Free Guy is a video game movie that has the absurdity of action movies and the fun of the cast led by Ryan Reynolds! Shawn Levy is the director of the movie. His many crowd pleasing films have interesting ideas turned into fun worlds; Night at the Museum (2006) and Real Steel (2011). This story and co-screenplay is by Matt Lieberman, the writer of the comedy Playing with Fire (2019). The other screenwriter Zak Penn who also wrote many superhero films like the story for Avengers (2012) and he co-wrote the screenplay to the sci fi adaptation, Ready Player One (2018). It was released on August 13th last year, has started streaming on Disney+ on February 23rd, and also airs on HBO. We start from the sky and descend to the city explained by the narrator, Ryan Reynolds as his character Guy, to be Free City. He is of course known as Deadpool, but was also in the action comedy, Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021).
A skydiver is flying down and Guy points out he is a “sunglasses guy” and those who wear sunglasses are heroes. Gaming glasses are a feature for the pro gamers. He is also in a wingsuit flying around buildings as a helicopter opens fire on him. He parachutes and then lands in a sports car with a woman. We later find out that her name is Bombshell (Camille Kostek), the actress had a cameo in the comedy, I Feel Pretty (2018). Guy points out that it isn’t his car or wife. Police cars are also trying to pursue sunglasses. He drives recklessly, cars crash into each other, and then he spins the car to use his grenade launcher. Slo mo spin as the city blocks explode, he watches, and Bombshell smiles. It is a surreal action movie scene.
The helicopter continues its pursuit and we pan up to the apartment of Guy listening to Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy.” He introduces himself waking up like Emmet in The Lego Movie (2014), cheerful and programmed. Guy eats breakfast as the helicopter continues its chase outside his window. The news also reports about the acts of violence. Then, he goes to get his coffee from the Barista (Britne Oldford). She played the super powered villain, Peek-a-Boo, in The Flash series. His delight at the coffee has him give a bizarre compliment. There is a routine to Guy, but he does seem capable of strange responses. Then, he sees a pair of blue tennis shoes, Big Ups, that he would buy. He checks his Money ATM balance and is just short of the cost of the shoes.
Next, he is joined by his friend and security officer, Buddy (Lil Rel Howery), he is known for Get Out (2017) and was also the game announcer in Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021). They reach the circular bank building where Guy works as a bank teller. He repeats his usual dialogue, “Don’t have a good day, have a great day.” Buddy realizes that he is worried about finding someone. A bank robber bursts in and fires his shotgun. Guy and Buddy casually talk while taking cover on the floor. He brings up the woman with an “off beat sense of humor” (which is probably where Guy gets his comments) and who likes diva pop. Buddy just wants to go to the beach to have beers with his pal. A man dressed in a black coat with a colorful mask (voiced by Hugh Jackman) is in an alley where a woman ziplines down.
This Millie (Jodie Comer), who has the dark, short hair sort of like Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy, and of course she wears sunglasses. Comer is currently playing Villanelle in Killing Eve. She also starred in the historical drama, The Last Duel (2021). He has evidence of a secret level, Millie draws her gun on him, and knows that this is some kid playing the game in his “mother’s basement”! He hands over the disc, keeps asking about her, so she shoots him. Guy admires one of the robber’s shoes to Buddy on the street. Millie is repeating all of the people’s remarks. Then, she starts singing “Fantasy.” Guy can’t listen to Buddy, he just focuses on Millie. She repeats his usual dialogue, but he is more interested in the song.
A car explodes and Millie walks around the corner. Guy wants to talk to his “dream girl” and Buddy reminds him that she wears sunglasses. He follows her and Millie reaches an empty lot past the buildings. Guy tries to get her attention and then is hit by a train! Millie is then seen as a character on the laptop of the gamer. An ad notes that there is going to be a Free City 2: Carnage. The premise is basically the reverse of Tron (1982). Millie is looking for a certain code, she wrote the A.I. code that was taken for Free City, very similar to Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges) in Tron. Guy is a non-player character built by the game’s A.I. who gets independence similar to Quorra (Olivia Wilde) in Tron: Legacy (2010). His re-writing of his code must be encountering Millie, his user. The best friend of the A.I. to Tron was Ram (Dan Shor) like Buddy.
It is a Massively Multiplayer Online Game rather than an arcade game. So it has fun touches of recent games like power-ups and cameos by gamers IRL. Millie in the real world is less action hero with blond hair in a bun and a game headset. She is reminded by the coffee shop server (Octavia Chavez-Richmond) that they are closing and also that Millie only ordered one coffee. This is in contrast to the Free City coffee shop. Millie mentions her lawsuit against the game studio. Guy wakes up in the game reboot, he changes his order at the coffee shop, he wants a capucchino instead of his medium coffee. A tank is about to turn its cannon towars him and he changes back to his usual order. Another robber with a skull mask and blue suit and hat enters the bank. Guy is troubled and then sees Millie walking past the bank doors.
He finds himself standing up, the gunman is controlled by a Tween Gamer Girl (Charlotte Levy). Guy is knocked down by the robber. He sees again Millie and then grabs the robber’s shotgun. Guy reaches for the sunglasses and shoots the robber! Everyone in the bank is stunned. He runs out with the sunglasses and puts them on when he again spots Millie. The sunglasses reveal a different world, a bit like the sunglasses in They Live (1988). It has game graphics of a “New Mission: Bank Heist.” Then, he sees a floating first aid kit. Guy reaches out for it and gets a shock with his bloody nose from the robbery healed. A man in a jetpack crashes in front of him and Guy takes his money floating above the jetpack man with sunglasses. He finds his ATM has a large balance now. A funny background player is testing out controls, hopping, and running into a building wall.
This moves to the real world, the offices of Soonami, the game company that makes Free City. Keys, Walter “Keys” McKey (Joe Keery), a programmer who has found a player killed by an NPC. Keery plays Steve Harrington in Stranger Things. He is a programmer who works at the company, the inside man, like Lora (Cindy Morgan) in Tron. Keys gets advice from his co-worker, Mouser (Utkarsh Ambudkar), the actor played Tod in tick… tick… BOOM! (2021). He belives a player used an NPC skin in the game. They go into the game to find the character, Keys a stripper cop, and Mouser in a pink bunny suit, a fun verson of Donnie Darko (2001). Guy has bought himself the blue Big Ups with the latest Jump Shoe upgrade. He walks over to the empty lot, but sees with the glasses that it has a Multiplayer Lounge sign. They go to arrest “Blue Shirt Guy.” They want Guy to remove his “avatar skin” or he will be killed and then banned from the game for life. Guy doesn’t understand what the programmers are saying since his world is only in Free City.
The duo start to shoot at Guy, but he escapes to a construction site building. He clumsily uses the jumps on his shoes, but the moderators use their cheats to catch up with him. Guy sees an exit to the game at the end of a construction beam. He tries to reach for a wrecking ball and starts to plunge down to the street. Guy manages to activate a Bubble Suit. He bounces around and then slips out of it. Guy cheers that he can’t die, but a police car driven by Keys and Mouser ends that life. Keys walking in the office wonders why the number of players is the same with Guy’s “death.” Mouser doesn’t want him to talk to Antwan. Taika Waititi plays Antwan Hovachelik, the executive in charge of the game, Waititi, actor and director, who of course plays Viago in What We Do in the Shadows and was Reynold’s co-star in Green Lantern (2011). Guy has to help Millie find her evidence in the game, learn the rules, and somehow stop Antwan with the help of Keys. Free Guy is a fantastic, goofy world really driven by actors having fun as their characters!
Four Sunglasses out of Five!
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