Ryan Reynolds is Free Guy in the new blockbuster from director and producer Shawn Levy. Taking on a notoriously difficult sub-genre, the pandemic-delayed Free Guy follows a non-player character inside a video game who becomes self-aware and able to act on his own instinct. Needing to become a hero in a race against time to save the game before the developers can shut it down, the entire city is at risk of extinction. Also starring Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Joe Keery and Taika Waititi, can Levy, Reynolds and friends break the video game into film curse?
If you've seen any marketing for this film, you already know the type of film you are letting yourself in for. A polished summer blockbuster that is just about solid enough to be enjoyed by the masses if not particularly inspiring anyone, Free Guy gets by on its clever concept and a surprising amount of creativity. Levy makes the most of the film's budget with plenty of exciting set pieces and spectacle, with inventive in-screen designs that capture the possibilities of a video game world and some humorous needle drops
Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn's screenplay is built on solid foundations but comes to stumble over itself into the third act due to external factors. Originally in production under 20th Century Fox, Disney's acquisition of the studio led to a major retooling of the script which highlights a number of painful ironies; when your script takes time criticising corporate greed over creativity and churning out sequels instead of something original, but then descends into a Disney: Greatest Hits showreel that throws all of its franchises at the wall in a self-congratulatory display of excellence, it becomes difficult to find conviction in the film's message. It demonstrates a lack of self-awareness that threatens to sink the film into its final stretch.
As with most Ryan Reynolds projects, your mileage will very much depend on your enjoyment in the shtick he builds all of his characters around. Essentially playing a Deadpool for kids, Reynolds' playful stocktype predominantly stays on the right side of charming this time around, mostly because his act stems from a harmlessness instead of a cockiness that has made some of his previous characters rather unbearable. Whether he has another franchise on his hands is another question altogether but he impressively makes the titular Guy a character the audience cares for.
Although the extensive cameos can be a little exhausting, the majority of the supporting cast do an admirable job of carrying the narrative - and, importantly, prevent Reynolds' routine from overwhelming too much. Jodie Comer proves his big-screen potential after making herself a household name on television, while Joe Keery rises to the challenge and Lil Rey Howery proves himself a standout. Unfortunately, the film's weak link is the usually-reliable Taika Waititi, who chews up the scenery with an increasingly grating performance that completely rejects any form of subtlety and consistently makes the most annoying decision that drags the final act down.
Free Guy is three-star filmmaking through and through. A polished summer blockbuster that provides escapist entertainment while unlikely to be remembered much long after the credits have rolled, the frothy, big-budgeted adventure may not be able to fully support an admittedly inspired concept until the end, coming undone as the villainy intensifies and the conglomerate hypocrisy becomes frustrating but remains generally entertaining enough to warrant a cinema trip. It has creativity but it lacks edges, it needs a stronger message but it's entertaining, and so, for all intents and purposes, Free Guy is a freeing experience.