By: Miles McDavitt
One glance at Free Guy, the newest big budget offering from one of Hollywood’s favorite action-star/comedy actors Ryan Reynolds, will cause most to approach with valid skepticism. However, Free Guy offers a standard yet vibrant look at the video game movie genre, which has a history of flops. It has a similar feel to Ready Player One, in the means that the animation and production are both top tier. However, the plot is that of a very basic ‘feel good’ movie.
Free Guy follows the life of our extroverted protagonist Guy (Ryan Reynolds), who plays the role of an NPC (non-playable character) in an extremely successful RPG(role-playing game), Free City. Through a series of events, Guy is ‘brought to life’, changing from NPC to a sentient artificial intelligence. The ensuing story follows a path that may not be unique to the average movie goer, yet it is unique enough to be interesting. Ryan Reynolds’ constant charisma and hilarity are most definitely the main reason this film comes together so well. However, the last thirty minutes of the film appear cheesy and cliché.
While the film does well with some original ideas targeting the younger generation with familiar faces such as Muselk, Ninja, and Pokimane, it struggles to separate itself from similar titles it very clearly takes influence from, such as Ready Player One, and The Truman Show.
Free Guy has been received at the box office greatly, with a net profit of 110 million. It was only projected to make half that within the time frame, however director Shawn Levy’s focus on a younger target audience seems to have helped him out.
Any time Free Guy seems to drift off from feel good to an incredibly dull hero’s journey remake, it is brought back into focus, accredited to its director. Overall, Free Guy is nothing you haven’t seen before however it’s worth the watch.
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