"Video Game" Movie 'Free Guy'
In video games, there are, more often then not, NPCs that populate the world you are playing in. For those unaware, NPC stands for non-player character; a simulation of a person. There are games where these characters are important to the story of a game and are responsible for moving a plot along. On the other hand, there are games where NPCs are there to simply populate the game world for depth or to add challenge. Unless they are a part of a game’s story, they don’t have many actions they can do, but some can still interact with the player. What if an NPC that isn’t suppose to interact with a player decides to and realizes that he is in a game?
The upcoming movie ‘Free Guy’ tells the story of one such NPC who finds out one day that he is a part of a video game world. Guy is the name of the character, and he discovers that the game he is in, called Free City, is soon going to be shut down. He manages to gain awareness of the world that he lives in after a new code is inserted into the game world by the game publisher Antoine. The code developed by programmers Milly and Keys who must similarly help to try and keep the game they have been working on from shutting down. With help from Guy, they just might be able to do it.
‘Free Guy’ was announced by Ryan Reynolds a little while back and it seemed like an interesting idea. It is a concept that hasn’t really ever been given life before, but it could do very well. The comedy in the film seems to be what anybody would have expected from those who have been listed working on it. The world that it is set in, from a player’s perspective, seems like it is a film industry look at what a game world is like, which doesn’t seem great. However, the way the world looks from the perspective of the NPCs is what makes it look real, and I think this is one of the points of the film.
‘Free Guy’ itself is a sci-fi action comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, who also directed Big Fat Liar, Cheaper by the Dozen, the Night at the Museum series, and Stranger Things. Acting in the film is Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Taika Waititi. The story, as well as screenplay, was written by Matt Lieberman with screenwriter Zak Penn (The Avengers) assisting with the screenplay. It is being produced by Reynolds, Levy, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Adam Kolbrenner. As of now, it is slated for theatrical release on July 3, 2020.