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Free City is an online game developed by Soonami Studios. Its "players" (the online persons who have real lives beyond Free City) wear sunglasses and spend their time fighting each other and causing m…
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Free City is an online game developed by Soonami Studios. Its "players" (the online persons who have real lives beyond Free City) wear sunglasses and spend their time fighting each other and causing mayhem. The non-player characters (NPCs) accept the chaos while living out their scripted lives, unaware that the world they live in is a video game. These NPCs include Guy (Ryan Reynolds), who works as a clerk in Free City's bank with his best friend, security guard Buddy (Lil Rel Howery). The NPCs consider people with sunglasses to be heroes. They get to do anything they want, and go on all sorts of missions involving the nicest cars and the hottest women. They also have the cool clothes and gadgets and the laws don't apply to them. Every day, Guy follows the same routine. He wears the same clothes, goes to same barista for his morning coffee, admires shoes in the store that he wants to buy, checks balance at the ATM, and heads to work. Guy and Buddy react very nonchalant to all the violence happening right around them in the city. Even a robbery at their own bank is a regular occurrence and they simply get on the ground and discuss their life. Unemployed software developer Millie Rusk (Jodie Comer) plays Free City to find proof that Soonami stole the source code from the concept game she developed, Life Itself, which included novel artificial intelligence techniques for its NPCs. Millie enters Free City as an avatar to find the location of a secret level, and the coordinates to "Stash". Millie's avatar "MolotovGirl" catches Guy's attention by singing his favorite song, "Fantasy". Guy's non-normal responses to stimuli are activated. This is when Guy sees Millie for the first time and falls in love. As a result, Guy starts changing his routine. Guy then begins to deviate from his programming, accidentally shooting a player, robbing the bank at which he works, and leaving with the player's sunglasses. Guy does that because only people with sunglasses are allowed to talk to other people with sunglasses. As soon as Guy puts the glasses on, he sees Free City in a completely different light. The whole city is covered with overlay text, advertising new missions and other rewards for players, like health packs, weapons, cash, supplies etc. Millie's friend and co-developer Walter "Keys" McKey (Joe Keery) is reluctant to help, as he now works in technical support at Soonami. Keys is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate who co-developed Life Itself with Millie. Believing Guy to be a hacker disguised as an NPC, Keys and his coworker Mouser (Utkarsh Ambudkar) unsuccessfully try to ban him from the game. Keys and Mouser manage to hit Guy with a car as he tries to escape. Yet Keys cannot reconcile that even after seemingly killing Guy, the player count in the game does not go down. Keys and Mouser leave the game back to the real world and Guy survives. Accessing the players' view of the game, Guy visits new areas and meets Millie at Vlogger Revenjamin Buttons' (Channing Tatum) an avatar in Free City who owns a stash house, where they attempt to steal evidence leading to her source code but are pushed back by security. Believing Guy to be a novice level 1 player (when Millie herself is level 195), she advises him to level up. Guy rapidly progresses through the game by completing missions benevolently and by being nice to others, thus standing out from other players and becoming a worldwide sensation known as "Blue Shirt Guy". As Keys realizes that Guy truly is an NPC, other NPCs that Guy interacts with also begin to develop self-awareness. Guy gets Buddy a pair of sunglasses as well. Millie tries again to break into the stash house with the help of Keys. Keys manages to get Millie inside the stash house, but she triggers some alarms attracting the attention of security, where Keys (who is outside the game) cannot help. At that moment, Guy arrives to save Millie. Millie and Guy manage to escape, but the video clip evidence gets left behind in the shoot-out. However, Free City 2 is due to release in 48 hours and will replace Free City, terminating all of its NPCs. Owner Antwan wants the Blue Shirt Guy to be ported as a skin to Free City 2. Keys tries to warn Antwan that the game has too many bugs and suggests that they should develop a game from scratch and do it right. But Antwan would hear none of it. Guy takes Millie out on a date, and she realizes that Guy is very much like her. She doesn't know that this is because she created Guy as an NPC, who gained self-awareness. Keys tells Millie about Guy that he is really a NPC, who has evolved with the help of AI embedded in Free City, that came from Life Itself. Keys also says that Free City 1 will be erased when Antwan launches Free City 2 and Guy's whole world will be gone. At this stage, Guy is an artificial life form. Millie and Keys want Guy to have a chance to save his own world. Millie tells Guy the truth about his