In Free Guy, Reynolds plays a non-player character within an open-world video game who discovers that he is a character in a video game. In addition to Reynolds, Free Guy also stars Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Taika Waititi. Free Guy is directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Date Night) and written by Zak Penn (Ready Player One) and Matt Lieberman (The Christmas Chronicles). Some of the video gaming world’s most influential figures drop in for cameos including Imane “Pokimane” Anys, Lannan “LazarBeam” Eacott, Seán William “Jacksepticeye” McLoughlin, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, and Daniel “DanTDM” Middleton.
INFINITE (2021) MOVIE TRAILER REVIEW
It’s the same as it ever was for our titular Free Guy (Ryan Reynolds, embracing an anti-Deadpool role) who, after an indefinite amount of time working as a bank teller in an open-world video game ravaged by murder, sex, violence, and more murder, finally has an existential epiphany: Maybe there’s more to life than being ritualistically tortured, Westworld style, every time he wakes up. “If we’re not real,” he confides to a game pal in a new trailer, “doesn’t that mean that nothing you do matters?” He’s not wrong! Teaming up with a fellow background player (Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer), the duo start to reform the game and make real-world headlines in the process, much to the chagrin of their asshole creator (Taika Waititi) who doesn’t exactly love the new “good guy” spirit infiltrating the game. But who cares, because Alex Trebek shows up for a cameo, and we miss him very much. The film, originally set for a July 3, 2020 release, is now scheduled for August 13, 2021 due to the coronavirus. Enjoy the trailer.
Of course, “Free Guy” is just one of the many wannabe blockbusters affected by the pandemic. Among those moved from 2020 to this year: Marvel’s “Black Widow” (moved from May 1, 2020, to July 9, 2021) and “Eternals” (from Nov. 6, 2020, to Nov. 5, 2021); “Minions: The Rise of Gru” (from July 3, 2020, to July 2, 2021), “Jungle Cruise” (from July 2020 to July 30, 2021) and the supposedly final Daniel Craig Bond entry, “No Time to Die” ( it went from April 2020 to September 2020 and now to Oct. 8, 2021).