Free Guy

This is just a happy, colorful, fun movie. Cinematica americana, if movies were classified in the same way animals are. It's an interesting twist on a Truman Show style plot. In the Truman Show, Truman is the center of attention. In this film, the protagonist is a mundane, non-playable character in an open-world videogame. His life is partially-developed: he's generally supposed to be a happy guy who performs a role until he's beat up or killed in the course of the game. Of course if he's killed, he just re-appears the next day in the game. Things take a twist when he suddenly gains autonomy. Though he somehow has grasped the concept of free will and even encourages his colleagues to embrace it as well, he still doesn't know his reality is artificial.

The movie is paint-by-numbers in terms of the emotional ride Hollywood wants to lead you on, but if that's all you see, I think you're being too reductive. It's also not original for the main character to be the central figure to a morality tale where beautiful ignorance can reign over cynicism and remind us all to enjoy simple pleasures in life. No, I think it's important to look past that and consider the innovation of this movie giving life to what's supposed to be a mindless, wandering, videogame character.