Will Smith’s Henry Brogan is a man on a mission, though a bit of a different one than what has shaped most of his adult life. A career assassin, Brogan has racked up 72 confirmed kills, largely thought of as the best in the business. But after his latest, movie-opening operation, his new mission is to retire and live the quiet life.
But, as Gemini Man does not want to stray too far from any other movie with this same generic set-up, it’s not going to be that simple for a retiring government hit man. Brogan finds himself caught up in a conspiracy, and ends up on the run from the next “best in the business” hit man.
Where events become even more complicated, however, is when Brogan discovers the man chasing him is literally himself, just a younger, cloned version. This clone, Junior (by the way, an unintentionally hilariously bad name for a character in a movie like this), is sent after Brogan by Clay Varris (Clive Owen), head of a black-ops unit called GEMINI.
With the help of fellow agent Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and friend and former colleague Baron (Benedict Wong), Brogan must face off against himself (literally and figuratively) to save his life and stop the mad-man Varris.
Why so dark?
Gemini Man actually answers this question in a painfully obvious way. In a vacuum, the de-aging effects on Will Smith look great. But the problem is that the movie doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Junior has scenes set in the real world, with his digital self set against a back drop of real places and real people. When he’s in the light, and not fighting or chasing Brogan, it looks awful.
Director Ang Lee and his production team clearly realized this, as Junior spends most of his screen time in action sequences in the dark. This makes the special effects on Junior look better in those instances. What this doesn’t do, though, is make the action look any better. The settings are often too dark to really be able to tell what’s going on. Like with so many other movies, it’s hard to get into a fight or chase scene if you can’t tell what’s happening.
That being said, the times when you can tell what’s going on are actually pretty fun and engaging. A motorcycle chase, in particular, is one of the highlights of the movie. Unfortunately, these moments are simply too few and far between.
Nothing new* to say
*Nothing new, interesting, funny…
Whether you’re talking about the message of the movie, the story, or the literal words the characters say, there’s not much good there.
Clive Owen is your basic one-dimensional, run-of-the-mill bad guy. The broader narrative is one we’ve seen hundreds of times before, and Gemini Man doesn’t do much, if anything, to make its own mark.
Then there’s the script. George Clooney has been credited with saying (I can’t find an interview or definitive source on this, aside from “George Clooney Quotes” articles): “It’s possible for me to make a bad a movie out of a good script, but I can’t make a good movie out of a bad script.”
And Gemini Man has a bad script. Even with a capable cast, they can only do so much. Will Smith does his best Will Smith. While it’s not a great performance, he brings his typical energy and charisma to the part, and he can mostly get by on those alone.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead is perfectly fine here; it’s just that her character is extraordinarily unextraordinary. She’s at least given some real agency, and is more than simply a token female character. But that goodwill is quickly lost as she is barely more than a token sidekick.
And lastly, poor Benedict Wong. He is completely wasted. Aside from essentially serving as Brogan’s personal chauffeur, he only serves to delivery terribly unfunny quips and one-liners. Wong delivers all of his lines with the gusto and enthusiasm you would from him, but Gemini Man gives him exactly nothing to work with.
Technology ahead of its time
Gemini Man marks Lee’s second movie filmed at an advanced high frame rate (HFR). Reaction was negative to Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, and reaction is negative again with Gemini Man.
The standard frame rate for movies is 24 frames per second (fps). Gemini Man, however, is shot at 120 fps, 5x more than (almost) literally every other movie anyone has ever seen. This isn’t the place to get into an in-depth technical discussion (mostly because I’m not equipped to do so), but there are some very clear drawbacks to shooting at 120 fps. If you do want some more information this article from “Forbes” will at least give you a start. Otherwise, Google is your best friend.
The very general and simplistic idea behind using 120 fps is that it’s supposed to give the movie a more “realistic” look. But because it’s so rarely used, it has the opposite effect. The human eye isn’t accustomed to seeing images this way, and as a result, many scenes end up looking fake.
And we’re not only talking about fast paced action scenes, either. Even parts like Henry and Danny at a marina looks like it’s set against a green screen. Obvious green screen usage can really take you out of a movie, especially when it comes during a scene that logically shouldn’t need to use one. The result is a visually distracting movie.
As alluded to before, where it’s most egregious is when Junior is seen in full light. Thankfully he’s mostly seen in the dark, but the little bit that he is in full sunlight look almost disturbingly fake.
Too many problems to overcome
Even with an interesting premise and solid cast, there’s too much working against Gemini Man for it to be successful. From filming in 120 fps, to the unoriginal story and bottom of the barrel script, Gemini Man finds itself at the foot of a hill too steep for it to climb.
The Verdict: 4.7/10