Ready Player Guy
115 Mins. Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Joe Keery & Taika Waititi. Director: Shawn Levy.
CTRL-ALT-Repeat. A guy walks into a bank...because that's his job. I know, I know. Where is the punchline you ask? Well, this guy's life sort of is the joke. Like a 'I got you babe', Bill Murray 'Groundhog Day', he wakes up in the same way every day. Looking at his fishbowl as we stare through ours at him like this was 'The Truman Show'. It kind of is. But more like a McConaughey 'EDtv' copy off the VCR. Walking the same way to work every day through a fake Hollywood studio lot with a good...no great catchphrase building up like 'The LEGO Movie's' brick-by-brick deceleration to everything being awesome. This guys life is so blue shirt mundane that's actually his name. What? 'Mundane'? No! 'Blue Shirt'? Erm...kind of. 'Guy'?! Theeere you go! At least let this guy be handsome right? Like I don't know a Ryan Reynolds type?! That's a bingo (Christoph Waltz voice)! Now we're getting somewhere. You see Ryan Reynolds is Guy. An NPC-that literally sounds like the boring ass company he works for, but to you noobs (rookies) that's a 'Non Playable Character'-in a video game world who wants to be a 'Free Guy' in this Free City like Life Itself. Don't we all Guy...don't we all. But this is the 'Night At The Museum' trilogy director Shawn Levy's world and just like his wonderful waxworks brought from still life to Ben Stiller's life, this is an epic exhibit. Think of this as a digital age Carrey 'Truman' playing 'It's A Wonderful Life' with Spielberg's video game by the cheat code 'Ready Player One', "with a smattering of drive-bys" like 'Grand Theft Auto' (feel guilty about beating up old CPU people yet?) in this multi-inspired, meta look at the world of a different kind of big-screen for your console. This even has real streamers Twitchin' in response. Video games make more money than movies these days, so why not 1up and combine the two? And after being stuck at home in quarantine last year with all these properties pushed back like a Jenga...I'm sorry Tetris block you shouldn't have removed, it seems like the 'New Legacy' of cinema this blockbuster summer is being dominated by the building blocks of code like 'The Matrix', or the new King James crowning 'Space Jam' too.
Free as his iconic 'Deadpool' character, going fourth and breaking all sorts of walls and balls, Ryan Reynolds is as slick as his trademark one-liners (have you ever seen him interview himself? "Why such a c##t?") once he puts on a set of shades that changes his whole virtual reality. Changing him into a cool playable character like the classic Hollywood heartthrob who makes a cameo appearance amongst many marvellous classic ones and dances up all sorts of magic like a flossing 'Fortnite'. Off comes the name tag and tie and on comes...erm...another blue shirt as he enters this debauched world of gameplaying hedonism and actually becomes the good guy. Stopping more heists and robberies like the star-less opposite of GTA is how you are really supposed to play this game (maybe it is). This and Reynolds realms of charm is the heart here in this age of anti-heroes like 'The Suicide Squad' that makes this slow to boot-up role play actually first person when it comes to shooting for blockbuster success this Summer. Going from epic looking to exhilarating in every emotion as this thing levels up from Pac Man popping corn nostalgia-there's even some fun calls to Disney properties we won't spoil like a 'Space Jam' Warner Bros. now a sequel has been ordered like large fries for Guy's new legacy-to 'Truman' and 'Groundhog' identity like inspiration. Big-screen iconic moments you've missed that will have you pretending you've been staring at the screen too long, wondering why you're actually crying over a blockbuster movie about jacking cars and shoot-outs, straight out of a make believe world (is Vin Diesel talking about family again?). But Reynolds' teller is not alone in this universe. This existential open world that not only looks at our identity and our place in it, but how we view and treat others. Our place at home. How we live our lives. What we see as reality. And where we go to escape. All in the name of feeling free. Which locked at home, a slave to the screen is what all us avatars need right now to stop playing and change the game.
Dude there's his in-game alter-ego for one which is just hilarious, but this world has so many people in it like this video game one now that is so much more than just a walk-through. In game footage for this sweet fantasy like Mariah has Jodie Comer's Molotov cocktail of an assassin killing it like Eve and accenting a multi-talented performance, human and avatar in a role behind the shades that really sees you. She's the fuse that ignites both the set-pieces and the high stakes of this game that you want to continue before it's over like 9...8...7. She and 'Stranger Things' star Joe Keery and that perfect hair just want their world that they created back. And reuniting with the best series on Netflix director Levy, Keery has his hand on all the right keys as he goes to keyboard warrior war with best friend rapper and 'Pitch Perfect' star Utkarsh Ambudkar's pink rabbit (also on key) and big bad boss Taika Waititi (making a killing this week with this and his 'Suicide Squad' Ratcatcher). Acting like one of the douched up gamers playing dress and acting up in real life. What GMA's Peter Travers said in his review was perfect, he "played Hitler with more restraint in 'JoJo Rabbit'". Taika is so good here you take him seriously as someone who really shouldn't do that to himself. So much so you actually hate the character of someone so likable in real life. Who would have thought that the man who played a fun Adolf actually had the makings of a great villain? And how about Deadpool's trailer reaction with Korg himself, mates? Reynolds clearly has a lot to deal with in this multiplayer. Pick your poison and choose your character. But Ryan's Guy has his own best friend in Hollywood's best, best friend, 'Get Out', 'Uncle Drew' and also 'Space Jam: A New Legacy' cameo star in this digital age, Lil Rel Howery. It may not be TSA, but it's N. P. Motherf#####g C all day. With Levy pulling the levers, Reynolds-with this and the 'Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard'-is really making hits this Summer for the perfect score. The concept and combo of this one pushes all sorts of buttons that put it up top the leaderboard. Now servers you can take that source code like Jake Gyllenhaal for free. All the way to the fake bank for this Hollywood heist. Now how about round 2, my guy? TIM DAVID HARVEY.
Further Filming: 'Ready Player One', 'The Truman Show', 'Space Jam-A New Legacy'.
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