Facet / Guy (Ryan Reynolds) leads a simple life: he is an average bank clerk, has a positive attitude towards the world and infects everyone around him with optimism. Like his friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery), he enjoys life, is always polite and eager for a cup of good coffee. Everything changes, however, when Facet / Guy discovers he is an NPC in the open-ended video game Free City. Distributed by Soonami studio, managed by the greedy tycoon Antwan (Taika Waititi), “Free City” is a wildly popular game in which chaos and destruction reign supreme. In a virtual open world, players lead an unhampered existence, and advance to the next levels by committing brutal acts of violence and vandalism. Meanwhile, Guy / Guy meets the super sexy Molotovgirl (Jodie Comer) and is charmed by her. The girl helps him navigate the game world and come to terms with the fact that the only life he has known is not real. Molotovgirl, who in the real world is called Millie, believes that Antwan and studio Soonami are using codes from a game that she and her friend – developer Keys (Joe Keery) wrote.
More and more aware of his fate, Facet / Guy decides to step out of the shadows. He wants to stop being only the background of events in this cynical world without rules. He begins to actively play the role of a good character, making him an idol for both many players and characters from the game world. Most of all, however, it begins to live according to its own scenario! For Antwan, Guy / Guy’s growing popularity is a threat to his plans for Free City. Therefore, it decides to permanently remove this character from the game. Now it is only up to Guy / Guy whether he will save himself and his world.
“On the one hand, the film is a bit about an existential crisis, but its background and context are also part of the trend of maximum empowerment and liberation of the individual in a world where there are no rules and boundaries,” explains the film director Shawn Levy ( Stranger Things , Night at the Museum ).
In the script of Matt Lieberman ( The Addams Family ) and Zak Penn, you can find action, humor and emotion alike. By the way, it is very timely, which no one could have foreseen.
“From the very beginning, Free Guy was a reflection on free will,” remembers Lieberman. “Do we have to accept our fate, can we break out of the program prepared for us and change the world around us? When I got the idea six years ago, I had no idea how prophetic the movie would turn out to be, ”he says. ” Free Guy” is largely a journey of a man who has always functioned only in a designed, untrue world, who is also innocent and pure in spirit, “explains Levy.
Thanks to this, we get the humor that we all love in such characters. But we also have a hero with whom we can easily identify, whose fights we cheer for and whose challenges and dilemmas we feel almost instinctively, and whose triumphs we celebrate with passion.
Although Facet / Guy only exists in the alternate reality of video games, Levy argues that the truths in Free Guy are universal.
It is about a change in the way of thinking that I believe we all miss, namely: Wait, it is possible that life may be something more than what you have known so far. Maybe life doesn’t have to be something that happens to me. Maybe it’s something that I can create and define. Perhaps I can rewrite my story. I think this is a basic and universal human desire.
The love story that forms the heart of Free Guy is set between Guy / Guy and Molotovgirl – two characters who seem very different at first. Guy is innocent and naive, and Molotovgirl is a tough zinc. Guy, however, lived his life under the conviction that he lived in the background, that his fate and choices did not matter. And that’s what he has in common with Millie.
It is a union of two outsiders who felt marginalized. They meet, they understand what it’s like, and as a result they become heroes together, ”explains Levy. “And it is this union, the joining of characters who pass from the background to the fore, from the margins to the heroism who do it together, is incredibly romantic.
The other roles in the film were played by Joe Keery as Keys – a talented computer genius and friend of Millie, Lil Rel Howery as Buddy – Guy / Guy friend, Utkarsh Ambudkar as Mouser – the gruff programmer in Soonami and Taika Waititi. The latter, Oscar-winning screenwriter ( Jojo Rabbit ) and director ( Thor: Ragnarok ) plays Antwan – the greedy tycoon behind “Free City”, an exceptionally profitable project by Soonami studio.
“Antwan is a villain who stole and exploited the code of a game written by Millie and Keys. It made him rich and famous without sharing one or the other with real creators, ”says Shawn Levy. “He’s just a bad guy, but in a totally wonderful way. That’s because he’s played by Taika, who is not only an amazing director but also one of the most talented comedians I have ever worked with. He can take an already funny script and take it to a higher, insanely sublime level. His mind is incredibly fast. His performance of Antwan is someone you like and hate at the same time. And the fact that Taika is able to balance this way on a razor’s edge and make the character both repugnant and hilarious is a testament to this guy’s enormous talent, ”the director of the film continues.
Some of the most influential characters from the video game world also appear in episodes of “Free Guy”. The film features Imane “Pokimane” Anys, Lannan “LazarBeam” Eacott, Seán William “Jacksepticeye” McLoughlin, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and Daniel “DanTDM” Middleton.
Free Guy debuted in Polish cinemas on August 13, 2021. Over 329,000 viewers watched it. On January 26, it will be released on Blu-ray and DVD .
Special additions in the Blu-Ray edition:
- Unused and expanded scenes
- Gags from the set
- Dude vs Guy
- Tworzac Molotovgirl
- Taika and his world
- Welcome to Free City
- Trailers