Guy (Ryan Reynolds) is leading a perfectly average life of working-class monotony and complacent self-satisfaction. He arises every day to his beloved goldfish and a drab wardrobe of khakis and a blue button-down, not to mention the Mariah Carey song that always seems to enliven his spirits (This is certainly not a jab at pop superstar Carey but simply the gall to indulge in the exact same tune perpetually). Commuting to his dull job as a bank teller, though, his domestic Free City does not seem to align with his giddy mediocrity.
Gunplay and criminals frenetically dominate the streets and outnumber the pedestrians with staggering dissonance, explosions and high-speed cars and malicious violence galore. As outlandish as this may seem, Guy is happily indifferent and oblivious, even conceding to bank robbers on a daily basis with his best friend and co-worker Buddy (Lil Rel Howrey). If it weren’t for all the environmental chaos, you may think that Guy is another toothless white-collar worker, rather than the non-playable character in a Grand-Theft-Auto-style video game that he actually is.
Director Shawn Levy’s newest feature Free Guy, a polished, visual-effects-spangled extravaganza that found itself in limbo amid the Disney-Fox acquisition and pandemic delays, is at its most entertaining when it embraces and calibrates the sheer, dense and utterly insane expanse of the video game medium. Levy, who seems to have learned a thing or two about big-budget filmmaking since his Stranger Things days, creatively engineers a deeply immersive world with inspired visual ingenuity, wallops of exhilarating spectacle, and a sharp contrast between the charming snark of Reynold’s Guy and the cartoonish bombast of Free City. It’s when he and screenwriters Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn attempt to develop the high concept into meta-commentary (a necessary endeavor nonetheless), though, that Free Guy falls short.
Guy, who is ostensibly a collection of 1s and 0s, meets and quickly falls for a player named Molotov Girl (TV’s Jodie Comer). In real life, she’s Millie (also portrayed by Comer), a razor-sharp programmer cheated out of groundbreaking code by a greedy gaming capitalist named Antwan (Taika Waititi). The Killing Eve star makes her jump to the big screen with seamless gravitas, skillfully straddling physicality and emotional texture in her dual role; Oscar-winning Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit writer-director Waititi, however, seems above the middling material he is relegated to, composed of hit-or-miss zingers (“Albuquerque Boiled Turkey” innocent) and broad characterizations.
Much to the chagrin of her former developing partner Keys (Joe Keery), Millie virtually ventures into Free City as Molotov Girl to find her stolen code, which she believes to be concealed somewhere within the complex open-world architecture of the game. Thrilling hijinks and gonzo set pieces ensue, all steeped in the chipper, wholesome attitude of Guy as he romantically pursues and assists Molotov Girl and becomes self-aware because of a nifty pair of glasses. Throw in a dash of acerbic wit and pepper in the magnetic chemistry of Reynolds and Comer throughout, you have a perfectly entertaining, if forgettable, action rom-com with a technological Truman Show twist. This is at least until it becomes just another part of the churning Disney-Fox void, no thanks to the convoluted real-world segments that drag as it excessively protracts its central mystery.
For all its grand visuals and plotting, Free Guy isn’t able to capitalize on its implicit ideas, mirroring the vacuous properties it aims to critique. At their worst, video games have been known to whittle down the respective identities of their participants, wiping away gamers’ lives and indoctrinating them into their own distorted sense of reality. In response, the filmmaking team here strives to tout a message of individuality and authentic interactivity that isn’t filtered through a pixelated screen, but the underlying cynicism quickly undermines those notions.
Free Guy doesn’t become more nuanced than disingenuous, studio-approved “individuality good” optics, the kind that may get a grade-schooler a ribbon but are not that meaningful to a larger audience that craves actual substance. The cast toils here to lend the film some emotional dimension, especially Comer, but one cannot shake the feeling that executive overlords likely cared more about vapid spectacle and potential intellectual property (the Disney references are painfully contrived) than compelling themes, not to mention the artificial intelligence ideas that are completely skimmed over, manufacturing the bare thematic minimum in the process.
Free Guy may be quantifiably original, but it wreaks of the same frustratingly superficial and unprovocative conventions that have plagued big-budget filmmaking for years, like an algorithm more concerned with economic productivity than artistry. It will tickle your endorphins but fail to stimulate your brain; just a step above the properties it quickly becomes, Ryan Reynold’s latest endeavor is ultimately frivolous, if not admittingly entertaining in spurts. Venture out to the multiplex if you dare, or just play a video game: There’s just some fresh bells-and-whistles-worth of difference.
Grade: C+
Free Guy is now available in theaters.
Photo Credit / 20th Century Studios
