Free Guy 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Free Guy 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 14, 2021

Director Shawn Levy (the Night at the Museum franchise, Real Steel) merges digital and reality in the creative Free Guy, a fun if not frivolous movie that goes inside the world of open world video games and answer the question of what would happen if an NPC (non-playable character) was suddenly self-aware and transformed into the game's hero. It's big, it's colorful, and there's actually a bit of depth to it as well. It's a fun little romp that gamers are sure to love if only for its loving references and ability to make the most of the video game tropes along the way while general audiences will find the story around the winks and nods surprisingly engaging.

In Free City, the people who wear sunglasses are heroes. They get to do whatever they want. They have free reign in the city. Laws are “mild suggestions.” Steal a car, blow something up, kiss the dreamy-eyed girl? No problem! These are the playable characters in a free roam open world game. Then there is Guy (Ryan Reynolds). He works in the “paradise” that is Free City. He may wear a form-fitting blue shirt, but he’s always tickled pink to live a life of repetitive bliss: every morning it’s the same coffee, the same bank teller job, and the same interactions with his security guard pal (Lil Rel Howery) and his regular customers. It’s also the same old routine when the bank is robbed, everyday, like clockwork. He’s living the digital dream as an NPC. All that is missing in his life is the girl of his dreams. And a pair of shoes he cannot afford.

But when he becomes ever more self-aware and dreamy-eyed when he spots that girl, one of the privileged few who wear sunglasses, he manages to break free of his programing and take charge of his existence. He flips the script, foils a bank robbery, takes the criminal’s sunglasses, and, through their lenses, discovers a whole new world within his own, a new reality hiding in plain sight. The glasses reveal to him everything the game’s player sees: a heads-up display, a map, health kits strewn about the world, and floating piles of cash: everything a player needs to make Free City their own for the taking. As Guy explores his new world, pads his bank account, and pursues the girl, known in-game as “Molotov Girl” (Jodie Comer), his exploits in playing a “hero” in the game make news in the real world. He’s pursued by a couple of game developers, Keys and Mouser (Joe Keery and Utkarsh Ambudkar), but the real story outside the game is an ownership dispute between game mogul Antwan (Taika Waititi) and Millie Rusk (also Comer) who claims legal rights to the game’s code and plays as Molotov Girl.

The plot is certainly on the "convoluted" side of the scale, and it can be tricky to keep things straight as the film shifts between two perspectives in-game and follows the story outside of it as well as the merging of the real and digital worlds as players enter and exit the game world as their own avatars. Levy and Writer Matt Lieberman are relatively successful at balancing and blending it all together, particularly as the story takes shape, characters are defined, rules are established, and the movie falls into flow. It's at its best as it's establishing the world rather than breaking the rules, but it's still a very fun, energetic, well conceived, and impressively executed film that actually manages to be somewhat original even as it's assembled form bits and pieces of a smorgasbord of films and games.

Indeed, there's a feeling of The LEGO Movie's Bricksburg at work in the opening minutes because, for Guy, life is all about routine and that routine is pretty awesome. But when his life turns into something of a digital version They Live, everything starts to change. Guy is suddenly aware of a new reality hiding in plain sight inside his own world, which is actually something akin to a Grand Theft Auto game (though to this reviewer the template seems as much Crackdown as Rockstar's legendary franchise) where no feat is impossible. There are some fun touches along the way: NPCs like Guy who are not yet self-aware spew the same few lines over and over, often right on top of one another, and they're generally unfazed by the carnage and mayhem playing out around them, casually continuing on with their lives unless they are within some predetermined proximity to violence, even if it's happening only yards away. The film certainly knows its stuff and how to integrate it all, both for dramatic purpose and to humorous effect. Gamers are going to love this far more than something like Pixels because there's been an effort to place real emotion and depth into the story rather than simply plop a video game ono the screen.

To be sure, the film is well constructed. It's smartly filmed and its digital supports are beautifully rendered and seamlessly integrated. The action is tight if not structurally familiar, supported by plenty of whiz-bang visual effects. Reynolds is solid in the lead, a great choice for the part. He nails the cadence down to a science and he has the look down pat: he's everything an artificial hero-out-of-nowhere should be. Supporting cast is fine even if the characters are a bit on the paper-thin side. The movie is more about its look and references, but the cast gives it an honest go, too, making for a pleasantly complete movie and surprisingly deep as the plot develops.

