Is FREE GUY a Sentient Game-Changer? (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Today on Film Friday, I take a look at the comedy Free Guy. Let’s begin.

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/Free Guy is a 2021 comedy directed by Shawn Levy and written by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn. It’s about Guy, played by Ryan Reynolds, who’s a bank teller NPC in an open world mmo video game similar to that of Grand Theft Auto. Then one day after encountering a playable character, he makes the conscious effort to live life outside of his programming and become a PC. But his actions in the game are affecting things in the real world, specifically the creators of his code and the CEO of the company that owns the game; the latter who wants to delete himself and the rest of the NPCs in order to put the focus on the game’s sequel. So it's up to Guy and those who created him to help make sure that doesn’t happen./

I’ll be honest with you, Readers. My initial interest in this movie after seeing the first trailer for it was a bit low

At first glance, this felt like a repeat of The Lego Movie; a story about a chipper everyman that would change the world in some form or fashion once its revealed that the world he’s in actually isn’t real

And while I personally LOVE the first Lego movie, I admit I didn’t know how well the concept of a video game NPC following the same “there’s more to life than this” angle of chosen one narratives would translate. Especially when the fictional game in question that the story takes place in is pretty much GTA Live with skins and item drops from different IPs similar to Fortnite

Actually, it was the latter that made me initially worry that I’d be turned off from this if I ever decided to sit down and watch it.

While I’ve definitely grown up on film and tv that utilized multiple direct intellectual properties in their works like Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the OG Muppet Babies animated series, the way they started popping up after the release of Ready Player One kinda left me tired.

It was all style and no substance with the way they were handled, just referencing other IPs just to reference them without giving it much thought regarding why they’d be there or why they’d be used outside of just having access to it because the studio owns it, or because they can splurge on the licensing rights.

Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph movies worked because the first movie was literally about a video game character in an arcade filled with other video game IPs that could regularly interact with each other, and then experience the internet once it was made available to them.

The Lego movies work because Lego itself is a brand that deals in licensing IPs in order to make toy sets, and that most of those toy sets could be owned by a child wanting to play in an amalgamated world of all these different IPs; a good chunk of them owned by the movie studio in question so they don’t have to spend extra on licensing other studios who may own the film rights.

Now I want to preference, that if you’re the type of person that just likes seeing visual references of your favorite fandoms randomly pop up like that without any type of initial reasoning outside of it just being there, then have fun.

No shade or judgement here; not yucking your yum at the slightest.

My experience ever since Ready Player One however, is that the use of multi-IP narratives is beginning to feel more and more hollow to me.

And now that Disney owns 20th Century -- the studio that made Free Guy -- I was prepared for the movie to be just them doing their own attempt at a multi-IP narrative with their own properties; specifically the ones that lean more toward action like Star Wars and Marvel since the medium of said IP delivery is a video game

/Thankfully, however -- while the movie eventually touched on that -- it didn’t take up much screen time, was near the end of the movie, and didn’t make the parading of the fact that these were something Disney owned and could put in a movie like this for free the main focus./

At the same time, it gave GENEROUS screentime to items and easter eggs from non-Disney IPs that would also make sense to be in the movie, considering the type of game the story takes place in over the course of it.

/Like the Portal gun, MegaMan’s blaster, and emojis of dances stolen from black TikTokers without proper compensation./

All that to say, I’m glad I didn’t let that get in my way of watching this movie at the end of the day.

And at the same time, I’m extremely happy to see that my opinions about the NPC take on the trope “Living is More Than Surviving” were disproven.

If anything, Free Guy showed me that an NPC breaking out of its usual routine in a video game is actually a damn near perfect vehicle for the trope to ride around in. And BECAUSE it's an NPC in a video game, seeing it play out can allow us to easily place ourselves and our situations in the place of Guy and Free City respectively.

One of the plot points on the real-life side of Free Guy is that Soonami, the company that made the video game Free City, bought and shelved an indie video game made by developers Walter McKey played by Stranger Things’ Joe Keery, and Millie Rusk played by Jodie Comer.

/The game was called Life Itself/ (it’s a strictly observational experience...watch it grow)

/The thing is, the game wasn’t completely shelved. Antwan, the CEO of Soonami and the films antagonist played by Taika Waititi used Walter’s code and Millie’s AI engine in the game, which is why Millie is in legal pursuit of the company while also trying to find proof in the game in order to back up her case, and Walter was hired by the company to help develop Free City under certain NDA conditions regarding Millie./

Because of that, every NPC in Free City has the AI engine created by Millie dormant within themselves.

/And because Guy’s code consists of Walter’s love letter to Millie within him, his AI activated upon seeing her game avatar for the first time, prompting him to become self aware enough to want to break out of the role established for him by the video game./

And as a result of questioning the state of things and challenging change surrounding what used to be his daily experience, caused Millie’s AI engine in other NPCs to slowly yet surely activate, become self-aware and seek change.

/Well, almost all of them./ (I can’t. It’s unnatural)

Now while this was the type of explanation for Guy’s level of sentience I was expecting, it wasn’t an instant turn-off for me.

True, some might find it a bit cliche, while others might say it undermines the effect Guy has on the game knowing that it wasn’t a natural occurrence...

/That it was the combination of the actions of two game developers who don’t know how to express their feelings for each other romantically and have grown comfortable being tortured platonically./

But what made me feel more at ease about the origin of Guy’s sentience was actually one of the two things I believe handled very well when it comes to the commentary within it.

/And the one related to THIS situation, is how the film handles mainstream Nihilism/

Now if you’ve been following me for a while, or recently discovered me and decided to check out my older body of work, then you know that I am NOT a fan of the philosophy of Nihilism.

