He would do anything for love, but he won’t do that — by which we mean become corporeal. We’ve got a new trailer and release date for Ryan Reynold’s Free Guy, a film about a video game NPC that gains self-awareness and becomes an international celebrity for being nice. And pissing off Taika Waititi in the process.
The newest trailer for Free Guy stars Reynolds as “Blue Shirt Guy,” a hapless bank teller who finds out he’s actually a background character in an open-world, total destruction video game called Free City. As you can see in the latest trailer, his awareness is largely caused by his virtually star-crossed romance with a player named Milly/Molotov Girl (Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer).
Blue Shirt Guy starts to fight back against the players destroying his world, using a pair of augmented reality glasses to see the video game elements hiding underneath the facade. Surprisingly, his actions start making him famous, as folks think he’s a player who’s simply trying to “be nice.” He even gets a question on Jeopardy! Unfortunately, he gains the ire of game designer Antoine (Taika Waititi), who doesn’t want some random player (or NPC) ruining his perfect creation. Eventually, the game’s very future is put in jeopardy, so Blue Shirt Guy and his fellow NPCs have to rise up and save their city.
Based on the trailer, the movie has some serious The Lego Movie vibes, combined with the sometimes-dated tropes about gaming as seen in that ridiculously violent and over-the-top Gerard Butler movie Gamer. But unlike that theatrical trip into video game land, Free Guy is not yet rated, so time will tell how violent this game (and movie) actually get. 20th Century Studios also released a new poster, along with the release date.
There’s a poster too. #FreeGuy is in theaters December 11. pic.twitter.com/oPR8QSwE0o
— 20th Century Studios (@20thcentury) October 5, 2020
Free Guy is set to arrive in Australian theatres on December 10, although the novel coronavirus pandemic could cause it to be delayed like so many others.