Free Guy (2021)
The world needed a hero. They got a guy.
Ever notice how some of the best video game movies are the ones about video games but not about video games? Yeah, we’ve had some real bang-up entries into the genre with some of the Mortal Kombat movies, and some other ones that are rather hotly debated as to if they are good or not adaption wise. Well, this time we get a bit more meta and figure out if maybe this time the movie gets it? Is it another movie about hapless nerds destined to be forever-loners? Maybe the nerdy kids having to band together and find their inner greatness? Grab that blue shirt, it’s time to Free Guy.
Imagine waking up one day and finding out you aren’t real. That existential “what if” that plagues plenty of over-thinkers. I do suppose that I should start at the actual start when it comes to the story instead of where the movie actually starts. This is the story about sleezy corporate entities that care nothing about anyone or anything but money. A passion project gets bought up by such a thing, and shelved. One of the two creators gets it in their head that the big-bucks has scavanged their project for their own thing, and isn’t super keen on the idea that such profit is being made without any acknowledgement or royalties. It’s her goal to find the secret sauce that let’s her prove her case in court - which brings us to the plot the movie starts with: the game. A non-player character suddenly starts thinking for himself, essentially becoming his own player character with no controller - and it’s sending waves through the real world unaware of the real situation at hand.
Actors do a great job here - I mean, some stuff can come off a bit cheesy, but it all feels like it fits well into the overall theme of being a game. The oblivious plucky nature of the main character thematically is sound, but it’s also something that can provide a bunch of entertainment for watchers whilst giving people who aren’t with the whole gaming scene someone to attach to in the “no idea whats happening” department. The supporting characters - from the main villain to the other NPCs and the lead lady - all do great jobs of eating up that screen time with pure enjoyment. There really isn’t any characters that don’t feel like they are played out well by the actors - and arguably the weakest links could probably be the YouTube shout-outs that keep providing lines, but I would also say that they add a bit of “street cred” so to speak, making it feel somewhat more grounded in reality when surrounded by plenty of moments that aren’t.
The funnest parts of the movie of course exist within the game moments of the movie - largely in part by not being tied down to reality. Crazy jumps, inception terrain, exploding cars, jetpacks, bad dancing - all things that don’t always play out that well in the real world where physics and the likes is a thing. It also provides a great anti-world backdrop for some of the comedy moments. Comedy of course is always hit or miss, but I don’t feel like any of the misses here are because they just don’t get it as much as it just not your particular cup of comedy tea.
Another day at the bank.
The movie isn’t all just farcical in-jokes and eye-candy though. There’s actually a pretty good layer of depth for the kind of people who want to take a deeper look at things. Human decency, corporate greed, what it means to be alive - it’s all stuff you normally wouldn’t expect to find in a movie whose main world is a knock-off Grand Theft Auto game with bonus quests to punch a pedestrian. Yes, it still doesn’t always feel like it gets that gamers come in every shape and size, despite having a wide range of people visually represented (most the ones with the most screen time are more typical stereotypes then one might think giving my earlier praise of things), but to someone whose a gamer I could care less about that as long as it serves the movie in an entertaining way. I mean, like everyone would stop what they are doing and huddle around TVs to watch the climactic scene involving a video game?
Let’s talk effects work now, shall we? Not like you expected me to not talk about it - especially if you have seen the movie. Some of it is great, some of it is alright, and some of it you won’t really appreciate unless you’ve spent a lot of times around games. Most the game elements look good enough for what they are supposed to be - game effects. Little glitch effects, explosions, various different pop-culture references, people turning into 3D models whilst getting thrown around - yeah, it’s all there. The good news is it never takes you out of the movie, because it’s all supposed to be a game so it makes perfect sense. That said, you won’t be wowed by every single effect that you see. On the other hand, as a person who has sunk a good amount of life into games, I can appreciate some of the stupid little moments - people inside a building looking more like a drawing then a 3D model to save resources, reflection mapping secrets, that sort of thing.
The music is catchy, poppy, and not entirely stuff that I really care to listen too but works good in the movie whether being used for comedy or serious romantic vibes. Yeah, I may have forgotten to mention that there’s a romance story at play here too - but you know what, it actually works really nice, and I particularly enjoy how it plays out at the end - and I don’t mean the real world part of it. It just ends up feeling good man - you get so used to your routines that every now and then something comes along and does it ever so slightly different and that’s all it takes to open a whole new world of possibilities - even if it’s just a nice refreshing chuckle from a dumb joke you should have seen coming a mile away. Such good timing on some of those jokes!
Is this glued?
The movie can be dumb, but it’s the funnest sort of dumb. Although you don’t need to be smart to watch it, it does provide plenty of things a thinking-person could enjoy as well. It’s a delightful mix of entertainment, and I’d argue well worth checking out for most people. Perhaps it’s best if you wait for a mood that isn’t super-duper serious so you can really get behind the goofier elements, but I don’t think most people would walk out of this without entertainment being at a good level before hand.