Free Guy review: Finally, an authentic gaming film—and it’s fun, not perfect ~ USA Latest Games

Guy (Ryan Reynolds) discovers that things inside his world look a lot different when you have special sunglasses. [credit: 20th Century Studios ]

In video games and computer graphics, the concept of the "uncanny valley" can emerge once something approaches visual realism. The more a virtual character looks like a human, the more our brains squarely focus on the CGI inaccuracies.

I kept thinking about this concept after seeing Free Guy, a new film from the combined Disney-Fox borg that takes gaming authenticity very seriously. But I didn't feel that way because the movie, starring Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) and Taika Waititi (What We Do In The Shadows), resembles the CGI tragedy of 1999's Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

Rather, Free Guy's insistence on gaming-universe authenticity, which it takes damned seriously, means it approaches a conceptual uncanny valley. How much that'll annoy you is arguably the biggest question mark attached to an otherwise solid, fun, and family-friendly action flick.

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