Free Guy (2021)

“Life is too short to be a background character.”
Free Guy Poster 2021 from IMP Awards.

In my view…

Last year I went to the cinema to watch this film. Not knowing what to expect, except for a good portion of fun because actor Ryan Reynolds is playing the main role of the film.

The story unfolds around a massive multiplayer online role playing game (mmo rpg). The concept of a role playing game is very recognizable nowadays if you have played such a mmo rpg or heard a lot about it. If you don’t play or didn’t play such a game, a small explanation in relation to this film:

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game

The massive multiplayer role playing game is a fictional world – or lookalike of the real world or a complete fantasy world. It is online because there it can exists. And because of this many people around the world can join the game and play. So there is for example one fictional world which is big and real players from around the world can join. They join with a pawn, in this case a human fictional character that can learn soms skills, gain abilities and level up. To level up your fictional character, you yourself as a real world citizen, you must get to know the game and learn from it and by it time after time you play the game. The real world skill is: understanding the game, getting to know it, knowing how to play it and in which optimal way and have fun. You can reach for the ultimate and try to figure out where the developers of the game stopped programming and missed out on something – or not. The most important thing is fun and these types of games can be quite time consuming. More than a storyline or a maximum of levels. To explain it really short: it is living as a sim with many other real world controlled online sims in the same world at the same time. If you have heard of World of Warcraft or even Runescape, you get an idea of what such a game is.

Back to the film

This film is about a game and much much more. If you don’t understand mmo rpg that is completely fine because this film has so much more context to offer which is very interesting. The main character named ‘Guy’ is an online sim trapped in a virtual online world. Though trapped… if a sim could really think for itself and not only everything that is programmed, then yes he can feel trapped. Otherwise not. Reliving the sim life day by day, the same skills day by day etcetera. For a sim like Guy, he really is reliving each day again and again and only a few things change now and then. That’s because Guy is an online sim that is programmed to be some fictional padding to the game. Not controllable by real world players, not designed by such a player. But designed by the creators of the online game.

So Guy shouldn’t think for himself, he is pre-programmed. But one day he does, an error in the code. What happens next is at first unimaginable and the film is full of surprises, especially in the beginning. What happens if he discovers how the – by real world players – online controllable characters live the world they both live in? Can he comprehend what’s happening?

Because of this genius storyline and with the combination of the actors and actresses I really love the film. It’s full of overreacted action, make something big of something small and many exaggerations. But such things can not exist without also having some tiny and cute and normal scenes. Normal, sometimes uncomfortable, conversations or just gestures of appreciation and caring. Because after all: every sim is eventually created or initiated by a human real world player. Behind every controllable online sim is a real world living human with feelings and thoughts.

The only thing that disturbed me a bit is that some scenes in my opinion, such as one you can see in the trailer during the bankrobbery, is more suitable for in a game than in a film about a fictional game. A film does not have necessary the same target audience as a massively multiplayer online game.

Filming

With the many quick scenes following each other up in no time, it is hard to look for any film shot errors. You will probably frown sometimes during the film if you pay attention to the world surroundings and sims when the world design is changing, but furthermore it seems fine.

Characters

Guy is the main virtual character of the film but there are a few other characters who play in the online and offline world a role. Such as Millie and Keys. But if I explain those characters to you I explain a bit too much about the film. The interesting thing of the storyline is to figure out who is doing what with which purpose and why does a person continue, support, oppose or quit? By watching the trailer you get an idea of the other characters and a tip of the veil of their meaning in this film.

Though the storyline sounds a bit complicated with the game and online and offline world, it is easy to follow along and it will make you laugh out loud at least a couple times and maybe many many more. And if you’re still wandering if you got éverything of the plot right in the end…. in the need of having a good laugh is a good excuse to rewatch it.

Trailer

Film Facts:

Title: Free Guy
Genre: Action / Adventure / Comedy / Fantasy / Science Fiction
Director: Shawn Levy
Writer: Matt Lieberman (story)
Screenwriter: Matt Lieberman, Zak Penn
Music by: Christopher Beck
Country: United States
Language spoken: English / Japanese / German
Release Date: August 13th, 2021 (UK)
Time: 115 minutes
Production Companies: 20th Century Studios / Berlanti Productions / 21 Laps Entertainment / Maximum Effort / Lit Entertainment Group / TSG Entertainment
IMDb rating: 7.2 / 10
Rating: 8 / 10

I hope you like the film too. It is worth to watch it! I am not telling about the story too much, you have to watch the film yourself and make your own opinion.