FREE GUY

 

If, like me, you've played many (and I mean MANY) hours of the Grand Theft Auto games, you may just have your interest perked by Free Guy, a sci-fi action comedy that truly deserves its place amidst the better summer blockbusters of 2021. What is it exactly that makes it such a fun and worthwhile trip to the cinema for though?

A bank teller named Guy (Ryan Reynolds) discovers that he's actually a non-player character (NPC) inside the brutal, open world video game, Free City.

I was certainly a little skeptical heading in to Free Guy with the fact I felt it would just be Ryan Reynolds doing his usual thing and growing tired of it within fifteen minutes or so. Happy to report that there is much more to Free Guy than meets the eye, or the trailers led you to believe. Shawn Levy's film is part action comedy part romantic comedy that treats its audience to a number of laughs and genuine heartfelt moments that make it such an engrossing and gloriously entertaining summer blockbuster.

It does take a little while to get going but when it does, Free Guy is a non-stop delight that leans into the absurdity of its premise rather well. It could be said maybe it doesn't make the most of it though with F9 still leading the way as the most ridiculous film of the summer and that's not even a film centred around video game characters. Part of the fun in Free Guy is some of the brilliant cameos it has up its sleeve, written into the narrative seamlessly and one in particular certainly having the potential to be an all-timer, the thunderous laughter from the audience making me feel very positive about that.

It's a great moment, best experienced without knowing a thing, and surely one that will leave those with a lot to say about Disney's acquisition of major studios up in arms and ready to go to war with the House of Mouse.

Free Guy features a cast clearly having a lot of fun in the world created for them and the material given to them by writers Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn. Ryan Reynolds is the main man here and he delivers an endearing performance as Guy, charming his way through unintentionally saving the day. As mentioned before, Reynolds has very much become stuck in a rut in doing the same thing over and over however, I found his peformance here to be a welcome breath of fresh air for the actor. 

Alongside Reynolds in the virtual world, Jodie Comer makes a great impression on the big screen as the badass Molotov Girl, a character hell bent on bringing down the Free City developers from the inside. The two of them together does work really well throughout, Comer putting her comedic chops to good use. In the real world, Taika Waititi is the actor you're drawn to the most with the New Zealander hamming it up to the max and chewing every bit of scenery he can get his hands on.

What I really loved about Free Guy is that it knows exactly what it is and doesn't shy away from being as stupid as possible, delivery zany action and plenty of laughs by the minute. If you're after a good time at the cinema this summer, Free Guy may be just the film for you.

Verdict: ★★★★