Free Guy (2021)

Directed by: Shawn Levy | 114 minutes | action, comedy, adventure | Actors: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rey Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Taika Waititi, Aaron W Reed, Britne Oldford, Camille Kostek, Mark Lainer, Mike Devine, Sophie Levy, Vernon Scott, Naheem Garcia

Guy (Ryan Reynolds) lives in an apartment in Free City. Every day he puts on the same clothes (blue shirt, khaki pants), gets the same coffee from the same coffee shop on his way to work as an employee of a bank that is robbed at least once every day. His best friend is Buddy (Lil Rel Howery), the bank’s security officer. While they are forced to lie on the ground by the robbers, they quietly continue talking about their lives.

A life in which not much happens, until Guy encounters a mysterious woman (Jodie Comer) on the street, who is singing his favorite song. She wears sunglasses and is armed, because Free City doesn’t seem like a safe city, with all the robberies, robberies, explosions and shootings. The people who are guilty of this all wear sunglasses. Guy finds out not only that the woman of his dreams is called Molotov Girl, but also – to his great consternation – that he himself is not a flesh and blood person at all, but a non-playable character, or NPC. in a video game, which has many features of games like Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto. Molotov Girl is an avatar, that is, a character in the game controlled by a human player.

In real life, Millie Rusk (also Jodie Comer) is the one who controls Molotov Girl. She is roaming all over Free City in the game, looking for some source code. She and her former partner Walter “Keys” McKeys (Joe Keery) made this source code for another game. However, it was stolen by the boss of the game studio, Antwan (Taika Waititi). Millie tries to file lawsuits against Antwan, but needs proof that he stole the source code. Keys has given up. He now works as a programmer for Antwan’s company and tries to keep as calm as possible. Antwan has meanwhile devised a new game and wants to end the game Free City. But what to do with Guy, who is no longer a computer-generated character, but has gained consciousness and developed his own self-learning identity? As Molotov Girl, Millie teams up with Guy in a race against time to save him and Free City by finding the source code.

‘Free Guy’ is a mishmash of romantic comedy, an action movie with science fiction elements and an overdose of Ryan Reynolds at his most charming. Just like the world the film is set in, it can all be a bit overwhelming at times. Waititi does a bit of overacting that provokes resentment, but which fits the overall mood of the film. It’s loud, it’s busy, it’s also funny and at times even slightly moving. Chock full of references to well-known games and movies, it’s worth watching the film a second time. Even if only to follow what is happening in the background: from small bugs where characters get stuck, to funny texts on signs and crazy stunts with cars, helicopters and all kinds of shooting gear.

Reynolds is the perfect figure to reconcile the sometimes sweet scenario with the violent life in Free City. His witty one-liners and ability to strike the right note in the slightly more serious scenes ensure that ‘Free Guy’ will not irritate anywhere. That in itself doesn’t really sound like a recommendation. ‘Free Guy’ simply takes too long and in the last part also undermines the credibility within the context. A few brilliant finds, fun cameos and a free use of some of the iconic weapons we all know from other movies that fall under the Disney umbrella make up for a lot. Yet towards the end as a viewer you secretly hope and wish that you have been watching a better film than you have actually done. By replaying the favorite moments in your head, you quickly forget the lesser sides.