ANYONE WHO’S looking for a dark, nihilistic, cynical time at the movies, Free Guy ain’t for you!” says director Shawn Levy, clearly unafraid to scare away the hardcore Joker demographic while promoting his latest film.
“If you’re looking for joy, if you’re looking for hope and just a belief in human connection and the possibilities of stepping up and living bigger and having more of a footprint in your world, that’s where we came from when we made this movie.”
And if you’re looking for a high concept – the kind of instant, genius hook that’s the eternal grail quest of Hollywood – then Free Guy delivers on that, too.
Welcome to Free City, an open-world videogame in the carnage-stacked tradition of Grand Theft Auto. In this unreal arena of car smashes and gunfire, sweet-natured bank teller Guy (Ryan Reynolds) exists as an NPC – a non-player character, perfectly content to populate the background.
Sure, reality’s pretty weird: the same bullet-spattering bank robbery occurs on a daily basis, but he has his best pal, Buddy (Get Out’s Lil Rel Howery), a pet goldfish and the most delicious coffee in the whole world. What’s a little endlessly looping mayhem compared to that kind of simple happiness? But then Guy suddenly becomes sentient, and reality shatters…
This story is from the September 2021 edition of SFX.
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This story is from the September 2021 edition of SFX.
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ANCER MAHAGEMENT
WITH A NEW TRILOGY IN SIGHT, WE SPEAK TO THE DIRECTOR OF 28 WEEKS LATER THE ORIGINAL CHILLING SEQUEL TO DANNY BOYLE'S SEMINAL SURVIVAL HORROR
WHO YA CONNA CALL?
BEHIND THE SCENES AT HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS FOR GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
THE DEVIL'S HOUR STRIKES TWICE AS THE GENREDEFYING DRAMA RETURNS
SCARRY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK
FROM THE RETURN OF EC COMICS TO SCREAM!, THIS YEAR'S HALLOWEEN OFFERS UP HORROR COMICS FOR ALL THE AGES
UNDEADS REFLECTIONS
NEIL JORDAN ON BRINGING ANNE RICE'S MODERN VAMPIRE CLASSIC TO SCREEN, 30 YEARS ON
MUNSTER MASH!
PRODUCTION HELL, SHOCK RECASTING AND HOTLY CONTESTED AUTHORSHIP. AS THE MUNSTERS CELEBRATE THEIR 60TH ANNIVERSARY, WE UNCOVER HOW THE SPOOKY SITCOM WAS ALMOST DEAD ON ARRIVAL
COMING TO AMERICA
THE MOGWAI LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM IN THEIR SECOND CHAPTER, GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH
BEING HUMAN EVOLUTION
IT MAY HAVE BEEN AN INSTANT HIT, BUT BBC THREE'S DARKLY COMIC DRAMA ABOUT A HOUSE-SHARING VAMPIRE/WEREWOLF/GHOST TRIO HAD A STRANGE JOURNEY TO THE SCREEN, SERIES CREATOR TOBY WHITHOUSE TELLS SFX
THE MAINE EVENT
THE DARK IS RISING IN SALEM'S LOT AS STEPHEN KING'S DEATHLESS TALE RETURNS TO THE SCREEN
WHY DON'T YOU STAY FOR A BITE?
THE VAMPIRE COMES HOME AS DIRECTOR EUROS LYN WELCOMES SFX TO HIS NEW DARK COMEDY THE RADLEYS
