Free Guy 2021
This movie hasn’t gotten great reviews, but not bad either, so I decided to go see it at the theater. When I bought the ticket online this morning, mine was the first seat taken. But when I walked in and there were 4 other people in the theater, one of them was directly in front of my seat. I moved over, so it wasn’t a big deal, but I have to wonder why someone would pick a seat right in front of someone else.
This movie is right up Ryan Reynolds' alley though instead of being a smart aleck he plays a blissfully ignorant nice guy who doesn’t realize he is just a character in a video game. You don’t really want to think too hard about this movie and instead just enjoy some of the silliness of that concept as the bank he works in is robbed multiple times every day. Although he is frequently killed, he always wakes up again, ready to face a new day. It’s not a terribly original concept, and Reynolds' character is pretty similar to the one in the The Lego Movie or even Groundhog Day. And like Jumanji and Ready Player One there is a real world where the people who play and write the games live. In this case the head of the company is run by Taika Waititi playing his usual white rapper idiot persona, which is generally fun to watch. There are some good video game action scenes and references, an interesting story in the real world, plus romance, but it does go a little off the rails towards the end, before a good finish.
Update in March 2022: This movie was released on Disney Plus and I thought I would watch a little of it before going to bed. I ended up watching the whole thing plus about 30 minutes of extras. It holds up better than I thought on a second watch.
Written: 24 Aug 2021
Owned on: UHD, Blu-ray, Digital