Sarcastic Movie Review: Free Guy

Movie logic still beats game logic I guess

Okay so the logic here is stupid, the sunglasses thing is stupid. Naming the gaming company ‘soonami’ instead of tsunami is stupid. But the movie isn’t asking us to take itself too seriously. And it is very much acting on movie logic rather than any actual coding and game design realism.

In any case Guy levels up at an alarming rate (probably cause he’s, you know online 24 hours) and is soon a viral internet sensation called ‘Blue Shirt Guy’, and we get a nice cameo of marketable YouTube and twitch celebrities to show that the movie is in with the internet culture. And I like it, all the nods to internet culture is very surface level but it showed a lot more respect to gaming culture than let’s say a movie like Pixels (which isn’t hard I know)

Guy reaches level 100 starts helping out Millie and all this leads to the revelation that Guy is a result of the code that Millie and Keys built resulting in the first ever sentient Artificial Intelligence.

If you’re undecided on if it’s worth your time I’d say go for it. It’s one of those movies you can turn your brain off and give a watch, and you’ll like it depending on how funny and charming you find Ryan Reynolds to be.

How good is the gaming references?

From a video gamer perspective I found the references to be surface level at best. There’s a mention of trolls and tea bagging here, some popular yet non-controversial streamers there. It did have a bit of what a dad things games are like, but you know a cool dad that sometimes sits with you for a game of Mario kart. 

They even got the shitty floating UI from games like the ‘Division’ right.

But it is very much a commercial film rather than something that panders to any niche sub group. So if you are a gamer or not I’d say just watch the movie, it’s fun and inoffensive enough that anyone can enjoy it.

Is it just another Ryan Reynolds movie?

If you like the Ryan Reynolds character he plays in every movie you’ll like free guy. You know the one, the ridiculously handsome, but quippy and charming average guy as seen in: Van wilder, the proposal, RIPD, Deadpool and everything else he’s ever acted in. Luckily, I like that character and so do a lot of people seeing as how popular he is.

He even wears the same goddamn light blue shirts in most of them

And yes I am aware of his amazing performances in movies like ‘Buried’ but the guy is a bit type cast is all I’m saying

Conclusion

Free Guy seems like a concept for a movie that was inevitable with the growth and popularity of gaming in general. While the concept isn’t as fresh as people think (check out the book Mogworld) but it is the first time that it has been showcased in a big budget movie. And also props for going with a fresh IP instead of calling it ‘GTA NPC the movie’.

The concept is fun and most of the jokes do land, but ultimately it’s a movie you will enjoy while watching and then probably not think about much after.

 

But if you prefer a Game of Gods rather than a Video Game check out the New World Odyssey series