Director Shawn Levy, best-known for his work on Night at the Museum and Real Steel is right at home here. Reynolds shows he can play a sensitive everyman, but can kick a little ass when and if he needs to (the fight with Dude is something that must be witnessed to be appreciated). What really makes the film work is that the film and filmmakers are very knowledgeable about video games, it’s the key component to the film’s success. It’s meant to mimic a video game and though I’m no expert, it’s hard to take in everything going on there.
There’s a lot going on in Free Guy and I suppose it’s only logical. This catches the eye of players around the world as he’s, well, an NPC! Guy, along with MolotovGirl’s help, must try and break free before Antwan erases the code. He starts to level up his abilities at MolotovGirl’s direction. Things change when Guy procures a pair of sunglasses and suddenly sees all the things he’s not supposed to (objectives, health packs, hidden areas, and so forth). They’re tried to sell their game to a large company, but Antwan (Taika Waititi), the obnoxious CEO has stolen it for use of his own game. This is her avatar and in real life she’s a game designer with her colleague Walter (Joe Keery). Guy’s world is blown when he sees MolotovGirl (Jodie Comer), someone who he’s immediately attracted to. His best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery) works at the bank as well.
Guy (Ryan Reynolds) is an NPC (non-playable character) in a violent video game called “Free City.” He doesn’t know this, of course as he’s a mild-mannered bank employee who loves his fish, coffee and bubble gum-flavored ice cream. Essentially if you take some parts of The Truman Show, They Live, Ready Player One, Pleasantville and, yes even a bit of Pixels – this is what you get. A non-playable character coming to life in a video game? It sounded familiar, but I was intrigued nonetheless. I knew that it, like so many other films, had been delayed but that wait was over. So when I heard about Free Guy, I wasn’t sure what to think.
The latter really put him in Hollywood’s A-List, and I’m sure it’s a character he’ll never live down. But Reynolds has made a career out of playing characters that are a bit “out there” notably as Hannibal in Blade: Trinity and the foul-mouthed Deadpool. I’ll reference Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard. Ryan Reynolds might have the Midas touch, but not everything he’s in turns to gold.