Ryan Reynolds stars in a fun videogame comedy by Shawn Levy
There’s a film that puts together sci-fi, action and Fantasy by Mariah Carey and it’s fantastic. I know it sounds crazy but, you will see Free Guy in a few days and then I dare you to prove me wrong. As many viewers I’m used to superhero movies, adventures and romantic comedies, but my mind couldn’t think about these three genres getting along together. Canadian director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Real Steel) took elements from all, mixing them together in a smart way, giving the audience an original and unexpected comedy.
The film, starring Ryan Reynolds, will be released in Italy on August 11 and worldwide on August 13, 2021.
It takes minute to understand what’s going on in the film: Guy lives an ordinary life, working as a bank teller at Free City Bank. His positivity and cheerful optimism look at least weird, especially when we notice that crime takes over Free City on a daily basis, in front of the obliging eyes of its citizens. Guy loves coffee, mid-90s pop divas and he seems happy with his regular existence except for the fact he can’t find true love. When Guy meets the bold and sexy Molotovgirl we get to know the facts: he is actually a “not playing character” (NPC) in the background of the ultra-violent, open-world game ‘Free City’, where real players level-up by committing unnecessary acts of hostility and vandalism. Molotovgirl, whose real name is Millie, is a videogame creator who has a score to settle with Soonami: she believes Antwan took the codes from a game she and her friend, Soonami programmer Keys, sold the company. With the help of Keys, Millie is trying to hack the game to find evidence of Antwan’s guilt when unpredictable happens: Guy falls in love with Millie and Millie reveals Guy what he actually is. The “not playing character“ will start committing random acts of kindness, destabilizing human players, becoming Free City’s new hero and a “dangerous threat” for Antwan’s game and its future sequels.
Free Guy is a very enjoyable comedy for many reasons: it’s well edited and shot, there’s a story inside the story, which is revealed to the audience scene after scene; there’s a great script by Matt Lieberman (The Addams Family) and Zak Penn (Ready Player One) with material to make geeks and videogame fans laugh (but the film itself is accessible to everyone else), some necessary craziness and the right amount of romance; there’s a beautiful fictional world built thanks to technology.
Let’s talk about the cast. Some critics say that Ryan Reynolds “always plays himself”: maybe some roles will feel easier to him compared to others but, wouldn’t it be time to accept his bright talent for comedy once and for all? The Canadian actor works as the irreverent superhero in Deadpool as well as Guy, a naturally funny character who also shows a sort of childlike innocence which feels new to his comic repertoire. The cast also includes many talented actors: Jodie Comer (Killing Eve), Taika Waititi (also Oscar-winning director ofJojo Rabbit), Joe Keery (Stranger Things) and Lil Rel Howery (Judas and the Black Messiah).
It’s summer, we’re still going through a pandemic and we need to dream of a better world: Shawn Levy, and a great team of creatives, built one for us in Free Guy, a film that is worth to watch and that might be the biggest surprise of the summer.
