Free Guy (2021)
3.5/4
What I like about movies is the art form’s ability to explore high-end concepts. Think 1998’s The Truman Show, which successfully explores the unique concept of a man who finds out his life is just a TV show. Shawn Levy’s new film Free Guy also has much success turning an interesting idea—taking a non-player character in a video game who thinks he is a real man finding out that he isn’t exactly real—into a great time at the movies.
Ryan Reynolds is very good as Guy. Much like what he does with Deadpool, he brings a lot of humour and relatability to this character, which makes the audience relate and feel for him. Another bright spot is Emmy-winner Jodie Comer’s Millie Rusk/Molotov Girl. I found this character to be extremely fun, and she has the best complete storyline in the entire film. Also, her excellent on-screen chemistry with Reynolds was one of the main things that made the movie work for me.
With this film, Levy proves that he is a great director. He does a terrific job directing the action scenes within the game, especially when it comes to the scenes with Molotov Girl. Her action scenes are spectacular; they are actually some of the best-directed action scenes I’ve seen for a long time. In fact, in a filmography that includes such movies as Night at the Museum and Real Steel I’ll go so far as to say that this is the best film he’s ever directed, and that is saying something.
Another thing I thought was really well handled was the humour—this is a surprisingly funny movie. All of the jokes land and had the audience I was with in tears. The cameos in the film were also really thought out and very comedic, which help them add something to the story instead of just being there for the sole purpose of getting the audience’s attention, which I have to say was very nice to see.
The movie is truly excellent; the only fault I could find is that despite all of the promotional material selling it as an original concept it sure does borrow from a lot of other sources. I mean, Reynolds’ character is basically an updated Truman Burbank from The Truman Show. The video-game world is basically Grand Theft Auto, and Molotov’s Girl’s motivation is the exact same motivation that Kevin Flynn had from the first Tron movie.
Still, Free Guy is a highly interesting film with a cool concept that audiences—especially gamers—are sure to enjoy.