Free Guy is the newest film from director Shawn Levy, who is probably best known for his work on the Night at the Museum series. The film follows Guy (played by Ryan Reynolds) who lives a blissful life in 'Free City', unaware that he is in fact, an NPC in a Grand Theft Auto-like online video game. When he comes across programmer Millie (Jodie Comer) in the game, he begins to become self-aware of his situation and must work together with her and programmer developer Keys (Joe Keery) to save his fellow NPCs from being deleted by the nefarious publisher of the game.
Essentially a reimagined Truman Show for the modern age, the film offers some interesting and occasionally though-provoking commentary on what it means to be alive and the nature of consciousness. While it may have not been explored to the same level as a film such as Her (which was a bit of a shame), it provides a bit more depth to something that could have just been a big dumb action adventure picture.
I'm not much of a fan of Ryan Reynold's, but he did a good job here. His character felt very much like a semi-homage to Jim Carrey's performance in the aforementioned Truman Show mixed with the charming naivety of Will Ferrell's 'Buddy' in Elf. I also really enjoyed Taika Waititi as the villainous video game publisher 'Antwan' who was deliciously over-the-top and a joy to watch. Unfortunately his character only turns up around halfway through the film as he really breathed some extra life into the proceedings and really helped propel the second half of the film.
The humour was very hit and miss but there were some genuinely funny jokes and recurring gags. As the whole thing revolves around video games, there were a large number of references to real-life games and popular gaming Youtubers such as Pokimane and Jacksepticeye. I felt a lot of this was rather cringey and will age the film quite badly in the future, although it will probably appeal to younger audiences.
I didn't have high hopes for this one when I saw the trailers, but I've walked away from it pleasantly surprised. It's a fun and explosive action comedy that also dips into some more interesting themes that'll give you some food for thought. Maybe you'll think twice before mercilessly mowing down pedestrians on Grand Theft Auto in the future.
Essentially a reimagined Truman Show for the modern age, the film offers some interesting and occasionally though-provoking commentary on what it means to be alive and the nature of consciousness. While it may have not been explored to the same level as a film such as Her (which was a bit of a shame), it provides a bit more depth to something that could have just been a big dumb action adventure picture.
I'm not much of a fan of Ryan Reynold's, but he did a good job here. His character felt very much like a semi-homage to Jim Carrey's performance in the aforementioned Truman Show mixed with the charming naivety of Will Ferrell's 'Buddy' in Elf. I also really enjoyed Taika Waititi as the villainous video game publisher 'Antwan' who was deliciously over-the-top and a joy to watch. Unfortunately his character only turns up around halfway through the film as he really breathed some extra life into the proceedings and really helped propel the second half of the film.
The humour was very hit and miss but there were some genuinely funny jokes and recurring gags. As the whole thing revolves around video games, there were a large number of references to real-life games and popular gaming Youtubers such as Pokimane and Jacksepticeye. I felt a lot of this was rather cringey and will age the film quite badly in the future, although it will probably appeal to younger audiences.
I didn't have high hopes for this one when I saw the trailers, but I've walked away from it pleasantly surprised. It's a fun and explosive action comedy that also dips into some more interesting themes that'll give you some food for thought. Maybe you'll think twice before mercilessly mowing down pedestrians on Grand Theft Auto in the future.