294.
Free Guy
8.5/10
Ryan Reynolds is big news in Wales at the moment with his joint venture of purchasing Wrexham Football Club but at the same time, the guy is never out of work. I had gone to my first screen unseen in a long while and after the past 2 years, I was really hoping that it wasn't going to be a movie, which I'd waste my time watching. With the clues that Odeon had released, a lot of people speculated that it was actually going to be Free Guy which seemed a little too big of a movie for me. Low and behold, as the movie began a little cheer arose as it was revealed to be Free Guy. I had seen a couple of trailers as Reynolds would be playing a computer game avatar that breaks the mould of the game they are inside. The computer world is free to roam for its gamers as Reynolds plays a character named Guy, who literally frees himself from his normal NPC job within the game. His usual role is to be robbed as a bank teller every day.
We are going to be following two storylines throughout the movie, the first being inside the game as we follow Guy and his mind opening up to his possibilities as well as the outside world with the creators of the idea of this world versus the company that now owns the system. The two worlds collide as one of the creators has a character within the game that she uses to search for proof that her idea of the free world within games and NPC's becoming their own people was actually stolen by a major corporation. Millie in the real world and Molotovgirl in Free City bumps into Guy who instantly becomes infatuated with her. Played by Jodie Comer, we know she's going to have some range.
Guy wants to help her on her mission and Millie believes this is another online player at level 1 in experience. Her partner at the time of creating the idea of this world, Keys, now works inside the corporation. He is just going along with his asshole of a boss until Millie steps up and asks him for help. She lets him know about Guy but as they are on a mission, Keys, who is now infiltrating the company realises that Guy is actually an NPC. He's been the good guy around the city in order to level up but has no idea that he is actually a character in a game. All along he thought that Guy was being played by a hacker. Instead, this is proof that the programme that Millie and Keys created is still within this game and it was stolen by Antwas who runs Soonami Games. Antwas is pushing for a sequel which means it will delete the proof that our duo needs. Their AI engine allowed people to simply watch characters evolve and grow without having to actually play themselves. Free City is now pretty much Gran Theft Auto with a Truman Show vibe for Guy, who has no idea.
The movie rushes through as Millie breaks the news to Guy about the game and her true intentions as Antwan sets about to launch the new game. Society is now in love with Guy, also known as 'Blue Shirt Guy'. They love his take on being a hero rather than a villain like everyone else. In what is now a race against time to save Free City, Guy and get the evidence to prove who created the game, our trio takes one last action and that's telling the other NPC's the truth about their lives. We get one final fight scene between Guy and a villain created by Antwan. As Antwan is destroying the city, all that is left are the NPC's and this new villain. The fight scene contains all sorts of homages to games and movies, which is probably the best scene I've seen in a movie in a long while. The beach on the map has always been off-limits and no one knows why. Guy makes his way to the border and jumps through, finding the original AI engine that Millie and Keys created, being hidden by Antwan. The world sees everything go down and Antwan is ruined.
The movie ends with Millie and Keys now running their own game, Guy is given free roam but the truth comes out about the way Guy was created. He likes his coffee the same way Millie does, their favourite ice-cream flavour is the same, Mariah Carey songs on their playlist. The character was created by Keys as a homage to Millie as he is secretly in love with her. He couldn't admit it and created Guy to express what he felt. The movie finally ends as the two embrace and Millie heads back into the game one more time to give her goodbyes to Guy as Mariah Carey music hits and the credits begin to roll.
This movie, as I have already mentioned is kind of a mix between Grand Theft Auto the computer game and The Truman Show starring Jim Carrey. A character that everyone comes to know, that doesn't know the truth until it's almost too late. With a strange sense of seriousness regarding the storyline which revolves around Guy is literally life or death. The story for Millie and Keys is a little less dramatic but the two tie in together very nicely. Of course, the story was only going to end in one way, with an addition of a love story between slightly unlikely characters but with some tiny cliffhangers and close calls, we get to our final destination. The story was very enjoyable as the added comedic aspects and references to well know computer games and movies only brought about a positive spin on some worrying moments. As the movie develops, so do the characters and the storyline until we hit the final showdown and the ending that we have come to expect. This was never going to be a movie where Guy was going to lose. The ending almost mirrored the ending of The Truman Show as both characters needed to head over the water to reveal the truth to themselves and the world.
Ryan Reynolds was easily back to his best as he needed his own range of acting talent to change as the movie went on. Short and snappy jokes, a clueless character who soon becomes an action hero and smitten for a girl, Reynolds shines throughout. This is the first time I have seen Jodie Comer in action after hearing how successful Killing Eve has been. She is renowned at the moment for the roles she can play no matter the accent that she needs to provide. This was no different as she needed to play herself and her gaming character which, other than their face, had different personalities. Online, she was a confident British girl whilst away from the keyboard, a shy but determined American. Some honourable mentions need to go the way of Joe Keery playing Keys. Known for his role in Stranger things as he plays Steve 'The Hair' Harrington, a good character that has come successful within the series. The other mention needs to be Taika Waititi who plays the main villain Antwan. A bit more of crude and dry comedy from this character which is delivered exceptionally if not a little over the top by Waititi but it really works this time around.
Some movies can capture pop culture to a degree that doesn't overwhelm the audience and this was one of those. Just the right amount of references means the movie didn't feel as if it was relying on something else and bringing in the references to Star Wars, Marvel and other games at the end gave a great climax to an already very good movie. There were a couple of slip-ups with aspects of the story, such as the 'button to kiss' which you may notice yourself and the fact that no one really flipped out once they realised that they weren't real people but maybe that's just to stop too much going on. The movie itself had plenty of special effects and was never boring for a moment. Constantly moving at a speed that never made the movie feel like a trial to watch. It's definitely a popcorn movie for a night in that a lot of people can enjoy for a number of reasons. Keep a keen ear out for some character's voices as there are some big players in the movie acting as cameos which is a little insane.