existence, but he becomes distraught and breaks off contact. Guy eventually realizes that there is something more to an NPC's existence and goes with Buddy to get the evidence Millie wanted from Buttons. Buttons had accidentally glitched through the edge of Free City's map and discovered an older build of Life Itself, recording a video clip in the process. Guy's popularity threatens the plans of Soonami's CEO Antwan Hovachelik (Taika Waititi) to launch Free City 2, so he orders a server reboot which resets Guy's memories. Guy regains his self-awareness when Millie kisses him. Antwan finds that Guy has recruited all the NPCs to go on strike. Mouser finds Molotov Girl with Guy and reveals to Antwan that Molotov is really Millie. Millie cannot be killed in the game as all the NPCs are now on strike. Mouser starts collapsing the buildings around Guy to kill him and Millie. Keys saves them from Mouser's attacks by providing exit paths inside the game. Guy recalls the location of an island containing remnants of the Life Itself build and they attempt to reach it before the Free City 2 launch wipes all old content from the servers. Antwan fires Keys, has every player removed from Free City, and sends an unfinished Guy-resembling character named Dude into the game. Initially overwhelmed, Guy then puts his sunglasses on Dude, distracting him. Guy then proceeds to the island on a bridge provided by Keys before he was fired. Furious, Antwan begins smashing the game's network server racks with an ax in a last-ditch attempt to stop Guy, erasing Buddy and much of the game world, while firing Mouser. Before he can destroy the final server, Millie offers a deal to not sue him for copyright infringement and surrender the Free City franchise's profits to him in exchange for her creation. Sometime later, sales for Free City 2 slip because of bugs in the code and lagging online play. An embattled Antwan is in the cross-hairs, but claims he is a victim of circumstance. Millie salvages her code and along with Keys and Mouser, releases the indie game Free Life, which includes Guy, Dude, and the other NPCs from Free City. Guy reveals to Millie that his code is actually a love letter to her from Keys. During the development of Life Itself, Keys had encoded what he knew about her tastes into an AI routine in the game, which was eventually incorporated into Free City, explaining why Guy felt drawn to MolotovGirl. After Millie leaves the game, she and Keys kiss. Meanwhile, Guy and Dude reunite with Buddy, whose AI algorithm was reconstructed.
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Free City is an online game developed by Soonami Studios. Its "players" (the online persons who have real lives beyond Free City) wear sunglasses and spend their time fighting each other and causing mayhem. The non-player characters (NPCs) accept the chaos while living out their scripted lives, unaware that the world they live in is a video game.
These NPCs include Guy (Ryan Reynolds), who works as a clerk in Free City's bank with his best friend, security guard Buddy (Lil Rel Howery). The NPCs consider people with sunglasses to be heroes. They get to do anything they want, and go on all sorts of missions involving the nicest cars and the hottest women.
They also have the cool clothes and gadgets and the laws don't apply to them. Every day, Guy follows the same routine. He wears the same clothes, goes to same barista for his morning coffee, admires shoes in the store that he wants to buy, checks balance at the ATM, and heads to work.
Guy and Buddy react very nonchalant to all the violence happening right around them in the city. Even a robbery at their own bank is a regular occurrence and they simply get on the ground and discuss their life. Unemployed software developer Millie Rusk (Jodie Comer) plays Free City to find proof that Soonami stole the source code from the concept game she developed, Life Itself, which included novel artificial intelligence techniques for its NPCs.
Millie enters Free City as an avatar to find the location of a secret level, and the coordinates to "Stash". Millie's avatar "MolotovGirl" catches Guy's attention by singing his favorite song, "Fantasy". Guy's non-normal responses to stimuli are activated.
This is when Guy sees Millie for the first time and falls in love. As a result, Guy starts changing his routine. Guy then begins to deviate from his programming, accidentally shooting a player, robbing the bank at which he works, and leaving with the player's sunglasses.
Guy does that because only people with sunglasses are allowed to talk to other people with sunglasses. As soon as Guy puts the glasses on, he sees Free City in a completely different light. The whole city is covered with overlay text, advertising new missions and other rewards for players, like health packs, weapons, cash, supplies etc.
Millie's friend and co-developer Walter "Keys" McKey (Joe Keery) is reluctant to help, as he now works in technical support at Soonami. Keys is a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) graduate who co-developed Life Itself with Millie. Believing Guy to be a hacker disguised as an NPC, Keys and his coworker Mouser (Utkarsh Ambudkar) unsuccessfully try to ban him from the game.
