With the current popularity of world shooter games where the player is the aggressor, 2021’s Free Guy, a movie where viewers get the NPC’s (non-playable character) point of view is a surprisingly refreshing concept.
In Free Guy, our main character is NPC bank-teller, Guy, who one day sees a woman he instantly falls in love with. In order to talk to her, he gets a pair of sunglasses and realizes his world isn’t real.
With Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer playing so well off each other’s energy, Reynolds portrayal of his character’s comedic innocence, and Comer’s character’s almost guiding experience, it makes for really enjoyable viewing. Not to mention the plethora of celebrity cameos and influencer appearances that cater to a wide range of age groups. Including my favorite YouTuber, Qbert (Jacksepticeye), that was cast, who thought that his casting was a joke when he was first reached out to.
With the movie progressing in such a creative way, but also still following that “good guy hero” cliche, it was nice to see a bit of creativity brought to an otherwise overdone trope and a new idea for the superhero movie after the admittedly stale Endgame series.
It was weird though, seeing Reynolds in a movie that wasn’t part of the Deadpool franchise, playing the good guy instead of the quippy antihero. And for such an independent movie, in the regard of video game studios and the tycoons of the movie production, there was a healthy amount of easter eggs in the movie; Whether they were in your face or in the background, it was fun to see all those nudges towards the games that built the industry.
Overall, Free Guy was a fun movie and a great performance by all the actors involved. I will ding it ¼ of a point though, for the unsettlingly buff Reynolds. It may just be me, but skinny and muscular is a much better look than Aron Reed’s body with Reynold’s face.
Overall, the movie gets a 4 3/4 out of 5 for its entertaining dialogue, action, and its great introduction of itself to the movie world.