Tuesday, 17 August 2021

Free Guy - The scoop and digest

Open-world video game inspired action comedy is directed by Shawn Levy.

Ryan Reynolds - Guy
Jodie Comer - Millie/Molotov Girl
Lil Rel Howery - Buddy
Utkarsh Ambudkar - Mouser
Joe Keery - Keys
Taika Waititi - Antwan

Summary

For bank teller Guy, life in Free City couldn't be better.

However, dying multiple times and waking in a time loop soon complicates matters.

After stealing a pair of sunglasses, he sees the world very differently.

'Blue Shirt' goes viral and becomes a global phenomenon for playing the goodie.

Guy is pissing off Soonami founder Antwan, as exploits are affecting the sales of Free City 2: Carnage.

With NPC achieving sentience, Life Itself creators Millie and Keys have 48 hours to prevent sequel's launch or servers will shut down Free City.

Crowd-pleaser

Immediately comparable to Ready Player One, The Lego Movie, Groundhog Day and even They Live, this was hugely enjoyable.

Due to time loop theme, it's also similar to the more adult Boss Level.

Beautiful special effects are complemented by impressive set-pieces and Zak Penn's sharp screenplay places cherry on top of charming sundae.

Free City was inspired by GTA III and IV's Liberty City, and there's more than a side helping of Fortnite.

Soonami is a play on TV series Toonami, which could easily be confused with defunct developer Zoonami.

Also, Konami.

While leads are eminently watchable, Waititi's zany villain steals the show.

Amusingly, character really does live up to his reputation as a dick.

References

Mega Man

Guy fights off avatars with Mega Buster.

Portal

Millie uses titular gun on several occasions.

Half-Life 2

Gravity gun appears.

And best of all.

Resident Evil

At some point early on, robber's suit displays RPD.

Coincidence? I don't think so.

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