It’s rare to get a movie adapted from a video game, and even rarer to get a movie that’s about video games.Free Guy, the latest action-comedy starring Ryan Reynolds, is both a spoof and love letter to the gaming industry. The movie follows Guy, a bank teller, who discovers he’s actually an NPC in a violent multiplayer video game. As Guy discovers the truth about his world, he eventually becomes the first truly sentient NPC.
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As a fun Hollywood action movie,Free Guyhas more than enough fantastic and hilarious setpieces, cameos, and in-jokes to satisfy both gamers and non-gamers alike. However, it wouldn’t be a movie about video games if it didn’tinclude references to popular or classic entries in the medium. Anyone who’s familiar with video game culture will get a kick out ofFree Guy, which has many sly and clever references to pop culture, especially the video games it’s inspired by.
5Fortnite
Since the battle royale game became an internet sensation, it was bound that it was going to make some sort of appearance inFree Guy. Likely due to its popularity,Free Guycontains not one but twoFortnitereferences.
The first comesin the form of the “floss”, one ofFortnite’s most popular dance moves. At one point in the film, a player can be seen doing the floss dance in the game. Later in the movie, when Guy is fighting Dude, he uses a pickaxe fromFortniteto his advantage. It’s not just any pickaxe he uses; specifically, it’s the Rainbow Smash pickaxe.
4Portal and Half-Life
TheFortnitepickaxe isn’t the only video game weapon Guy uses inFree Guy, however. Early on in the movie, Millie uses a portal gun to escape the Stash with Guy,a clear reference to the popularPortalgames. The gun may not look much like the one found inPortal, but the quick reference is fun nonetheless. The movie’s weapon not only works in a very similar way to the portal gun but it also uses the orange and blue colored portals.
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In case audiences missed it, however, the gun makes a second appearance later on. In his fight with Dude, Guy uses the portal gun once again. The gravity gun, Valve’s other most famous weapon, is also used in Guy’s fight with Dude. The gravity gun of course appears inHalf-Life 2, and just like the portal gun, it works in the movie just like it does in the game.
3Mega Man
Referenced in some of the promotional art for the movie, theMega Manfranchise is another game referenced inFree Guy. While Mega Man himself doesn’t appear in the movie, his famous weapon, the Mega-Buster does. After leveling up past 100, Guy goes to join Millie to break into the Stash, which may very well hold the code powering the game that Millie needs.
The plan isn’t quite successful, however, as Guy and Millie eventually find themselves in the Stash surrounded by enemies. The two of them have to shoot their way out in typical action movie fashion. During the shootout, Guy pulls out various weapons, one of which is the Mega-Buster.
2Pac-Man
Here,Free Guygoes back to the roots of gaming and pulls out a reference to arguablythe most famous arcade game ever made. InPac-Man, players play the title character navigating a maze while avoiding the various ghosts.
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InFree Guy, the reference comes not from within the fictional video gameFree City, but in the real world. When Keys first enters his apartment,one of the Pac-Man ghostscan be seen as a lamp. As an aspiring video game developer, it should be too much of a surprise that Keys has a few video game knick-knacks lying around his apartment.
1Grand Theft Auto
WhileFree Guydoesn’t necessarily contain a specific reference to theGrand Theft Autofranchise, it pays homage to it with the concept of the game inFree Guy. In the gameFree City, players customize their own avatar and explore the seemingly endless city, performing various crimes and getting into insane car chases and shootouts. As one of the nameless NPCs, Guy often gets seriously hurt or killed by many of the players.
The open-world chaos ofFree Cityacts very similarly to theGrand Theft Autogames, specificallyGrand Theft Auto Onlinewith its online capabilities. Both games encourage players to commit various crimes around their open worlds, which will usually result in chaotic fights against law enforcement,and complete tasks for various characters. Both games also contain a plethora of NPCs, which players can harm or kill with sometimes hilarious results. So whileFree Guynever explicitly referencesGrand Theft Auto, it’s clear to anyone familiar with the games that it was used as a heavy inspiration for the movie.
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