So, this isn’t exactly brand new, but it hasn’t been out for that long, so I think it still counts. I swear I saw the trailer for this film a lifetime ago. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I feel like this was originally meant to be a 2020 film but was held back for obvious reasons. Maybe I am just misremembering but I swear I have been aware of this film for as long as the medium of films has existed (no exaggeration). So, to finally see it feels quite freeing, which is apt. The film follows Guy (Ryan Reynolds), a bank teller who decides to become the hero of his world after finding out he is an NPC is a multiplayer videogame.
This is a film that plays out pretty much exactly as you would expect. It is a big Hollywood blockbuster starring Ryan Reynolds, and while I like him as an actor, he pretty much does the same thing each film he is in. Fortunately, the film has a fun enough promise and strong enough supporting cast that it remains fun despite being as predictable as you can imagine. It hits all the notes of your classic Hollywood film of this type; a guy becomes more than he thought he could be, has a crisis of confidence, before returning to save the day eventually. This does mean that any sense of dread or intrigue is kind of lost as you know where it is going the entire time, but the performances and the premise make the film engaging enough throughout that it doesn’t really matter. The film also has enough laughs throughout, including a couple of bigger laughs, mostly from the details in the background of scenes that help build up this video game world. One moment, in particular, has Guy checking his bank balance, but in the background, you have a character jumping into a wall and lagging out. It is a really simple thing to add in as background filler, but I appreciated it.
What I didn’t appreciate, and what made this film feel like Hollywood in a bad way, are the several and continuous celebrity cameos throughout. It isn’t gratuitous in this film as these things can be as the cameos do play into the plot in some way, but boy do they grate on me. And it is not even a jab at the people themselves as I actually quite like a couple of them, but I hate it as a concept in films like this. The film also does another thing that these films do that I don’t like, which is make throwaway comments on social issues of the day. Now, I am not opposed to films being politically charged or making social commentary, that is fine. But just dropping comments in feels forced, and although this film hides it within a joke it still just jumps out and doesn’t fit. Finally, I was a little disappointed with Taika Waititi’s character, Antwan. Taika Waititi is a very funny guy and by God, he is giving it his all in this role, but the character just comes across as annoying. I guess in a way he is meant to be as he is the villain, but he isn’t annoying in the sense that I dislike his character for the right reasons, I find him annoying because it feels like he is trying to be funny, and it is just grating.
Despite all this, the film remains a decently fun film. Yes, it is predictable and has a lot of elements that rub me the wrong way, but there is enough here to make it worth a fun enough film regardless. Ryan Reynolds is doing his usual thing so if you are not into that you are not going to like this. But if you do, you’re going to get exactly what you expect from it. Not anything amazing, but as good as I expected it could be.
Commentaires