While Ryan Reynolds’ Free Guy is reportedly getting a sequel, the film proves the current Hollywood approach wrong by telling one singular story, rather than building towards future sequels for a full-on franchise within the first film. Despite the film’s vast narrative space that travels back and forth from real life to an immersive video game world, Reynold’s comedy had one story to tell which largely worked in its favor (most likely contributing to Free Guy‘s current box office success). Rather than getting lost in the rush of revealing what’s next (especially with a non-established property), the film greatly benefitted from a strong narrative focus that stayed in the present.
In Free Guy, a non-playable character known as Guy (played by Ryan Reynolds) breaks free from his programmed and routine life in the digital Free City, a video game shooter world created by Taika Waititi’s Antoine. However, Antoine and his company stole code from two indy programmers, resulting in Guy actually being a fairly advanced AI who decides he wants more from life. What follows is Guy finding love while also seeking to save all of the other NPCs who are just as capable of breaking their loops as he is before their game is deleted, making way for Antoine’s sequel game.
While Free Guy has a strong plot, good acting, and an abundance of great humor and action, its true strength lies in the fact that there wasn’t a pull of focus away from what was happening in the current story. Typically, the average and current Hollywood blockbuster will carry teases for future installments, foreshadowing sequels and/or spin-offs in the first film’s third act (sometimes as soon as the second act). However, Free Guy bucks the sequel trend, deviating from this routine (much like Guy himself) which is a surprising change of pace and should be seen as a positive overall. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with sequels and franchise building (when done well), it’s refreshing to see a sequel being warranted purely for the strength of what could have remained a stand-alone story with solid world-building.
While Free Guy certainly could have fallen into the same process of cramming the back half of the film with teases and plot points directed towards sequels, the film proves that a Hollywood tentpole blockbuster can stand alone as its own thing. That being said, it does look as though Disney wants a Free Guy 2. While it’s certainly going to be hard to top this first one, at least a sequel feels earned thanks to its solid narrative.
All in all, Free Guy exists as a rare anomaly amongst Hollywood blockbusters. While it is most likely getting a sequel from director Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds, it uniquely didn’t try to sell one in the midst of their first film like so many other films in the current era. Here’s hoping Free Guy 2 can live up to its predecessor down the line. Free Guy is now playing in theaters.
