-
Acting
-
Directing
-
Story
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery
Director: Shawn Levy
Running Time: 115 mins
Free Guy is an American film about background character in a video game who begins to ponder of what more life can offer, leading him on an epic quest that will save the future of the world he lives in.
I absolutely loved this film. A soaring summer blockbuster complete with stunning visual effects, great humour, a boundless imagination and two dynamite central performances, Free Guy is two hours of absolutely non-stop entertainment.
Now, it’s easy to look at this film and think that we’ve seen it before in the shape of Ready Player One. While the overarching premise is largely similar, however, Free Guy takes the open-world video game story and turns it into something a lot lighter, and equally a lot more uplifting.
While Ready Player One thrilled with its groundbreaking visual effects, Free Guy is a lot less heavy on the CGI, using real-world locations to further emphasise that the video game world is a real world, something that goes a long way to making this a genuinely immersive watch throughout.
That immersion plays a massive role in making the video game world so convincing, and the film’s delightfully boundless imagination so much fun to watch. As a result, Free Guy really lives up to its potential as a soaring, uplifting summer blockbuster, delivering laughs and smiles from start to finish.
Anchored by a wonderful lead performance from Ryan Reynolds starring as a Lego Movie-like hopeful everyman, as well as a brilliantly charismatic turn from Jodie Comer, the film is full of energy and charisma right from the off, allowing you to really get behind the main characters in their quest to bring down evil.
The overarching premise of the movie is typical summer blockbuster fare, but the way that Free Guy goes about it, with a rather clever and sharp play on the tropes of video game design and online play, makes for an immensely enjoyable watch throughout.
All in all, Free Guy is an absolutely perfect blockbuster from start to finish, with brilliant energy, imagination and action throughout that soars on the back of uplifting and charismatic lead performances, great humour and stunning visuals. So, that’s why I’m giving it an 8.1 overall.
