NPC Rebellion – Review of “Free Guy”

Life like Madr… ix

Welcome to Free City – the city of unlimited possibilities. This is where Guy (Ryan Reynolds) lives – a cheerful bank employee. Guy lives on autopilot. Every morning he wakes up, greets the goldfish, puts on a blue shirt and sets off to seize another day. And only pride, drinking coffee from his favorite cafe with his best friend, bodyguard Buddy (Lil Rel Howery), or by chance he has something missing in his life. However, there is one small problem: Guy, although he does not know it himself, is not the main character in this story (this title is given to extravagantly dressed glasses in Free City). Well, it is not even in the background; the nice gentleman suddenly turns out to be an extra, an element of the background, and the city itself – an interactive map of a popular video game. The situation will get complicated when, having met the woman of his dreams, he wants to taste the life of a hero. Hated (or not programmed) to do violence, Guy will begin to level up by doing nothing but good deeds. The unusual strategy attracts the attention of the media and players around the world, and it is also noticed by Antoine (Taika Waititi), the eccentric game developer, in the code of which he has hidden a compromising secret.

Gotta Catch ‘Em All!

Special effects and CGI specialists have not been idle – Free Guy is shocking at first glance with a riot of colors and stimuli. As befits an online game (Free City resembles a combination of Grand Theft Auto Online with battle royale titles such as Fortnite or Overwatch), there is a lot going on in the brave district: explosions, robberies, fights, shootings – the metropolis lives and functions with all the benefits of a virtual inventory. The creators are not afraid to joke with the players themselves, who are – I think – one of the larger target groups of the film, so during the game they will give themselves primarily to mindless fucks, varied with vulgar gestures and suggestive dance arrangements. The range of players – quite wide: from streamers-celebrities, through stereotypical cellars, “puffing” on mummy’s pot, to little girls exchanging mice, eagerly encouraging a friend next door to someone violently at … beans *. At the same time, the film tempts with elements simulating interactivity, whether thanks to glasses, thanks to which Guy gets access to the game interface (then we jump partially to the first-person view), or the start screen of the loading game stretched over the entire frame. And finally, it also uses (I think to some extent consciously) the long-standing compulsive hoarding of virtual avatars that load into bottomless pockets every object they can pick up. In the film version, this takes the form of a hunt for the more and the less hidden which they are able to pick up. In the film version, it takes the form of a hunt for the more and the less hidden which they are able to pick up. In the film version, it takes the form of a hunt for the more and the less hiddeneaster eggs , references and other “collectibles”. Playing with the search for hidden messages and guest appearances (including voice appearances – so I recommend watching in the original!) Encourages you to repeat the session at least once, naturally extending its potential life.

Baudrillard is always alive

Fortunately, Free Guy isn’t just a reference parade. Under an intense envelope, director Shawn Levy ( Night at the Museum , Stranger Things ) and screenwriters Zak Penn and Matt Lieberman primarily ask about the essence of humanity. Guy’s world, although artificial, for him is the only reality he knows – it is there that he feels pain, tastes ice cream, dreams. His emotions and thoughts are real, as are the simulacra that surround him: his best friend, a neighbor whose cats are still running away (maybe a side quest?), a barista at a local cafe. Even when he is able to see the seams of the simulation surrounding him, his faith in the sense of perfecting his small plot of virtual earth remains unshakable. The inspirations that seem quite clear could be treated as (poor) marketing slogans: The Truman Show of the Internet Era! The Matrix is packed with industry jokes! Groundhog Day , only the main character is not an asshole! The supposedly familiar themes, the story does not seem particularly revealing, and yet the whole thing seems relatively fresh, digestible without turning your nose. A lot of credit goes to the cast – Ryan Reynolds remains in his comfort zone as a nice, funny guy, but Jodie Comer ( Killing Eve) and Joe Keery ( Stranger Things ) play with the material, trying to make their rather pretext-written characters – the MolotovGirl avatar scream “Manic Pixie Dream Girl” – a little more three-dimensional. Fans of Taika Waititi’s humor (including the writer of these words) should also be pleased – he has been given the green light to improvise a bit.

The second track, in turn, is a meta-commentary on the old conflict of interest of independent creators and great studios, which has been brought back in recent years thanks to the renaissance of indie games, focused primarily on maximizing profits, in the film represented by Soonami Games and the grotesquely cynical and unstable Antoine. This context can also be extended to the entire entertainment industry, in which monopolistic behemoths repeatedly spit tape semi-finished products bearing a recognizable logo onto the market, thus stifling the remnants of creativity drawn into the modes of the Hollywood machine of independent artists. “We want more original stories!” They seem to scream. And I can only nod to them.

* Life has never been experienced by anyone who has never lost in Tekken with a few-year-old niece who randomly presses buttons on the pad.

We invite you to the movie Free Guy to the Cinema City cinema network!