Free Guy Review: Ryan Reynolds Searches For The Meaning Of Life In Video Game Version Of The Truman Show

​​​​​​​Ryan Reynolds plays Guy, a non-player character in a Grand Theft Auto-esque open world shooter called Free City. But here’s the thing: he doesn’t know that. And when he does, he suffers an existential meltdown. With help from Molotovgirl, a gun-totting avatar of a programmer (Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer), Guy embarks on a journey of self-discovery. If Ralph Breaks the Internet and The Truman Show had a baby, Shawn Levy’s meta-movie would be that bouncing bundle of joy. A hyperactive eye-candy coasting on Reynolds’ irresistible goofball charm (better used here than in the obnoxious The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard), Free Guy is many things roll into one — a meditation on free will, a gaming-culture satire, a workplace rom-com, and a Henley shirt commercial. (3.5/5 stars)

Just when you thought the ‘found footage’ horror sub-genre has run its course, comes this riveting chiller — a collab between Banjong Pisanthanakun (Shutter) and Na Hong-Jin (The Wailing) — about a documentary team which get more than they bargain for while chronicling a shaman’s (Sawanee Utoomma) exorcism of her demonically-possessed niece (Narilya Gulmongkolpech) in a remote village in Northern Thailand. The mock doc starts off slow but quietly fills the atmosphere with dread, building up to a pants-wettingly terrifying third act, including a surveillance sequence shot in night-vision a la Paranormal Activity and a bonkers finale where things go south-of-heaven fast.​​​​​​​ (3.5/5 stars)