Free Guy is the latest Ryan Reynolds film about an NPC in a videogame learning to become alive and saving the gaming world.
While it does have a creepy romance, the film is quite funny, has a wealth of cameos that add to the film, and has an important theme about the videogame industry.
This film is full of cameos and Easter Eggs. Firstly, the game itself is very reminiscent of GTA 5, which allows players to undertake various missions and attack NPCs. Some Easter Eggs that stood out are the Scorpion Tank from Halo, the Portal Gun from Portal, the Gravity Gun from Half-life, a lightsaber and the music from Star Wars and Hulk’s hand and Captain America’s shield from Marvel.
Finally, two of the camoes that stood out are Channing Tatum and Chris Evans. Many of these cameos are from franchises owned by Disney, meaning that they were only added after the completion of the Disney-Fox merger.
Several Twitch Streamers make an appearance as well, which adds a realistic touch and helps make the game feel popular. The continuous cameos and Easter Eggs are similar to those found in Ready Player One, as well as both films being about videogames. However, the key difference is that Free Guy’s cameos aren’t forced, whereas the cameos in Ready Player One are.
Free Guy is also quite a funny film and is pure entertainment to watch. There are several instances in the film that are hilarious, such as the second sequence in the stash house and cutting a gamer behind Channing Tatum’s avatar.
There are also several hilarious one liners given by Ryan Reynolds, and whether they are improvised or not they are great. A scene that was improvised between the director, Shawn Levy, and Reynolds features Levy’s daughters shouting expletives and about “wasting” Guy. Ryan Reynolds, as always, is brilliant.
Taika Watiti is hysterical as the over the top game company CEO, Antoine. It is clear he is heaving a blast playing the evil owner, with several jokes and lines of dialogue that are delightful. A stand out moment is between his character and Mouser, a developer at the company.
This leads onto the theme and the message of the film. Antoine’s game company, Soonami Studios, clearly takes inspiration from the less than liked videogame companies, not to name any company in particular. The ripping off of independent game developers, the rushing of developers to implement game concepts, rushing games with bugs and glitches, lying to customers about game additions and the love of sequels at the expense of original games all have rings in the real world.
This last message about the obsession of familiar properties at the expense of originality is slightly undercut by the numerous cameos and Easter Eggs put in to please fans.
Meanwhile, one of the let downs of the film is romance, which is somewhat disturbing. The main romance is shown between Guy, a Non Player Character (NPC), and Moltov Girl, the avatar for Millie. Over the course of the film, the two bond and even kiss twice. However, this is quite creepy, because Millie is clearly falling for someone who doesn’t exist.
It is later revealed that Guy is programmed to be attracted to Millie, but even once she learns that he is an NPC, she is still clearly in love with him. The most awkward moment in the film is at the end, when Millie ignores her friend Keys, until she finds out that he programmed Guy to have an attraction for her. The film justifies this as being realistic, however it is actually quite creepy. This brings the film down slighty.
Overall, it’s a brilliant comedic watch and Ryan Reynolds does a great job as always. Although as previously mentioned, it’s disappointing that the bizarre romance lets this film down and could’ve been portrayed differently.
By Kieran Burt
Feature image: 20th Century Studios