Entry Number: 6
Film: Free Guy
Year Of Release: 2021
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: ?
It was a normal school day, and I had just learned from one of my friends that in English, we would be reviewing a movie. I thought: "Great! Let's just hope it's an actually interesting and thoughtful movie, not one of those summer blockbusters." Later that day, I went into English class and saw Free Guy on the screen. I sighed. It was in fact another summer blockbuster. But I did not know that after I had finished Free Guy, I would have a completely different perspective on the way I review films.
First of all, Free Guy has an amazing concept. The film follows Guy, a video game NPC in the game Free City who thinks he is living the ideal life, but then slowly realizes his non-existence after an encounter with the player MolotovGirl, who’s real name is Millie. It’s The Truman Show meets The Matrix, and it’s concept gives it opportunities for deep philosophical ideas. The thing that makes it stand out when compared to The Truman Show and The Matrix is that it doesn’t take the chance to discuss any deep ideas, as it’s a summer blockbuster.
And it’s here the problems come in. One of my biggest problems with Free Guy is that since it is a summer blockbuster, it has to have action, and that action comes from the stupidest of things. The whole subplot is about Millie and her partner “Keys” searching Free City for the code from their game so they can sue Free City’s creator Antwan. Yeah, it’s stupid. And then we have the most stupid moment in the whole film, where some programmers are ordered to remove Guy, and they don’t do their usual programming stuff, but they go into the game dressed as cops to kill Guy, even though he will just respawn again after they kill him. It just doesn’t make sense. It was so clearly written as an excuse for more action, and I hate it. And what makes it even stupider is that it could actually have been removed from the movie, and nothing would have changed!
This is just one of the many plot holes and continuity errors that can be found in Free Guy. There is also the stupid plot device of Antwan hiding proof of him stealing code inside his own game, which once again doesn’t make any sense. And then we have Millie taking off her glasses in-game, even though we have learned through-out the whole film that taking off your glasses makes you disconnect. You would think that a film that made 300 million dollars at the box office would have been treated with care, but it clearly wasn’t. I mean, there’s even a scene where the editing glitches out for a second! What happened?
The cast isn’t great, but it does work. Ryan Reynolds plays Guy, and everybody knew Reynolds was a great actor after his turn as Deadpool, which is a role to which he brought loads of charm and comedic timing. The problem with his turn as Deadpool is that he was kinda playing himself, and since everybody liked that so much, he has just been cast as himself since. And here in Free Guy he plays himself again. It does work for me, and it’s a very comedic and charming performance, but if you’re tired of Ryan Reynolds, you’ll hate Free Guy.
The rest of the cast is for me a mixed bag. Jodie Comer plays Millie, and it’s actually a pretty good performance. She nails the comedy, brings lots of charm to performance, as well as some really badass moments, and most importantly, some great emotional depth. Lil Rey Howery plays Buddy and is the film’s comedic relief character, and he pretty much nails it for the most part. But then we have Joe Keery, who plays “Keys”. I feel Keery has lots of potential, but he is never given any chance to really shine. And lastly, we have Taika Waititi as Antwan, and he is … Well, he is something special to say it like that.
When I first saw Taika Waititi dressed as a total douche, I thought: “Great! Finally some superb comedy!” Waititi is the mastermind behind comic masterpieces like What We Do In The Shadows and Jojo Rabbit, but here, he is anything but comical. Sure, he has some funny bits, like the glorious KFC rant, but most of the time, he is painfully unfunny. And I get that his character is supposed to be unfunny and that’s why it’s funny, but Waititi doesn’t even deliver his lines in an unironic way. It’s a horrid performance, and probably one of the worse I have seen from this year.
And then we have my biggest problem with the whole film. The film’s main message is that big companies are ruining it for smaller ones with their uninspired work, especially the horrible sequels. But then I found out that Shawn Levy, the director of the film, also directed the Night At The Museum films, and those are the definition of uninspired sequels. And finally, we have the fight scene between Guy and Dude, the super-AI who has come to stop him. During that fight scene, we get references to Marvel, Star Wars, Fortnite, and other huge franchises made by companies who are only thinking about money. It’s the single most hypocritical moment I have ever witnessed in a film. To go “These big companies are bad”, only to go “Look! Guy has a lightsaber! Isn’t that cool?” seconds later, is idiotic to the core.
So, by all means, Free Guy is a horrible uninspired mess. But here’s the thing. It somehow manages to solve the mess it has created. It’s like it is trying to tie a knot, and then fails miserably, making this horrible creation, only to then somehow tie it back up. The ending somehow managed to satisfy me completely, and it’s actually incredible that it did that. And really, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it.
First of all, the look and feel of Free City is great. You know how we all feel that the world of The Lord Of The Rings is real, even though we know clearly that is doesn’t exist? Same thing for Free City. It’s painted with so much color that I can’t help but to love it.
And when Waititi isn’t on screen, the comedy is pretty good! Sure, not every joke lands, but a good 50% of them land incredibly well for me. The highlight for me is Dude. Everything is great about Dude. The blue shirt tattoo. The underwear that says “Game Over”. The unfinished nature of the whole character. Great stuff. And I could probably pick out a few other great ones if I wanted to.
Although the situations that lead to the action suck, the action itself sure doesn’t suck. It never becomes really messy and always feels like it’s under control. The gags are also pretty great in my opinion. Sure, it’s not on the same level as the work of John Woo or James Cameron, but it’s still good compared to the work of Michael Bay.
And the film even has some pretty good depth. The moment where Guy finally finds out the truth about his existence is actually handled pretty maturely. There isn’t any emotional manipulation or sad piano music, and that’s pretty rare these days. And the talk he has with Buddy after the realization has some serious depth. It literally reflects my thoughts on existence.
Technically, Free Guy is a horrible movie. No good movie has so many plot holes, contradictions and continuity errors. But I just can’t call a film so full of life and charm a bad one. And I’m not going to ignore it’s flaws, but I’m not going to ignore my enjoyment of it either, because enjoyment matters.
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