"Free Guy" stars Ryan Reynolds, contains big laughs, and is the movie COVID-19 bumped so many
times that it became a running joke. But there might actually be an undercurrent of existential
dread buried beneath this flick's feel-good surface. These are the biggest unanswered
questions in "Free Guy." Caution: spoilers ahead!
Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics dictate that robots may not harm a human being,
must obey orders unless they conflict with the First Law,
and must protect their own existence, unless doing so conflicts with either previous Law.
The NPCs of "Free City" do not have corporeal forms in our world. They do,
however, have bodies in the game. They are also,
undeniably, computer creations. Since your average "Free City" NPC has a body created
via computer and acts on impulses directed by a computer, doesn't that make them robots?
This is an important question, because if "background" characters do not possess
artificial intelligence, their actions would be severely limited. They wouldn't be able to rebel
against Antwan, thereby harming their creator. They wouldn't be allowed to disobey orders,
like the girl in the coffee shop does when she decides to make a cappuccino.
"Free Guy" is a breezy summer popcorn movie, so it avoids explicitly asking questions it doesn't want
to answer. But if Guy is the only AI-powered NPC in Free City, the only way to explain the
rebellious actions of others in the film's climax is to suppose that his artificial
intelligence is somehow infectious.
Let's assume for a moment that the NPCs of Free City aren't robots,
but living beings who simply don't understand things like life, death, and free will.
If this is the case, then the film's climax, in which Antwan destroys the servers that
house the game with an axe, is a tragedy on par with the destruction of Alderaan.
We witness much of Free City's destruction: Buildings collapse, streets tear themselves apart,
and hundreds of people flee for their lives. We are informed that Antwan destroys every server
except the last one, which coincidentally houses Guy and friends we care about like Buddy. So,
let's assume that he destroys 49 out of 50 servers, which feels like the right amount,
based on the room we see. This means Antwan kills 98% of the people in Free City.
Sure, Antwan is supposed to be the film's villain. But this makes him a mass murderer who slaughters
hundreds, if not thousands of people who don't even possess the mental capacity to
realize their lives are ending. It really takes the character to a whole new level of evil.
But hey, Guy and his funny friends live, so why should we care about those robotic NPCs?
"I was created as a love
letter to you," Guy tells Millie at the end of the film. "You need to go find the author." This
is a tremendously sweet line. It's also really, really messed up. Guy is admitting that every
fiber of his being was manufactured to love one person -- a person forever out of reach.
"That's her."
'Who?"
"That's my dream girl, buddy."
Let's assume Millie regularly visits Guy via avatar. What could be more miserable than
watching your soulmate grow old with someone else? Now, let's assume Millie eventually
stops visiting Guy regularly. What does he do now? How can he possibly find happiness, knowing that
any woman he meets is destined to fall short? By creating Guy as a love letter, Keys doomed
his creation to a life of loneliness. Sure, Guy looks happy at the end of the film,
but if there's a "Free Guy" sequel, the character's damning mixture of self-awareness
and unfulfillable romantic expectations are likely to plunge him into a deep depression.
Perhaps in a sequel, Millie and Keys could build a second AI-powered character who looks, acts,
and sounds exactly like Millie, allowing Guy to finally find love. But now we're getting into
Alfred Hitchcock "Vertigo" territory. Anyway, "Free Guy" filmmakers, if you use that idea,
be sure to send us the royalty checks.
In what is undoubtedly the most crowd-pleasing moment of the film, Guy turns around a violent
smackdown from the newly-uploaded, half-finished Dude by selecting various weapons added to his
repertoire. Among other iconic items, we see Captain America's shield, Hulk's arm,
a lightsaber, and a "Fortnite" weapon. If you go by his facial expressions,
Guy recognizes these weapons. He also knows how to use them. But how could Guy know what "Star
Wars," "Fortnite," and the MCU are? And if he's so pop-culturally aware, why doesn't he recognize his
own story's resemblances to "They Live" and "The Lego Movie"?
"What are these, trick glasses or something?!"
It seems pretty clear that he's enjoying the connotations of his weapons as much as their functionality.
Throughout the film, we never see any indication that Guy plays video games or watches anything
other than the daily news report on Free City's inevitable chaos and destruction.
It also seems doubtful that anybody would have spoken to him about these properties, since his
peers are equally-clueless NPCs or outsiders who aren't in the habit of chit-chatting with Guy
before he becomes a household name.
"Free Guy" is set in two locations: The virtual Free City, and the non-virtual,
unnamed city where Antwan's company is headquartered. So, why do they both look
like Boston? The word "Boston" is never uttered in the movie, but we do see the Financial District,
the city's distinctive waterfront, the Boston Harbor Hotel, and other
instantly-recognizable locales inside the game. Is the game called "Free City: Boston"?
Nope. Is it exactly mapped to Boston? Nope. But there's enough Boston-specific
stuff present to make things confusing. Video games typically either recreate a famous city
and use that as a selling point, or construct something wholly original. This does neither.
Perhaps Millie and Keys are Bostonians who modeled "Free City" after their own environment. But
everything is referred to in extremely generic terms, despite the landscape's specificity.
"Life in the big city. Ain't nothing like it."
Of course, "Free Guy" was shot in and around
Massachusetts, with lots of important scenes filmed in Beantown proper.
But since the locations are unnamed and no attempt is made to acknowledge Boston's people, culture,
or eccentricities, the audience is left wondering why the creators of "Free City" bothered to
model their entire game off the Hub.
The next time you watch "Free Guy," keep an eye on Mouser. As his nickname implies,
he's a sneaky guy -- and he might also be the Machiavelli behind the entire plot.
Which one was Mouser, you ask? He's Keys' programmer buddy, ostensibly stuck listening
to him talk about his love life. He's also forced to execute Antwan's evil orders.
Finally, he assists Millie on the sly, without any apparent motivation to do so.
This seemingly unimportant character constantly dispenses advice which Millie, Keys, and Antwan
unfailingly act upon. He shuts down the game, interferes with the game, and adds new elements
to the game, many of which are unsuccessful. But what if he isn't failing in these moments?
What if, instead, he's manipulating everyone to his own advantage? Look back, and you'll
realize that if a single character ignored one of Mouser's pieces of information and/or advice,
the entire film would have played out differently. But he's so good at pulling strings that all three
characters think he's operating on their behalf. What's his angle? Well, Mouser leans towards
Antwan for much of the film, figuring the odds are in the billionaire's favor. But when the
balance of power shifts, Mouser becomes a good guy and lands a sweet gig on Millie and Keys' next
project. It's an intriguing subtext for a movie about avatars manipulated by distant geeks. Mouser
might just be the geek driving the entire film.
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