Especially the way the philosophy of Nihilism has been currently represented in mainstream media, in which case Rick Sanchez from Rick & Morty has undoubtedly become the poster-boy of.

Obviously, Guy experiences this sense of Nihilism himself after Millie learns that he’s an NPC affected by her AI engine in the Free City game and decides to tell him in the player-character lounge.

/He finds out that he and the others in the city that aren’t “heroes” aren’t real people, runs to the shoreline, finds and interacts with Free City’s game wall where Walter and Millie’s actual game is being hidden on the horizon and screams/ (It’s all a LIE)

The reason why I’m a fan of how the movie handles this sense of Nihilism however, is because of how it's immediately countered.

Guy is at a point that because he and his community are background characters in a video game, nothing matters because they were created with the original intent of not having a say; that it’s all eventually dictated by humans, either participating in Free City or manipulating it.

This causes Guy to enter the state of Nihilism that’s currently popular on mainstream media; because you’re now aware of your overall lack of agency when compared to life itself, nothing you do actually matters.

/How Free Guy combats this possibly toxic way of thinking however, is by showing you that instead of focusing on the insignificance of your place in the world overall, focus on significance your presence means to someone or something in the moment/ (even if I’m not real, this moment is...I don’t know what is)

The irony of this scene is that Buddy -- played by Lil Rel Howery -- would never have reached that state of enlightenment to help Guy out in his Nihilistic depression if it weren’t for Guy trying to get him to make the same steps toward self-awareness as he did. Which, as you can tell, is the second bit of commentary the movie makes.

/And that commentary is the fact that because of how simple the concept is of an NPC in a video game that no longer accepts being part of the world, but instead wants to actively EXPERIENCE it, Free Guy can easily be adaptable to any and all restrictions the viewer can associate Guy’s journey with./

As I stated before, Readers, what surprised me most about Free Guy is how it takes the concept of an NPC gaining sentience in a GTA Live-slash-Fortnite style video game, and finds a way to use it to supply so many possible commentary points within the one scenario.

It takes a page out of the Matrix’s book, and explores how one can step out of the expectations society has placed on individuals.

But because the individuals in this case are literally programmed to follow said expectations, it oddly enough takes a more realistic approach at how one breaking out of their conditioning is a bit more of a struggle, yet not necessarily impossible.

/Yes, there’s more than likely gonna be someone we encounter in our lives that either already HAS it figured out, or is in a state of questioning things that its enough to throw us off because their current state of mind is already questioning how we know things are SUPPOSED to work/ (Can I have a Cappuccino?)

/But for someone out there who has been following the notions all their lives, that chance encounter could be the first step in getting them to explore something about them that they’ve always been curious about, or just step outside of what current limitations they think their lives only consist of./ (She’s only programmed to make coffee but now she’s been making cappuccinos)

What’s great about how Free Guy handles this, is that because the anchor of the narrative is a video game and the ones breaking free are NPCs, its commentary isn’t limited to reflecting off the real life scenarios of just one thing. It can be an allegory for people breaking free of capitalism, religion, the society-wide indoctrination of patriarchy and heteronormativity. Anything

/And what first made me aware of the very fluidity of the commentary, was seeing Guy returning to the bank to talk to Buddy and try to convince him that he should put on the glasses and join him in living life without the restrictions of his code./

But Buddy is too scared to do so -- to go against everything he’s been LITERALLY programmed to experience and believe because of how the game and the role he plays in it operates.

/What’s heartbreaking about it is that because this is Lil Rel Howery playing him, you can see in both his actions AND his face just how much Buddy wants to take them, but he just can’t bring himself to do it./ (I’m sorry. I can’t)

/And it just makes the moment Guy and Buddy have on the bridge before his code is severed from the server all the more impactful because of it./ (I’m sorry. I’m not. This has been the best day of my life)

The reason that dynamic hit me as hard as it did is because I was...I AM Guy. And I’ve been wearing these sunglasses for quite a while.

And I also have a Buddy of my own, who -- despite displaying a want to over the course of our friendship -- is too afraid of what will happen and what it would mean about themselves if they put on a pair of their own.

Now I’m not gonna assume that everyone can relate to my situation, but that’s what makes the commentary in Free Guy so special.

You can easily apply ANY situation you are going through to the machinations of Free City, and see yourself in Guy’s decision to step out of the rut that it tells you you should stay in.

And because the POV is through individuals who were LITERALLY created to serve one function and realize that they have the choice to do more than what the world set out for them...

We find it easier to take our own self and our own struggles with the rules, regulations, and even the agency given to us in the video game that is life, and apply it to the individuals we see in the movie.

/It doesn’t go as hard as The Matrix does, obviously. But considering what it uses for the subject matter and how easily it’s proven it can adapt to multiple scenarios that are prominent real life talking points, color me impressed./

Too long, didn’t read, I HIGHLY recommend that you watch Free Guy if you haven’t already.

The Disney IP fan service is extremely minimal if that was initially a turn-off for you, and the IP easter eggs that ARE there make sense according to the story

While I will admit that Taika Waititi’s character was a tad bit cringe here and there, it doesn’t take away from the actual comedy present, the point the movie’s real-life plot is trying to make regarding video game conglomerates, or the substance that’s worth witnessing the narrative over

/Because in actuality, Free Guy was made for there to be a little something for everyone. Even the ones that weren’t expecting it./

Right now you can digitally rent Free Guy on various video on demand streaming services for as little as $6.

But if you want to purchase it and also help financially support the channel, I’ll have an affiliate link for you in the description down below.

So with that being said Readers, your homework assignment for the day:

Write in the comment section below what you thought of Free Guy if you’ve seen it.

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But until then, this is Readus 101. Class dismissed.