Free guy: A 300-word review

Shawn Levy’s attempt to carry a sci-fi movie is ambitious and unusual. And his previous projects (Netflix’s fantasy Shadow and bone and horror-thriller stranger things) confirms it. Thankfully the stellar cast at Shawn’s disposal combined with brilliant visual execution makes free guy quality popcorn entertainment.

The opening and rising action are a bit sluggish. However, due to the nature of worldbuilding free guy exhibits, it is reasonable when considering the amount of time needed to reel the audience wholly into the virtual game reality called ‘Free City’ and distinguish the difference between it and the natural world on the outside.

The main protagonist is ‘Guy’ (Ryan Reynolds); An intelligence-based character in free city stuck in an endless loop of events until he encounters

Guy and Molotov girl Pulse Nigeria

Molotov girl(Jodie Corner);A young woman from the outside world on a mission to uncover some dirt behind the game's publication.

After the encounter, Guy realizes there’s so much more to his existence than just being a secondary character. This thought triggers him to make his own choices rather than what the algorithm has designed for him.

Guy’s self-righteous acts earn him rapid popularity in Free city and the real world, with every free city player raising theories regarding his origin. He even gets a hero title, ‘the blue shirt guy’. This occurrence leads the story to introduce ‘Keys’ (Joe Kerry), an MIT graduate/ lover boy. With his genius, Keys aided the Molotov girl in writing the game codes of free city.

Keys is the author of Guy’s algorithm. The reason why Keys created Guy is later revealed in the resolution of this 1 hour 55 minutes comedy action. According to Keys, the purpose of Guy’s existence is to serve as a love letter to Molotov girl, whom Keys was secretly in love with as they developed free city together. Before, the idea was stolen from them by Antoine(Taika Waititi), who is the principal antagonist.

Written by Matt Lieberman, ‘free guy’ draws similarities with ‘Ready player one’, regarding virtual game reality. Still, its significant difference is the use of Ryan Reynolds comedy wits taking the center stage like the Deadpool series and the hitman's wife's bodyguard.

Free guy has a slow start with a heavy exposition capable of cinema bore, but its climax, ending, and visual experience make it worth a watch. I recommend!

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Israel Olorunnisola is a freelance creative. When he is not writing about Film, Music, TV or Pop culture he is telling stories on Wattpad.

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