It continues the odd tradition whereby most of the best video game movies are the ones not explicitly based on a video game. However, for those who can and wish to, Free Guy is exactly the kind of old-school theatrical summer movie we’ve been waiting for all summer. It would probably be commercially doomed even in better times, which is arguably why Disney left it in this most compromised of summer seasons. Free Guy Free Guy - Official Trailer Starring Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer, Free Guy is an adventure-comedy about a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in. It’s a “rip-off, don’t remake” play on (among other things) The Truman Show and Wreck-It Ralph, yet charts its own path and becomes its own singular work of high-quality popcorn entertainment. In a world filled with IP-specific revamps and nostalgia-specific brand exploitation, Free Guy is an original comedic fantasy that merely riffs on older movies and older pop culture rather than specifically appropriating it. Yes, sides are drawn and loyalties are tested, but it doesn’t quite come down to a big fight. The rest of the cast (including a game Lil Rel Howery gently ribbing the “Black best friend” trope) do what’s needed, and I appreciated that the film came to its end without a conventional action climax. Comer’s Molotov Girl is obviously a fantasy character, but the story allows compelling points about the escapist illusion of the so-called “bad ass female character.” That Mille/Molotov Girl is the hero of her own story and has quite a bit of screen time apart from Reynolds makes this a two-hander as opposed to a “dude and his love interest” flick. Reynolds is a gee-whiz joy here, a cheerful straight man reacting to the comic chaos around him. The vast majority of its references are universal and generic, avoiding the kind of brand-specific force-fed nostalgia that made Space Jam: A New Legacy such a depressing watch. I could have done without some IP-specific gags late in the third act, and a significant climactic choice reads a little iffy in light of certain high-profile entertainment lawsuits, but the picture works on its own terms far more often than not. There is an amusing contrast in terms of the bright and shiny video game landscape and the non-stop background violence. I will be petty and note that this over/under $115 million flick partially set in a video game looks and feels more real than that other recent $200 million Disney flick set in the real world. That also means there’s actual suspense and surprise in terms of how the colliding stories come to a head. While I guess sequels are possible, the movie stands on its own as a singular journey with a definitive ending. This is a rare big-budget Hollywood original, which means we get to relish the pleasure of its filmmakers figuring out how its specific fantasy world works in terms of the narrative needs of the story. I rather enjoyed the first big set piece, one that plays like a 2-D platform jumper, even if the other beats are more conventional in their stand-and-fight (or run away) structure. The film’s gags and punch lines, as well as its action scenes, are mostly in service of its story and its characters.
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