The best thing that I can say about the movie Free Guy is, it’s Ryan Reynolds at his best. It’s almost as if this movie was perfectly made for his talents. Ryan Reynolds is the funny action hero that always keeps us in stitches, it’s why he was the perfect choice to play Deadpool and why he’s the perfect choice to play an NPC inside an action-oriented open world video game that takes on a life of its own! If there was an Oscar category for the best comedic action hero, Ryan Reynolds would win at hands down! As a nerd who plays video games, did I like this movie? F@#k yeah! It was everything I expected it to be. It may not have been absolutely perfect, but it kept me laughing and I was truly entertained. It’s the kind of movie that I would watch with Ryan Reynolds to get me ready for the next Deadpool movie. But even though this is a perfect film for the comedic talents of Ryan Reynolds at the heart of this movie is really a gamer’s love story. That’s not to say that this is some kind of romcom masquerading as a gaming movie, not at all! But it is a movie about gamers finding love within their own love of creating a fantastic Video Game world. For nerds, it’s the kind of romantic story we like because we’re always looking for people that like the same things we do, whether it be gaming or comic books or certain kinds of films. So, what makes this movie good and worth seeing!

If you get past the love story, it’s just a funny movie about NPC players finding their own identity within a system. Isn’t that kind of a metaphor for life. It’s Ryan Reynolds doing what he does best and keeping us laughing while killing bad guys! But the movie is also a critique on the video game industry in itself, the difference between creating some popular mind-numbing game like Fortnite versus gamers coming together and creating something truly wonderful in an open world system, plus the struggle of those gamers against greedy corporate types who don’t care about creativity as long as they’re making money.

I think in a lot of ways this movie captures the essence of those type of people perfectly. It’s the kind of people we rail against that run big gaming studios and put out shit year after year because they know they’re going to make money, you know, like whatever version of Call of Duty that’ll never be as good as it used to be 10 years ago or the latest version of Madden which didn’t really make any updates from the year before except rosters and a new schedule. But instead of taking the direction that the movie Tron did 40 years ago where you have a truly evil villain that doesn’t smile, you can’t help but laugh at Taika Watiti’s portrayal of some phony gaming guru who’s all about the bottom line. In fact, he almost steals this movie just as much as Ryan Reynolds. Free Guy, almost feels like the sister movie too Ready Player One with tons of gaming and nerd references and great cameos that will keep you entertained for almost 2 hours. And while both of these people light up the screen, the other actor who truly makes this a wonderful film is Jodi Comer from Killing Eve, who is the perfect gamer girl that nerds have seen in their dreams. You know the kind of girl that is nerdy, but hot, and loves to play video games with you! Yes, unfortunately, that’s kind of rare! She adds her quirky sense of humor that we all love from Killing Eve and elevates this movie even more beyond it just being a comedic vehicle for Ryan Reynolds. I think she is perfect casting.

Now, as much as I love the film and will certainly watch it again, it isn’t perfect. Because it’s a video game movie set in an active open world, there’s a lot going on and you don’t always have time to catch your breath. It’s true that the action is necessary because it is a video game movie, but sometimes we just need to take a moment and catch our breath to enjoy what’s really going on in the movie. Free Guy does that to a point with some of the scenes where the main characters are talking, but even that gets a bit repetitive at times, especially when the Ryan Reynolds NPC player is having to live out the same scene over and over. However, these are minor are complaints. Free Guy is not a drama… It’s a comedic action movie for gamers so in that regard the movie knows exactly what it’s supposed to be. It’s a fun nerdy movie that will entertain you and definitely a good one to go to the theater to see. If you like Ryan Reynolds and a Deadpool movie, then you will certainly like him in this kind of movie because I feel like in a lot of ways his character is what Deadpool would be if he were an NPC player in a video game, funny, snarky, and full of action that will keep you entertained. Video game movies are always hard to make, but unlike other video game movies where the story is based on the story of an original video game, this one works because it knows what it is as a film and isn’t trying to be anything else. It doesn’t need to have some big social message, although I feel like the movie does take aim at certain kinds of video games that while they may be popular, they’re absolute shit!  At the end of the day and in a logical world shouldn’t be popular video games. The cameos are good and as I’ve said before trying to figure out the actor’s identity will be just as fun as watching the movie. So, my overall assessment of Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy is at it’s core just pure unadulterated entertainment with a bit of a gamer’s fantasy when it comes to love and that’s okay! It’s entertaining and worth the price of a movie ticket. It will keep you laughing and as for a Ryan Reynolds movie, it’s a good filler until we get Deadpool 3! Free Guy knocks it out of the park in a lot of ways, but more importantly, it’s just a lot of fun to watch and it doesn’t need to be anything else. It’s the perfect kind of entertainment, especially if you’re a nerd!