MOVIE REVIEW: FREE GUY

Ryan Reynolds returns to the big screen in a film rooted in existentialism softened with every rom-com and goofball geekdom cliché that could be thrown at an audience. “Free Guy” looks like it could be the successor of a film like “Ready Player One”, but the restriction to only Disney properties being openly referenced is far from the only reason why this film doesn’t clear that bar. Every artist uses pasteles that were featured in other paintings, but the influences here are too obvious the minute Reynolds slides on those in-game glasses like a scene out of Carpenter’s classic, “They Live”.

After throwing on the shades, Reynolds (portraying an NPC named Guy) goes about with one of the original game programmers in search of evidence that the idea of the game he is in was stolen material. Again the influences are too glaring for the film as the evidence of Guy’s origins happens to be out at sea, like a rehash of the Truman Show spliced together with Fortnite. The scenes of ultra-violence from the jump are desensitizing, but as opposed to “Free Guy” ‘s box office competition, the violence is attached with a disclaimer, relaying a message of pacifism instead – something that probably won’t go over well with the crowd waiting for the next GTA expansion pack; not that that is the target audience here as I was the only single male there sitting opposite of a couple on whatever counts for a date night in this era.

Though “Free Guy” preaches originality while blatantly paying tribute to films that came before it (while hoping the majority of the audience doesn’t notice), that is not the only message that is being delivered during the runtime of this film. Liberal messages are sprinkled more than liberally, leading me to applaud the suggestion of other currencies being worth more than those used to buy physical goods, but that smile was easily turned upside down in the way that Reynolds plays Guy. Literally the perfect Good Guy who was designed (as said in the film) “as a guy who is supposed to chase love, fail and still hope the right girl will come along”. That is Reynolds’ character as told by the film’s creators essentially within the script – a concept that just does not sit well with me.

“Free Guy” lets the viewer walk away with the lesson that if your world doesn’t offer your dream mate, just go online and create one. Escapism is great to a tee, but can spill over into extremely dangerous territories. All of the programmers here (even the “heroic” ones) have inflated egos, are rude, cynical and are a poor example of nerd/geek culture. No matter how many Tame Impala or Public Enemy memorabilia Easter eggs found throughout the film, just because someone is cultured and intelligent doesn’t have to default them into being anti-social and obnoxious. Though “Free Guy”‘s representation of Afro-centric females is nothing short of stellar as both Britne Oldford & Destiny Claymore shine in their short supporting role scenes, the depiction of Afro-centric males here is so poor: Lil Rel once again plays a subordinate sidekick just as he did in “Get Out”, except this time he is tokenized; while Taika Waititi is a ways from his strengths shown in “JoJo Rabbit”, as he portrays a character her named “Antoine”, and exemplifies exaggerated Afro-stereotypes as a running joke. I don’t care how cool his trench coats were on screen, I never want to hear “Whatchu talkin’ about Willis?”, come out of that clown’s mouth again! The love interests were plain, and anyone other than Reynolds was hard to sincerely root for.

Now a big draw to “Free Guy” will be the special effects, but I’ve seen just about the same in “Wreck-It Ralph”, and that was a children’s movie. When the first dude got a hole blasted in his stomach, if guts would have been there instead of a burning vortex, I would have taken this film more seriously. The PG-13 rating really handicapped this film. Hollywood needs to learn kids do not watch films, they spend their time playing games like the source material “Free Guy” is based on.

If you want to see that done properly, then go play those games. If you want to watch a film about existentialism go watch “Truman Show”. If you want a film about drastic perception shifts, anything in the Nolan library should satisfy you.
Gaming & romance? “Ready Player One” will serve you well. If you want a film about sliding on a pair of glasses and recognizing the world around you, go watch “They Live”. Really, engage in anything that is the sum of the parts of “Free Guy”. Because even with these influences butting their way throughout the film like an irritating pop-up ad, “Free Guy” is as dull as any non-autonomous A.I. … that’s why my Google Maps stays on mute.

Score : 2/5