Free Guy

Free Guy is the inevitable consequence of the success of Deadpool. Take a winning formula, maximise the budget and make it a little more family friendly (with an emphasis on appealing to the littler ones.)

This is not necessarily a bad thing, and the fact that Free Guy is an original IP blockbuster that seems to be performing well at the box office is to its credit, but this is a film where you will get out of it exactly what you expect.

The review effectively writes itself:

Is it funny? By and large yes, although the script lets a few people down (most notably Taika Waititi who hams it up magnificently as the villain of the piece but relies on his own charisma for laughs more than anything else.) Reynolds is on his usual quipping form here which, despite not fitting with the character exactly, is always ripe for a chuckle and the videogame set pieces have nice payoffs including some glorious Easter Egg moments for the ages.

What’s the CGI like? Obviously top notch, this really throws you into its videogame world. The concept works differently to something like Ready Player One but the amount of stuff working away in the background, which would often be at the forefront of other action films, is something to admire.

Does it have an extra layer on top of the comedy? Actually yes, this drops in a little something about artificial life and tentatively nudges on the subject of whether we should treat AI differently to ourselves. It’s no Ex-Machina but you feel for Reynolds’ character Guy and he efficiently can turn off the comedy for the more emotional character beats.

Does it conform to stereotype? Unfortunately so, whilst the plot’s fairly lightweight and comprehensible (the main thrust being the unauthorised use of game code, believe it or not) it can’t help but give you exactly what you’re expecting including a fairly sappy, tagged-on Hollywood love story ending that doesn’t quite feel earned despite the great work from Jodie Comer and Joe Keery.

Does it have lots of Easter Eggs? You’ll have to wait for them but when they do arrive they’re worth it. The decision to present a more original world away from references largely works but it doesn’t quite offer the same depth as the aforementioned Ready Player One. Then again though, that isn’t really the point.

So, should I go and watch it? The short answer is yes unless, for some reason, you have an aversion to Ryan Reynolds’ style of comedy but I don’t think this is a film that’ll lead to a big successful franchise and I don’t think it’s a film doing much other than offering some high budget Friday night popcorn viewing. Assuming that the large majority of the cinema-going public are going to know exactly what to expect when they walk into the theatre to see this I think its flippant to be annoyed that it’s not anything other than what it is but there is a ‘Ready Player Truman’ in here scrabbling to get out.

3 stars ***