With all the buzz around Deadpool & Wolverine the past few months, it's made me suddenly realize that I had, up to this point, only seen one Ryan Reynolds movie. Back when Free Guy came out in theaters, I went to see it because several streamers/youtubers I watch are in it. I really enjoyed Reynolds' performance as the titular character, but for some reason never checked out any of his other movies.
So, out of pure curiosity, I decided to sit down and marathon my way through his filmography. Or, part of it, anyway. I basically pulled up all the movies on IMDB with him in the credits, randomized the list, and grabbed ten of them to add to my watchlist. I went through the first five on the list over the past couple weeks. These are the results so far, along with some initial thoughts on them. (I'm going to be doing more thorough reviews of these later, when I have a bit more free time.)
The Adam Project (2022)
I picked this one to start because I love sci-fi movies. It ended up being a really good one to start the marathon with. Not only is this a sci-fi movie, it's got time travel, very cool technology, a fantastic soundtrack, heartwarming family themes, a cute dog, and tons of sarcastic humor. It was basically made for me. Reynolds' character wields a futuristic weapon called a Mag-Cyl and it's the coolest thing a sci-fi movie has given us in a long while. I need one. The time ships were also amazing and it makes me sad that I never got to see those dogfights on the big screen. The kid did a great job as well; normally, I get annoyed by child actors, but this one nailed his role. My full thoughts on the story and characters will be saved for a full review post at some point, but overall it was terrific. Absolutely love this movie to death. Why is it so hard to find sci-fi movies that are heartfelt and action packed and also fun like this one?
Free Guy (2021)
I haven't seen this movie since it first released three years ago, so I decided it was time for a rewatch. If anything, I think I enjoyed it more this time around. I'm not generally a fan of comedies, but I actually found the humor in this one very fun. Most of the jokes made me laugh out loud; there were only a few spots where the humor strayed into too crude of territory for my tastes. The action was also a ton of fun. My favorite sequences were definitly where the filmakers got creative with blending video game concepts into the movie. Also, Guy is such a sweet and innocent character, you can't help but love him. It's a surprisingly heartfelt portrayal of an AI learning what it means to be alive, and I was not expecting that from a silly action comedy about video game characters.
The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017)
This movie was not at all what I was expecting it to be. And I'm very happy that that's the case! Tbh, after watching the previous two, I was fully expecting this one to be a lighthearted comedy movie with some action sequences. Boy, was I wrong. Right from the start, the movie is brutal. The action, the fight scenes, the interactions between the characters... it all hits hard right out of the gate. This movie definitely earned its R rating. And it still managed to be hilarious. To my surprise, though, Ryan Reynolds plays basically the straight-man character to Samuel Jackson's more over-the-top comedic personality. And it works so well. Their chemistry is incredible throughout the whole movie. Some of the best scenes are just the two of them trapped in a car arguing about absolutely pointless stuff. And the action scenes! There's a long chase sequence along a canal which involves a boat, a dozen cars, a motorcycle, and a rocket launcher that is mind blowing. Genuinely one of my favorite car chases of all time. There's a wonderful chase scene later in the movie which is also terrific and allows Reynolds' character to utilize every part of his environment as weapons. I didn't originally have the sequel on my watchlist, but I'm going to have to add it now.
Definitely, Maybe (2008)
To be honest, I don't know how I feel about this one. It wasn't a bad movie by any means. To the contrary, it had a solid script and some really wonderful acting performances from the cast. I think I'm just not enough of a fan of romance movies to properly enjoy this movie. I found myself getting annoyed at the constant (and usually entirely avoidable) misunderstandings between the different romantic couples. It also employs a plot device that I don't think served the movie well. Since it's supposed to be a dad telling his daughter about how he fell in love with her mother, there really isn't any point in going into such detail about his relationship with this other unrelated woman -- obviously, that part of the story is for our sake, the audience, but it feels weird that he'd be telling his daughter about it. Still, it wasn't bad. My roommate is much more into romance movies, so I might suggest it for our next movie night and see what her opinion of it is.
Detective Pikachu (2019)
Genuinely didn't think I'd enjoy this movie when I started it. Despite loving both video games and small fuzzy creatures, I've never been into the Pokemon craze. I never played the games growing up, and have still never seen any of the cartoons/movies/whatever. Thankfully, the Detective Pikachu movie was made in a way that does not alienate the "outsiders" to the fandom, like myself. They do a great job setting up the world in a way that never left me feeling lost. And the movie itself is so good. I loved the 'detective noir meets sci-fi' vibe the movie had going. The mystery plot was pretty good and the characters were too lovable not to root for. Also, Pikachu is adorable, I want to hug him forever. The themes going on in the story about family and trying to repair estranged relationships hit very close to home for me. Wasn't expecting to almost tear up multiple times while watching a Pokemon movie. As much as I loved Sonic, I think this one might just beat it out as my favorite video game-based movie.
Background Image by Annie Nyle