Hello!
And welcome to an overview of Gemini Man! The short version of it is – Funky Title, Forgettable Movie.
IMDb summary: An over-the-hill hitman faces off against a younger clone of himself.
- Gemini Man was written by Game Of Throne’s David Benioff, The Hunger Games’s and Overlord’s Billy Ray, and Shazam’s and Goosebumps’s Darren Lemke. For an action film, the script was decent. Yet, I feel like this movie tried to be more than that but was, sadly, let down by its writing. The self-righteous villain and the whole cloning plot line just really fall apart if you think twice about them. At least the cloning thing was not really attempted to be explained with some science mumbo jumbo – it was just sort of stated as a fact and not dwelt on for long. The characters themselves seemed to be somewhat well written: they had neat and quite rich backstories. The characters also get on the same page fairly quickly which made the movie more watchable.
- Gemini Man was directed by Ang Lee. Lee has always been a favourite of some yet I don’t think he has ever achieved mainstream acclaim (came close with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Life of Pi). I don’t think that Gemini Man is gonna bring him that either. The movie was paced quite well and had some cool action set-pieces but I felt like its CGI could have been better, especially in 2019. Also, this is not really part of directing, but the film had so much obvious product placement – I guess the computer effects were expensive. Speaking of that:
- The face replacement technology used on the titular character was noticeable. It was really good at times but then there were scenes where the de-aged Will Smith’s face looked like it was floating on whoever’s body they used as a stand it. While that face replacement technology definitely has rich (and scary) potential, I don’t think it works to its full effect when used on the main character (but is a cool effect for a few scenes, especially if used effectively (effectiveness depends on the choice of characters). Similarly, I felt that some of the film’s action didn’t look like it had weight to it: instead, it looked video game-like, as if the characters were rendered on top of the background rather than within it.
- Will Smith was great in his double (or more) roles within the film. I felt that his involvement elevated the movie from the levels of forgettable action picture to a slightly average-ish one. And yet, I’m still quite confused about how to classify Smith as an actor. A cult favourite? An action star? A serious dramatic award-worthy actor? Shades of all?
- The supporting cast was also okay. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (of 10 Cloverfield Lane) and Benedict Wong (of Doctor Strange) were the standouts. Clive Owen worked in the role but probably because I have already seen him be a bad guy in a suit in a movie very recently – he played the exact same role in The Informer.
In short, Gemini Man is fun but forgettable actioner. It’s elevated by the performances of the leads but let down by some questionable writing choices and dodgy CGI.
Rate: 3/5
Trailer: Gemini Man trailer
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