REVIEW #76 Free Guy (2021)

Free Guy, directed by Shawn Levy is an action comedy that follows Guy, a bank teller who discovers he is a non player character (NPC) in an open world video game. He decides to venture away from his scripted life and level up to impress the girl of his dreams but soon realises he needs to be a hero to more then just his love interest!

CAST & THE ACTING 

Ryan Reynolds leads the cast playing Guy and you can always guarantee his films will get the audience laughing. He is hilarious and creates such a funny and entertaining character and what I appreciate the most is how he always seems to have such great chemistry with his co stars, which is so important to portray genuine relationships on screen. Jodie Comer plays Millie/Molotov girl and she delivers a strong performance creating such an interesting contrast between her ‘badass’ gamer avatar, Molotov Girl and her real life game developer character Millie. Joe Keery is Keys, an employee for Soonami, the company which creates the game Free City and also a close friend of Millie. A performance I really enjoyed was Taika Waititi as the antagonist Antoine, the CEO of Soonami, he is hilarious and brings something different to the character because usually we always get the same kind of villain in this type of film, so it was refreshing to see a different approach. Lil Rel Howery was another actor who injects comedy throughout the film, his relationship with Guy was one of the standout partnerships in the film. Overall I think everyone done so well to create effective comedy that didn’t come across as cringey, whilst also creating some dynamic partnerships that the audience can really warm up to. 

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

I will say I knew exactly what was going to happen just from watching the trailer, it is very predictable. However despite that, it surprised me, they done it really well! It was hilarious all the way through and it was entertaining from start to finish. A non player character (NPC) in a popular open world video game strays from his scripted storyline after meeting the girl of his dreams, to soon find out he is not actually real. He levels up to help be the hero for Molotov Girl but ends up needing to be the hero for every other NPC in the game. There was some really good partnerships in the film, which made the characters likeable to the audience and got them invested in the story. This helped distract me from the predictable nature of the storyline, along with the comedy because I was laughing through most of the film so I didn’t really have time to think about just how predictable it was. The storyline was easy to follow and understand it’s something the younger generation will enjoy because they are so hooked on their video games. Although it did have that discrete adult humour which makes it enjoyable for all ages. It also has some really good references to other films such as Marvel and Star Wars, from iconic weapons to musical numbers, so look out for those!

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

The special effects were great, they created a really good video game world which was so busy and hectic which perfectly portrayed modern multiplayer open world games! There was also some fantastic cinematography that not only made the scenes look good but also sound good because the song choices were great too which pieced the scenes together nicely and contributed to the comedy of the film. There was so much going on in Free City that the background of the scene was just as entertaining as the forefront, whether it be zip lining soldiers blowing up a building or a crashing helicopter, there was always something going on. Another element I enjoyed was how they transitioned between inside the game where it was live action and from the players perspective, so we saw animated versions of Ryan Reynolds and some of the gaming avatars. How the characters could select their weapons, perks and skins also looked good and that was down to the fantastic special effects. 

OVERALL (8.3/10)

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this film, I watched the trailer and knew exactly what was going to happen but despite that they made it so enjoyable. The constant comedy distracted you from the predictable moments and the craziness of Free City made every scene so entertaining, it was just so hectic and worked really well. The actors delivered really strong performances and it looked like they all had such great chemistry which only emphasised the comedy in the film. What I appreciated was how it appeals to all ages, the kids will love it because of the effects and the storyline being based on a video game, which by the way, perfectly summarised what it’s like to play these modern open world games but there is also a lot of subtle adult humour that makes it so enjoyable for adults too. Yes it is predictable but I would definitely recommend it because it is entertaining from start to finish. 

Thanks for reading!

Callan