A bank teller discovers that he’s actually an NPC inside a brutal, open-world video game.
When I first saw the trailer for “Free Guy,” I was somewhat hesitant. Trailers these days have a tendency to show the entire movie in two minutes so after the trailer ended, I felt like I had already seen the entire film but I am a Ryan Reynolds fan so I figured I’d give it a try. And boy am I glad I did. Ryan Reynolds, just like he did in the Deadpool movies, delivers the laughs every chance he gets but he also embodies his character with copious amounts of charisma and pathos, endearing him to your innermost sensibilities and forcing you to cherish and love him like he was your best friend. His wide-eyed innocence and naivete up until he discovers the real world around him is what makes him sweet-tempered and downright neighborly.
Guy (Reynolds) lives in Free City and works as a bank clerk in Free City Bank. His best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery), is a security guard who works at the bank along with Guy. Every day, Guy wakes up, grabs coffee at the local coffeehouse, makes his way to work, and then hangs out with Buddy afterward. Then they start the next day all over again in the exact same manner and this is how they live their lives. That is until one day, Guy and Buddy are heading to the local bar after work when Guy passes a beautiful woman and is immediately smitten with her. Suddenly, his whole life takes on new meaning as he vows to find out more about her, much to Buddy’s chagrin. He follows her and tries talking to her, only to be run over by a train at which point he wakes up in his bed again, ready to start a new day fresh.
You see, Guy is an NPC (Non-Player Character) inside the world’s biggest and most popular video game, Free City. He is not a central character that a player can take control of and have fun with, he is a background character, and he is programmed to do everything he performs on a daily basis. When a central character kills him for fun or because he was in the way, Guy’s programming immediately causes him to regenerate and start his day all over again, wiping his memory in the process so he is not aware of his circumstance. But when he sees Molotovgirl (Jodie Comer), an avatar he has never seen before, she takes his breath away and he begins thinking outside of his normal everyday routine. When a bad guy tries to rob the bank, Guy snaps and knocks him out and takes his shades, something neither he nor Buddy have ever owned but when he puts them on, he sees the real world around him, replete with floating gadgets that grant gameplayers health, boosting abilities, collision detection, critical hits, and so much more.
When he finally manages to track down Molotovgirl, real name Millie, she tells him that she is trying to retrieve something from a heavily guarded part of the city and he is only too happy to offer his assistance, stating that he knows the city like the back of his hand. They manage to break into the facility but are chased out of the building by armed guards and cannot retrieve the item but Guy grabs her curiosity. As they become closer, she realizes that he is not an NPC or even another gamer avatar but is actually a real character who lives in Free City, unaware of the fact that he is part of the game. She tells him that she and her best friend Keys (Joe Keery) created software that would allow AI characters to evolve within the confines of a game and that a man named Antoine (Taika Waititi), the owner of the world’s largest video game company, Soonami Studios, stole their code and secretly inserted it into Free City, claiming it was his all along so he wouldn’t have to share the profits with them.
The more she is around Guy, the more she realizes that he is the product of hers and Keys’ software and that he is the first-ever AI character to come to fruition as a result. When Keys informs Millie that Free City will be shut down in 48 hours to allow for its sequel, “Free City: Carnage,” to take center stage, they both ascertain that no character or setpiece from the current game will appear in the second one and are convinced that Antoine is deleting the first game, which includes their code, so it will be erased along with the game, preventing them from moving forward with their forthcoming lawsuit. When Millie informs Guy of this, he rallies all the background characters of Free City, many of them his neighbors and friends, and tells them that they must fight for their lives. With the clock ticking down, Guy must unearth Millie and Keys’ undetected code, if he and the rest of Free City are to survive the impending purge.
“Free City” feels like an updated version of “The Truman Show,” which starred Jim Carrey, in which his character discovers his whole life is a fabrication and he is the star of a reality TV show. Here, Reynolds’ charisma and undeniable onscreen presence carry the movie along to its predictable but enjoyable conclusion. Reynolds and Comer hit all the right notes and while the possibility of a real-world person and an AI character getting together is totally unrealistic, it doesn’t stop you from hoping the filmmakers will figure out a way, either somehow turning Guy into a human or allowing Millie to integrate into the game so they can be together. After all, this is a movie so anything is possible. There are some great cameos and pop-culture references that had the press members at my press screening howling with laughter, myself included. I went into “Free Guy” with an open mind, not knowing what to expect, and left with the biggest smile on my face.
Now available on Digital HD, and on 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™, and DVD October 12th
