A city with a self-developed AI – This is reality in the new film Free Guy around protagonist Ryan Reynolds. Streamer greats like Ninja and Pokimane are cleverly used and help to attract more attention.
An NPC evolves himself and begins to suddenly intervene in the world he knew less about than he thought. Ryan Reynolds, as a bank employee named Guy in the city of Free City, learns much later that he is an AI in a video game. When he begins to fight back and captures one of the video game goggles, his perspective literally changes.
Well-known gaming personalities were cleverly used here. For this action film tailored to the gaming scene gains more reach through tie-ins with top streamers like Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and Imane “Pokimane” Anys, who appeal to the film’s target demographic.
With reactions from the streamers who comment on the events of the game in the film, the film has become much more popular with the younger target audience and in the gaming sector in general. Ninja and Pokimane have millions of subscribers on YouTube and followers on Twitch and other social media channels respectively. Accordingly, the gaming stars were integrated in order to give the film more authenticity and direct reference to the current scene.
Free Guy’s trailer already shows the dynamic nature of the film, which draws on numerous existing video game contents. Among other things, the medkit from Fortnite can be seen to heal the protagonist’s injuries. Also included is the Unicorn Pickaxe, which is used to mine resources in Battle Royale. There is also the Portal Gun from the video game Portal as well as the Gravity Gun that appears in several titles and much more.
Numerous cinema-goers judge the film as “GTA from the point of view of the NPCs” – regarding the robberies in the bank and the thefts of cars followed by hit-and-runs. Indeed, it seems as if the Grand Theft Auto series had considerable influence on the creation of the world in Free Guy. Overall, a lot of emphasis has also been placed on modern language, as is common in voice chats. Free Guy has been in German cinemas since 12 August.
