Free Guy: The 'emotional' NPC

Permit me to confess that I have, indeed, killed off a lot of non playable characters (NPC) back in the days when I used to play GTA, Hitman etc. We all have done that. After all, they are just random “guys,” aren’t they? Well, watch Free Guy and you will know they can do much more than what they are programmed for. This action-comedy film is directed and produced by Shawn Levy. Free Guy is a highly enjoyable movie that makes the most of its cast and leading star.

As the movie starts, we are introduced to the very likable Guy (Ryan Reynolds), an NPC in a wildly successful open world video game called “Free City.” Guy’s life is as though he is trapped in a perfect time loop. Waking up in his apartment, he starts his day talking to his goldfish. He wears the same blue shirt every day, orders the same coffee, and goes to work at the same bank, which gets robbed over and over. He doesn’t care. Because Guy is like a hyperactive kid. He is always excited to wake up in the morning with a smiling face just to go through the same stuff. Everything is perfect for Guy and his best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery). His life changes when he sees Molotov Girl (Jody Comer). This breaks his pattern. He starts chasing her. Eventually he gets a pair of sunglasses that reveal what the actual players see in the game.

Molotov Girl is a programmer named Millie, who used to work with Keys (Joe Keery). She is playing the game to find evidence that the game’s egocentric publisher Antwan (Taika Waititi) stole her code and manipulated it. Meanwhile, Guy becomes the “friendly neighborhood” superhero that helps people. He becomes the Internet sensation. People start going crazy about him thinking he is an actual player. The film proceeds with Guy’s fun packed adventures.

This movie succeeds to create the perfect ambience of a video game. Viewers feel as though they are in a game. There are some surprise elements in this movie. The major one is the strong and shredded avatar played by Ryan himself, that was used by the villain to stop Guy from finishing the final mission. Guy using Captain America’s shield and Chris Evans’s cameo reaction to it are hilarious.

This movie brings memories of Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” as both movies touch on artificial intelligence with commentaries on gamer culture. In these films, we see people escaping from reality of the post-apocalyptic world into the virtual world of games. However, the director ensures that this film is Staying well within popcorn entertainer boundaries. Ever since his role as Deadpool, there is a specific formula of comedy and action we have come to expect from Ryan Reynolds films. “Free Guy” has taken a new perspective from the previous movies that were of the same theme. This is a highly enjoyable movie that makes the most of its cast and leading man, in particular.

Muhammed Sabeel KK is a Media Studies student at University of Hyderabad who finds the world of entertainment and tech journalism fascinating.