Free Guy manages to strike that balance of incorporating Studio-note-driven obligatory action set-pieces and storytelling for storytelling’s sake. The movie is fun, it has heart and it looks fantastic. In my opinion, Free Guy succeeds where the Ready Player One film attempts failed in adapting video game derived material towards a general audience.
Jodie Comer plays a programmer-turned gamer-investigator named Millie in Free City; a not-very-subtle nod to the Grand Theft Auto franchise. Following a casual interaction between Comer and Ryan Reynold’s Guy (an NPC), Guy becomes self-aware. The plot is advanced through the investigation of a mystery grounded in corporate greed, betrayal and hubris as Guy works to level up within the game by playing the normally violent game as a White Hat player.
As a fan of Reynolds, this movie pitches right over the plate for my expectations on humor and action. Joe Keery’s (Steve from Stranger Things) performance as a support debugger / programmer is really quite good and Jodie Comer brings a ton of charm to Millie’s character. Taika Waititi’s take on a douchey-dot-com tech billionaire is inspired.
The movie actually tells a good story with a decent moral. It is funny, stays pretty “safe”: it is definitely a family-friendly faire. Most surprisingly, the movie manages to have some heart. I found myself engaged with the characters through an ending that .. works.
I give it 4 out of 5 quarters.