfying finale. What surprised me the most is how much emotional weight and heart was in Free Guy. Some genuinely emotional moments explore some deep themes about the purpose and meaning of life that I didn’t expect. Furthermore, the characters themselves are great, with the exploration of the relationship and character development between them is an enjoyable watch. The action scenes are fun to watch and a fair amount of jokes does land as well.

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I love the amount of reference in Free Guy to not only video games but other movies too. There are even some references that wowed me. They also use a fair amount of video game terms that didn’t make me cringe. I also loved that the director included very silly and funny things in the background as well which makes for great second viewing. The cast all do a great job as well and are incredibly charming. Ryan Reynolds is indeed just playing himself but it is still entertaining to watch even in Free Guy. Joe Keery is very lovable and plays a believable nerdy guy and is the one who I ended up rooting for the most. Jodie Comer is phenomenal though as she plays the passionate Millie and badass Molotov girl convincingly while being incredibly charming. She has great chemistry with Ryan Reynolds and Joe Keery which is what makes both scenes in the game and real-life enjoyable to watch.

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However, Taika Waititi who plays the evil CEO and villain is a mixed bag for me. Taika succeeds in making his character completely dislikable which makes him an effective villain. The problem is that he is very goofy and cartoonish which is a jarring contrast to all the others who give more believable performances. Most moments with his character are also not that funny and most never landed, unfortunately. There are also a lot of problems with the script just breaking its own rules. For example, it is shown in the real world that they’re playing the game on a computer, not VR, yet during in-game scenes, characters act like they can feel stuff when it makes no sense. Moreover, there is one major scene that occurs that baffles me as it was clear from an earlier scene that it shouldn’t be possible to do, yet it somehow still happened.

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Overall, I came into Free Guy with little expectation but was astonished at how much I ended up enjoying it. Even when the writing falters, the natural charisma of the cast keeps it from ever being monotonous. Free Guy is not just a good video game movie, it’s a great video game movie!


 

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