Jodie Comer and Ryan Reynolds shine in action comedy Free Guy

FILM REVIEW: FREE GUY (12), LIGHT CINEMA, WISBECH, OUT NOW

STARS: RYAN REYNOLDS, JODIE COMER, JOE KEERY, TAIKA WAITITI, LIL REL
HOWERY AND CHANNING TATUM

RUNNING TIME: 1HR 55MIN, DIRECTOR: SHAWN LEVY

A night at the cinema doesn’t have to be all about blockbusters such as Bond’s No Time To Die. Sometimes, you just want an enjoyable couple of hours of pleasurable escapism – and that’s exactly what is served up in this action comedy.

Hollywood heart throb Reynolds plays dopey bank teller Guy, who discovers that he’s actually an NPC (non-play character) inside a brutal, open world video game played out in ‘Free City’.

Guy plays out the same scenario every day, but all that changes when he sees and falls in love with Molotovgirl, played by Jodie Comer.

Molotovgirl is actually the avatar of a young woman called Millie, who along with close friend Keys (Joe Keery) had created a beautiful video game, which was stolen and made into something violent and sinister by Taika Waititi’s bad guy Antwan.

Millie enters the video game through her avatar to try to find her stolen code, only for her and Guy to fall in love.

Meanwhile, ‘Blue Shirt Guy’, as he becomes known to the game’s users, is making national headlines by doing things an NPC is not supposed to be capable of. When Millie realises the evil Antwan is going to wipe the game completely, she and Guy battle to save the game’s characters from deletion.

Reynolds is superb as Guy, and Comer excels in both her roles, as tough girl Molotov and cute gamer Millie.

Waititi impresses as video game mogul Antwan, portraying him as equally sinister and stupid, Keery is convincing as downtrodden Keys and you can’t help but love Howery’s Buddy.

There’s even a cameo from Channing Tatum, as Revenjamin Buttons, the hunky avatar of an awkward teenage boy.

There might be a few metaphors within the movie about money-chasing corporations, computer games and artificial intelligence, but really it’s just two hours of great fun that doesn’t make you think too much. There’s a touch of romance too, plenty of laughs and even some edge of your seat action.

Rating 7/10

By Jeremy Ransome

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