I haven’t heard anyone say this before, let alone write it, so I guess I’m going to be the first:
Ryan Reynolds is a genius. I have a funny way of connecting the dots on things like these. And he’s a great actor.
This movie came out in 2021 but I’m not too late, especially when part of the core message of this movie is that “you can do whatever you want”. I know this because a bot told me so, whose name is Guy.
Seriously though, this movie gave me “Don’t Worry, Darling” vibes but with its essence completely uprooted from the ground and given a floating pavilion to rest upon. I loved “Don’t Worry, Darling” for the same reason I liked this movie. Although, where (DW,D) excited me, “Free Guy” gave me emotions to feel. “Free Guy” actually expanded the concept of virtual reality to a landscape that was much less underground and very much integrated into everyday life. Seeing YouTube Stars like Ninja, Pokimane, and Jacksepticeye were surprising spectacles and I appreciated how real it made my world feel as a streamer and gamer. In fact, that’s one of the reasons why I enjoyed this movie so much. It really appealed to my sensibilities as a gamer, and not just as a movie I ought to watch.
Sometimes the realism most movies attempt to project exhaust my ability to relate to the characters on the screen. I admit, I sympathize; it may be difficult to create emotions whereby a viewer can invest interest in a movie, but it is even more tiring for a viewer to go through a movie, knowing that it is based in fantasy, and depend entirely on human emotion to draw the bridge of feeling between us, the world, and our protagonist(s).
That is what this movie was able to tackle through the world of video games, in which gamers like me could easily relate.
The element of love that was weaved through one man’s intelligent ability to code made its way to the girl of his dreams, and it was an eloquent display of just how powerful love is. The relationship between Guy and Buddy was also a generous and magnificent display of how powerful the right kind of friendship is. I literally burst into tears when Buddy’s rebuttal to Guy was that he was not sorry, that “it’s been the best day of my life”.
It blew the tear ducts out of my eyes.
On top of this movie being a video game, I think the concept of virtual reality had an impact on me in this way:
When building concepts in a world one knows is limitless in scope, it can be hard to isolate what experiences to select, but the concepts solidify easily when it is time to characterize them. It is something I believe people use to covet when access to technology was not as advanced, multifaceted, and available as it is today. I can imagine the producers of this movie facing this creators’ dilemma, trying to pin down the “facts” of the film but then realizing just how well curved the edges of this movie could become.
So “Free Guy” is the kind of movie you get when life on Earth with technology makes total sense.
Cheers!
At The Dinner Table 