The movie arrives in Irish cinemas this month and is definitely worth checking out on the big screen.
An average guy slowly begins to realise that he might be special, and there might be something more to the world, and the arrival of a kick-ass female into his life is the catalyst that sets him off on a journey that will change the future of the world as he knows it.
Yes, that is the plot of The LEGO Movie, but it also the plot of Free Guy.
An average guy slowly realises that the world around him is entirely fake, and the people in the "real world" are watching him non-stop, and with the help of a woman he barely knows but has fallen in love with, he tries to escape from the high-tech prison he finds himself in.
Yes, that is the plot of The Truman Show, but it is also the plot of Free Guy.
As you're watching Free Guy, you'll also notice bits and pieces borrowed from The Matrix, Wreck-It Ralph, Westworld, and (for a particularly deep cut) 2002's S1m0ne.
There isn't much originality to be found here, but what it lacks in ingenuity, it more than makes up for with wit, charm and pure enjoyment. It is far from perfect, but it is also the most purely fun blockbuster we've had this summer.
We are introduced to Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a nice guy who doesn't realise he's a Non-Playable Character within a particularly violent video game game that is a cross between Grand Theft Auto and Fortnite. He dreams of his life being more than the wake up/work/sleep cycle, and one day he crosses paths with Molotov Girl (Jodie Comer), the literal girl of his dreams.
It turns out Molotov Girl is the in-game avatar for Millie (also Comer), who is looking for a hidden code within the game that will prove that billionaire tech douche Antwan (Taika Waititi) stole it from her and friend-zoned co-creator Keys (Joe Keery).
While trying to bring the game down from the inside, Millie spends more and more time with Guy, and they develop a relationship, which certainly creases her plans to destroy the game and everything in it. Their scenes together are incredibly cute, and perfectly juxtaposed against an incredibly, vibrantly vicious gaming world around them. It isn't very often you see two people falling in love, soundtracked by Mariah Carey's 'Fantasy', while bazooka-holding troll gamers are tea-bagging the exploded corpse of a fellow NPC.
Director Shawn Levy keeps things moving so quickly that it is impossible to be bored by any of it, while the world he and the writers have created makes it impossible to fling the usual faults you might have with a big blockbuster of this size. Plot holes? Glitch in the game. Some dodgy CGI? Glitch in the game.
The only real issues emerge when we begin to spend a little more time outside of the game, particularly with Antwan. It is clear that Waititi is a talented writer and director for his own projects, but he is given too much freedom here, his ad-libs never landing and sounding particularly unfunny against the more tightly-scripted comedy within the gaming world.
There is also a bit too much of a hunger to be "down with the cool kids", thanks to the appearances of gamers and streamers like Jackspeticeye and Ninja, while the finale in the game is somehow shown all around the world like it is huge breaking news, taking up the screens in Times Square and the likes. Yes, gaming is huge now, but that is a leap too far.
All in all, none of these issues successfully detract from the fun of the movie, which is filled with some great set-pieces, and more than a few brilliant cameos. Plus the incredibly charming duo of Reynolds and Comer are an absolute joy to watch.
Free Guy is released in Irish cinemas on Friday, 13 August.
All clips via 20th Century Studios