Free Guy 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Disney brings Free Guy to the UHD format with a 2160p/HDR presentation. The UHD is certainty darker overall next to the Blu-ray, in fact a good deal darker. Look at a scene midway through the film at about the 51-minute mark. Millie is talking to Keys in her apartment. What is a pleasantly warm and welcoming scene on Blu-ray looks much darker here, losing quite a bit of atmosphere as a result of, it seems, simply cranking the brightness down a bit and deepening the colors. While background noise is lessened on the UHD, the Blu-ray feels more accessible in this scene. The level of HDR tuning throughout the film renders the entire frame darker, even in daytime exteriors. Watch the very next scene, starting around the 53 minute mark, when Molotov Girl tracks down Guy at an ice cream stand. The Blu-ray looks like it's taking place in almost daylight with the sun fairly high in the sky while the UHD transforms the scene to look as if it's taking place at early dawn or late dusk. In fact, the UHD is so dark it covers up detail. There's simply more visibility on the Blu-ray to soak in skin textures and fine hair definition. Not to simply keep looking at the same little stretch, but see a still of Millie/Molotov Girl at the 56:07 mark. On the Blu-ray, viewers can clearly see fine facial details, the individual colors in the hair, and fine hair strands. The UHD is so dark as to lose some of the visible definition and hair color. This is not the case in every shot, of course -- oftentimes the UHD's superior clarity and intricacy, however modest, is in evidence -- but the minimal gains to sharpness from the upscaled 2K source and the loss of some of the color brightness and vitality don't add up to a clearly superior image. Granted, what's here is very sharp and efficient, but this is a rare case where many might actually find the Blu-ray preferable to the UHD. This will certainly be a divisive UHD that will have champions and detractors on both sides.

Free Guy 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Disney brings Free Guy to the UHD format with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. This track finds a little more depth to music and effects compared to the Blu-ray's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack. Guy's fight against Dude later in the movie is a good example where the music shows some LFE content and competency, but the track is, overall, a bit lacking for superior, never mind punishing, low end response. Still, the track is also wide and capable of offering plenty of ornate surround usage and satisfyingly discrete content. The overheads don't offer any serious individual audio elements, but the large spacing and blend into the top layer adds some nice general immersion into the experience. Overall clarity is excellent, particularly considering score, but every element enjoys firm definition at reference volume. Speaking of, the track is a little on the hushed side at reference volume, but not quite as much as the DTS track. Dialogue is clear and center positioned. This is the superior track of the two, somewhat lacking though it may be.

Free Guy 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This UHD release of Free Guy contains no extras but the bundled Blu-ray includes deleted and extended scenes, a gag reel, a few featurettes, and trailers. A digital copy is also included with purchase.

• Deleted/Extended Scenes (1080p, 5:43 total runtime): Included are Guy and Buddy Hit the Beach, Hot Nuts Gets Blown, and NPC Rally (Extended).
• Gag Reel (1080p, 4:48): Humorous moments from the shoot.
• Dude vs Guy (1080p, 15:55): Crafting one of the film's most complex scenes, practically and digitally alike.
• Creating Molotovgirl (1080p, 7:06): Looking at Jodie Comer's dual performances and how they are presented on the screen.
• It's Taika's World (1080p, 8:34): Some fun times with Taika Waititi while looking at his character Antwan.
• Welcome to Free City (1080p, 15:13): Building the world in which the story develops alongside some of the more metaphysical aspects the story explores.
• Theatrical Trailers (1080p): Included are Theatrical Trailer 1 (3:03), Theatrical Trailer 2 (2:35), and Theatrical Trailer 3 (2:26).

Free Guy 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Free Guy is the free roam video game brought to life. It's a fun little romp filled with technical wizardry and full of enjoyable references to the film and video game worlds. It's tailored to gamers but causals should find it enjoyable as well, even if it plays best in full understanding of its origins. Disney's UHD is very dark and in some ways, to this reviewer's eyes, anyway, not quite as pleasant as the Blu-ray. Audio is adequate and supplements are fine. Honestly, the recommendation is to save a few dollars and buy the Blu-ray instead.