By Ben Davis
Gemini Man brings acclaimed filmmaker and 3-time Oscar winner Ang Lee together for the first time with one of Hollywood’s greatest and most recognizable stars in Will Smith. The story revolves around an older Henry Brogan—played by the aforementioned Will Smith—who is on the latter part of his career. He soon finds out that he is being targeted by his own government and the person in charge with taking him out is a younger, faster, more deadlier, cloned version of himself. With the help of Danny—played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead—and Baron—played by Benedict Wong—Brogan must fight to stay alive and confront his past.
As mentioned previously, Ang Lee is one of the greatest filmmakers working today. He has won Best Director not once, but twice, putting him in an elite group amongst the likes of Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Alfonso Cuaron, and Oliver Stone. He’s always pushing the boundaries of what a filmmaker can do technically with his astonishing vision for the future of filmmaking. Simply put, Ang Lee is one of the best directors working today.
The same praise can be thrown at Will Smith. He’s a two time Oscar nominee, the biggest movie star of the 90’s, and one of my childhood heroes. He always brings with him a type of charm and charisma that just oozes off the screen no matter how good or bad his films are. Aside from the surprise mega-hit that was Aladdin—which he is fantastic in, by the way—his recent films haven’t had quite the success of his earlier work critically or financially. No matter what though, Mr. July always brings it.
With these two mega-talents coming together one could figure Gemini Man was going to be a surefire hit. Unfortunately, what we get instead is a bit of a mixed bag. Its plot is tired, old, predictable, and incredibly cheesy. Again though, there’s some enjoyment to be had here. Will Smith is great as usual, the action scenes are very well done, the camera work and transitions are gorgeous, and I also think the experiment of 120fps works very well. Before I get too ahead of myself though, lets dive into what makes and breaks Gemini Man.
Will Smith is awesome in this. In Gemini Man he’s tasked with playing both the older and younger versions of himself using de-aging technology that has really come a long way since Tron: Legacy. Will Smith is able to pull off this feat by giving a more mature and subtle performance as his older self and a more emotionally raw performance as the younger version. It honestly comes across as seamless until the very end (more on that later). Will Smith again proving why he’s one of Hollywood’s best actors by delivering a perfect balance between both performances.
The action sequences are also fantastic. They’re tense, tight, dynamic, hard hitting, and move at a break-neck pace. While these scenes are incredibly well done, they’re lacking in terms of credibility and can be over-the-top as our main protagonist takes hits that people shouldn’t survive and move at a supernatural pace at certain moments.
The frame rate experiment also pays off here as it makes Gemini Man feel hyper-real and as if the movie is going on right in front of you. The usual frame rate per second is 24fps, it gives the film that cinematic quality. Recently, Peter Jackson tried to do 48fps with The Hobbit but to no avail as most audiences complained that it looked too much like a soap opera—myself included. However, Ang Lee is able to pull off a higher frame rate of 120fps and it looks absolutely stunning on the big screen.
The team of Cinematographer Dion Beebe and director Ang Lee is proven to be a match made in heaven as this film has some of the prettiest camera transitions I’ve seen all year. While the script may be boring, Ang Lee and Dion Bebee are able to suck you in with some absolutely fantastic shots and camera work.
Gemini Man, however, suffers from a script full of exposition heavy dialogue that brings the films pacing down to a screeching halt. The script feels very dated and like a movie that should have come out in the early 2000’s.
This leads to my biggest gripe: the supporting cast. Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Benedict Wong try their best with what they’re given, but, the only reason these characters exists is so that Will Smith has someone to talk to while he’s on the run. They also repeat the same dialogue over and over again just in different ways making these characters feel very thin and exposition heavy. It’s very upsetting, as I’m a fan of both talents.
This brings me to my nit-pick of the de-aging aspect of Gemini Man. While in most of the film it looks incredible, there’s a scene near the end—you’ll know when you see it—that looks awful. It’s as if they weren’t done with the shot because it’s such a down-grade from what we’ve seen in the rest of the film. It took me out of the movie and made me laugh at what’s supposed to be a heart-warming scene.
In conclusion, while there’s some enjoyment to be had here with older/younger Will Smith, the action sequences, and the flawless camera work/cinematography it’s not enough to overcome a weak and predictably boring script. Gemini Man is overall enjoyable, but ultimately forgettable.