Free Guy (Film Review)

2021 20th Century Studios
Directed by: Shawn Levy; Written by: Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Joe Keery, and Taika Waititi
MPAA Rating: PG-13; Running Time: 115 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Rating: 6/10

Every morning, Guy wakes with a smile, talks to his fish, grabs a cup of coffee at the corner café, and heads to his job as a bank teller. At the bank, he chats excitedly with his security guard best friend, Buddy, while the bank is generally robbed multiple times a day. Then Guy walks home, smiling through gunfire, tanks, and explosions, then sleeps soundly, just to wake up and do it again, day after day, only wishing he had a special someone to spend those days with. That's because, as the movie nearly immediately reveals to the viewer, Guy is an NPC in a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, and he was programmed that way. Turns out he's just a microscopic cog in the wheel of Free City, a game whose original code was stolen from a two person team made-up of Millie and Walter by the egomaniacal Antwan. The passive, nearly useless Walter now spends his days working for Antwan and his mega-company on Free City, while Millie strives to prove that her work has been stolen. Millie's quest leads her to Guy...who's suddenly starting to behave much less like an NPC, and much more like...a free guy.
Ryan Reynolds has gained a penchant for playing snarky action heroes in lightweight, sometimes hard-R-rated action comedies. I saw and enjoyed both Deadpool films, but I've never had the itch to watch them again. I also enjoyed the PG-13 Free Guy, but I'll be shocked if even five minutes of it ever crosses my mind again. This isn't really a sleight against Reynolds, who is generally charming, funny, and aesthetically pleasing in every role he plays, while also proving himself to be adept at money moves, acquiring ownership stakes in such diverse companies as Aviation Gin and Mint Mobile. These cunning financial decisions have stretched to his choice of roles, and Reynolds has managed to pick multiple mass appeal projects to attach his persona to, with Free Guy no different.
Indeed, Free Guy will appeal to just about anyone. Anyone with a passing knowledge of online videogames will feel in-the-know within Free Guy's universe, and for anyone who doesn't, the world and major plot points are spelled out so largely that even the most far-sighted child could read them. The movie also knows, whether from focus groups, or just watching what other movies have done, which plot moves will please the crowd, even if they defy the logic previously spelled out by the film. The audience doesn't want someone to really be dead? Fine, they're not. Because.
Meanwhile, there's enough action to keep the audience's eyes engaged, though it's shot in such a general, personality-free fashion, remembering anything specific about it will be tough later--except for when there's a call back to another film. Free Guy can hold its head high knowing that it is not a part of any previously established franchise, but it is quite telling that the only moment in the film that has the potential to induce chills occurs when Guy rather surprisingly pulls out the most famous cinematic weapon in history from the most famous film franchise in history (with that film franchise's music playing in the background). This movie is fun as hell, but it burns out of the mind almost immediately after the credits have rolled.
What we have here is a nice summer diversion, and nothing more. Director, Shawn Levy, does his best to corral effects-heavy scenes that were surely a headache to shoot and composite. The special effects, which run through the film as an endless river, never draw attention to themselves, a positive that really says something about the CGI animators' skills. Screenwriters, Matt Lieverman and Zak Penn, essentially follow a generic, 21st century blockbuster blueprint to the letter. Meanwhile, the cast, and particularly Reynolds, do their thing...but I want something more. I've seen this blueprint executed on screen 100 times already this century, and nearly a quarter in, I want more than a film like this can give me. Also, I want more from Reynolds. He seems to have acting chops. His comedic and action skills are already proven. Maybe, with the coffers full, it's time to go out on a limb and try something less people will see, but more will remember.