*MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS*
In the open world video game, Free City, Guy (Ryan Reynolds) is a non-player character (NPC) working as a bank teller. Thanks to a program developed by Millie (Jodie Comer) and Keys (Joe Keery) into Free City by the publisher Antoine (Taika Waititi), Guy becomes self aware of his world being a video game and takes steps to make himself the hero, creating a race against time to save the game before the developers can shut it down.
Although Free Guy will, most likely, be enjoyed by those who played video games, as they’ll understand a lot of the references. However, those who have less experience playing video games will have a lot of fun watching it. The premise is simple as it focuses on a background character in a video game who escapes his Groundhog Day-like life and surprisingly finds himself saving the world along with Millie’s avatar, Molotov Girl. Although the narrative is predictable (it’s obvious it’s going to have a happy ending with Guy successfully saving the world), Free Guy combines fast-paced action with amusing humour and is one of the most entertaining films to be release this year.
The strength of Free Guy lies in the star studded cast who are all clearly having a lot of fun. None more so than Reynolds who is best known for portraying the foul-mouthed, violent Deadpool. However, as Guy, he delivers one of his funniest performances and portrays him as an ordinary individual who is unaware that his life is artificial. Those who find Reynolds irritating are best off avoiding Free Guy as their minds won’t be changed. Comer is best known for her role as psychopathic assassin, Villanelle, in the thrilling drama series, Killing Eve. However, in her first major role in a feature film, Comer shines and is a delight as Millie, who is the creator of Free City. However, she frequently appears in the video game as Molotov Girl, who Guy falls in love with. Like Comer, Keery is best known for his work on the small screen as he appeared in the Netflix original series, Stranger Things. In Free Guy, he portrays Keys who created the video game with Millie who he has a crush on. Although he works for Antoine, he frequently helps Guy and Millie in the video game. Lil Rel Howery is a scene stealer as Guy’s friend, Buddy, who is also an NPC and is a police officer. Waititi is perfectly cast as the eccentric Antoine. Free Guy also features some brilliant cameos from YouTubers and famous faces.
Free Guy is directed by Shawn Levy and is his best work yet. The director is best known for working with comedian, Steve Martin, on the films, Cheaper By The Dozen, The Pink Panther and its sequel. He also directed the Night at the Museum trilogy. Although these films weren’t the best received by critics, they were a big part of my childhood and I still enjoy them now as an adult as it brings back fond memories. Because of this, I was excited for Levy’s latest film, Free Guy. Fortunately, it didn’t disappoint as I found it to be thoroughly entertaining and action packed with hardly a dull moment to be found in its 115 minute runtime.
The narrative is the weakest aspect of Free Guy as the scenes that take place in the real world aren’t as entertaining as the sequences set in the video game. However, these scenes benefit from Waititi’s amusing and over the top performance. Free Guy is at its best when it’s focusing on Guy and his attempts to become a hero in an attempt to impress Millie. Although the majority of Free Guy is an action packed comedy, the scenes, involving Guy and Millie, are where the film is at its most romantic, with the couple sharing their love of bubblegum flavoured ice cream. However, because Millie is technically falling in love with an AI that isn’t real, the film makes fun of this.
Free Guy isn’t without its flaws, including a predictable story, however, that didn’t prevent me from thoroughly enjoying it.
7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment