A wistful demonstration of earlier times, harking back and liberally borrowing from movies with the amount of soul that this effort can only dream of? Or, a genuine rollercoaster comedy adventure full of heart, thrills and even romance that is all too lacking in a more cynical, critical world?
Free Guy creator Shawn Levy and best buddy Ryan Reynolds are at it again. Making slick, quick-witted action not only cool, but fun too, with a Netflix budget behind them. Joined by Zoe Saldana, Jennifer Garner and Walter Scobell, Mark Ruffalo and Catherine Keener to round out the main players, we could be forgiven for being spoilt. This would be true if they were all on the top of their game.
This reminded me a little too much of less than perfect movies and less of those that have inspired it. Tomorrowland, for example kept tapping me on the shoulder and poking at my grey matter, where it really had no place to be, save for the glitz and budget and outlandish premise.
We really can't chastise Levy too harshly as this is still a fun, albeit mostly chaotic hundred minute adventure that, whilst maybe lacking the 'magic' of predecessors, is still littered with good intentions and sparingly sprinkled with genuine laughs. I'm expecting Reynolds to helm the hilarious story of a talking golden retriever next. This seems like his trajectory. Overhyped and underperforming. It could have been great, but instead, this was just good enough.
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