Fox has dropped the first trailer for the video game action-comedy Free Guy, and it appears ready to answer a lingering question: what if the trivial non-player characters in your favorite shooter realized they were in a game?
Starring Ryan Reynolds as the newly-woke AI, Free Guy is a bit like Truman Show with a video game spin, and the video game looks a lot like Grand Theft Auto. When an NPC discovers his peripheral role in an open-world video game nearing extinction, he decides to use his immortal powers to intervene and decide his own destiny. It’s like one big inside joke for gamers, and with the reliably entertaining Reynolds leading the cast, Free Guy has potential.
The storyline on display is predictable, but that’s clearly part of the point. Really, the focus here is on nods to the absurd game logic that wouldn’t hold up in real life. Who in their right mind would treat non-stop gunfights and car crashes as normal? There are also adorable touches, such as the feeling you’d get from using a video game medkit (spoiler: it’s like getting high on drugs.
Free Guy also stars Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Taika Waititi, Channing Tatum, and Lil Rey Howery. Stranger Things director Shawn Levy is assuming directorial duties, having previously directed Cheaper by the Dozen, Night at the Museum, Date Night. Zak Penn and Matt Lieberman penned the script, with Penn’s prior writing credits including The Avengers and Lieberman having co-wrote 2019’s The Addams Family and Playing With Fire.
Free Guy is set to hit theaters worldwide on 3 July, 2020.
