FREE GUY

US, 2021, 115 minutes, Colour.

Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Taika Waititi, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Aaron W Reed.

Directed  by Shawn Levy.

This reviewer is not a gamer (though seeing many films of games and gamers), so expectations of watching and enjoying were not particularly high, but advertisements were around for a very long time during lockdown, Ryan Reynolds bemused face looking out at us, so some hopes for comedy. And, apart from thinking about the equivalent of Truman in Peter Weir’s The Truman Show, Truman unwittingly and cheerfully locked in a popular television show all his life), ready to enter the gaming world. And, there was Guy, 20 years after Truman, cheerful and unwittingly (“don’t have a good day – have a great day!”), Going through his daily routines, cereal for breakfast, bank robbery in the afternoon, all these strange bespectacled avatars, a nice guy.

Being of a generation where a tutorial on how computer games work is essential for appreciating the creativity of the minds behind them, the imaginations, of what the effect is on the gamers – and an explanation of the gamers and the visualising of their avatars on screen – I was not so caught up in the technology but the emerging themes. Free Guy! Free City! Freedom? (After the final credits I glanced at the IMDb and began to scan the many bloggers to find how many mentioned themes of the quality of human life, human choice, freedoms – and found two (all the rest gleefully commenting on what a fun movie you are) and one of the theme commenters thought your screenplay was too preachy!

A word is in order to praise the technological ingenuity of bringing a computer game world to the screen, the characters, dialogue, behaviour, adventures and dangers, the inventiveness of the CGI. But, I am more prone to notice and investigate themes.

So, Guy turns out to be a technicological breakthrough, a games’ character with artificial intelligence, on the edge of moving to decision-making. Guy puts on avatar sunglasses and sees aspects of the game he never dreamt of.. And he sees Molotovgirl (Jodie Comer) and is attracted. She turns out to be part of Millie, one of the creators of the game, working with her friend, Keys.

So, we have something of an online romance, poor old Keys (young Keys, pining in the background for Millie, but committed to developing Guy and letting him, as Jesus had said, have life and have it to the full. Obviously philosophical issues and, by implication, religious. People always complain that God should intervene in times of suffering. However, here is Free City, the inhabitants all happy, no matter what, living a kind of happy fatefulness. And then the discovery of freedom, choice, free will – and most of them initially reluctant. There are moments of great joy as we follow Guy and Millie in discoveries from bubblegum ice cream to the implications of Guy’s first kiss. I especially enjoyed the appearance of Dude, Guy’s inner self, inner alter ego, big, tall, musclebound, and the moment when the laser sword appears in Guy’s hand, the Star Wars’ theme commences and, intimations of transcendence, The Force is with him.

But, if the games creators are the equivalent of God, there is also a devil-figure. He is CEO, Antwan Taika Waitiyi’s New Ziland accent always enjoyable. He is jealous of the creations as Lucifer had been. Profit is his goal. Any thwarting leads to destruction.

Antwan is too clever for himself, greed his downfall and self-deception. Milllie and Keys realise that the games characters were computer incarnations of themselves and find love, Guy able to tell Molotovgirl that, despite her love, she could not live in his world. And he and Dude, along with Buddy his security guard close friend and the various characters in Free City, now have lives of their own.

And one has the perennial hope that life and behaviour for Guy and his friends in Free City will not fall into the traps and temptations to people that are part of real life.

1. The decades of popularity of computer games, the devotion of Gamers? Films about computer games? Films of communicate computer games?
2. The dramatic comparisons between The Truman Show and Free Guy? From television to life in a computer game?
3. The creation of computer games, the locations, the visuals, the visuals of the characters? The realism of the characters here? The city and the routines? Getting up, breakfast, going to the bank, work in the bank, ordinary citizens, niceness and not having a good day but a great day? And yet the insertion of the car crashes, the bank hold-up? Characters taking them as part of ordinary life, a certain serenity?
4. The audience’s initial responsibility to the game, to Free City, to Guy? Ryan Reynolds and his screen personality, niceness and charm? The discovery of the creators, Keys and his relationship with Milllie, working with Mouser? Their key ideas, the creation of the characters, giving them life? Millie entering the game, her avatar of Molotovgirl? Keys and his work, clashes with Antwan? And the realisation that they had created artificial intelligence? Which meant free choice?
5. The visualising of the avatars, bizarre aspects, the dark glasses, voices of Hugh Jackman, Dwayne Johnson?
6. Keys, young, anguishing over the games, the discovery of artificial intelligence, his love for Millie, her not appreciating this? Working with Mouser? Continuing with the ideas, developing Free City?
7. Guy, nice, his routines, the security guard at the bank as his Buddy? The hold-up, the dark glasses, his putting them on, seeing the video game for what it was and his puzzle? His seeing Millie in her avatar, following her?
8. The relationship with Millie, their talking, Millie as herself playing the game, as her avatar within the game? The discussions with Guy, the growing affection? Appearing and disappearing? His having to cope?
9. The adventures, the encounters, the dangers, the action sequences with the two? And the quiet scenes, the sharing of bubblegum ice cream? The effect on each of them?
10. Antwan, the businessman, the CEO, ambitions, money and profit, success at all cost? His using Mouser to help him? Confronting Keys and Millie? His reaction to artificial intelligence? Keys not responding as he wanted, firing him? Keys altering things on his way out? Antwan the decision to shut down the game, smashing the machines? Wanting control? Underestimating the viewers, their wanting to see Guy as free, the loss of popularity of the game? Of future orders?
11. Antwan and his creating of Dude, the similarities to Guy, a bigger physical presence and likeness, Dude and his confronting Guy, the inner alter ego, the fights, The Force and the Star Wars laser? The game, Dude controlled, the meetings, discussions, the reconciliation?
12. Guy, appealing to the people in the town, the film delineating their different characters and characteristics, Buddy and his fear of freedom, the old lady, the bank manager…? Guy and his discovering the barrier, wanting to break through, helped by Keys, the jetty, running along the jetty, his being urged on by the people? His breaking out and success?
13. The philosophical implications, the role of God in creation, a nice world where there is no evil, a kind of fate-driven world? The discovery of free will, human responsibility and the consequences?
14. Guy, talking with Millie, his love for her, knowing that she could not live in his world, letting her go back to the real world, going back to Keys?
15. A popular presentation of computer games – where one watches and participates rather than shoots the characters? And the deeper philosophical reflections?