Keys and Mouser manage to hit Guy with a car as he tries to escape. Yet Keys cannot reconcile that even after seemingly killing Guy, the player count in the game does not go down. Keys and Mouser leave the game back to the real world and Guy survives.
Accessing the players' view of the game, Guy visits new areas and meets Millie at Vlogger Revenjamin Buttons' (Channing Tatum) an avatar in Free City who owns a stash house, where they attempt to steal evidence leading to her source code but are pushed back by security. Believing Guy to be a novice level 1 player (when Millie herself is level 195), she advises him to level up. Guy rapidly progresses through the game by completing missions benevolently and by being nice to others, thus standing out from other players and becoming a worldwide sensation known as "Blue Shirt Guy".
As Keys realizes that Guy truly is an NPC, other NPCs that Guy interacts with also begin to develop self-awareness. Guy gets Buddy a pair of sunglasses as well. Millie tries again to break into the stash house with the help of Keys.
Keys manages to get Millie inside the stash house, but she triggers some alarms attracting the attention of security, where Keys (who is outside the game) cannot help. At that moment, Guy arrives to save Millie. Millie and Guy manage to escape, but the video clip evidence gets left behind in the shoot-out.
However, Free City 2 is due to release in 48 hours and will replace Free City, terminating all of its NPCs. Owner Antwan wants the Blue Shirt Guy to be ported as a skin to Free City 2. Keys tries to warn Antwan that the game has too many bugs and suggests that they should develop a game from scratch and do it right.
But Antwan would hear none of it. Guy takes Millie out on a date, and she realizes that Guy is very much like her. She doesn't know that this is because she created Guy as an NPC, who gained self-awareness.
Keys tells Millie about Guy that he is really a NPC, who has evolved with the help of AI embedded in Free City, that came from Life Itself. Keys also says that Free City 1 will be erased when Antwan launches Free City 2 and Guy's whole world will be gone. At this stage, Guy is an artificial life form.
Millie and Keys want Guy to have a chance to save his own world. Millie tells Guy the truth about his existence, but he becomes distraught and breaks off contact. Guy eventually realizes that there is something more to an NPC's existence and goes with Buddy to get the evidence Millie wanted from Buttons.
Buttons had accidentally glitched through the edge of Free City's map and discovered an older build of Life Itself, recording a video clip in the process. Guy's popularity threatens the plans of Soonami's CEO Antwan Hovachelik (Taika Waititi) to launch Free City 2, so he orders a server reboot which resets Guy's memories. Guy regains his self-awareness when Millie kisses him.
Antwan finds that Guy has recruited all the NPCs to go on strike. Mouser finds Molotov Girl with Guy and reveals to Antwan that Molotov is really Millie. Millie cannot be killed in the game as all the NPCs are now on strike.
Mouser starts collapsing the buildings around Guy to kill him and Millie. Keys saves them from Mouser's attacks by providing exit paths inside the game. Guy recalls the location of an island containing remnants of the Life Itself build and they attempt to reach it before the Free City 2 launch wipes all old content from the servers.
Antwan fires Keys, has every player removed from Free City, and sends an unfinished Guy-resembling character named Dude into the game. Initially overwhelmed, Guy then puts his sunglasses on Dude, distracting him. Guy then proceeds to the island on a bridge provided by Keys before he was fired.
Furious, Antwan begins smashing the game's network server racks with an ax in a last-ditch attempt to stop Guy, erasing Buddy and much of the game world, while firing Mouser. Before he can destroy the final server, Millie offers a deal to not sue him for copyright infringement and surrender the Free City franchise's profits to him in exchange for her creation. Sometime later, sales for Free City 2 slip because of bugs in the code and lagging online play.
An embattled Antwan is in the cross-hairs, but claims he is a victim of circumstance. Millie salvages her code and along with Keys and Mouser, releases the indie game Free Life, which includes Guy, Dude, and the other NPCs from Free City. Guy reveals to Millie that his code is actually a love letter to her from Keys.
During the development of Life Itself, Keys had encoded what he knew about her tastes into an AI routine in the game, which was eventually incorporated into Free City, explaining why Guy felt drawn to MolotovGirl. After Millie leaves the game, she and Keys kiss. Meanwhile, Guy and Dude reunite with Buddy, whose AI algorithm was reconstructed..