Gemini Man

I didn’t believe Hollywood was still able to produce pure action blockbusters like this. Despite all the inevitable changes during its production, this is clearly a Bruckheimer premise from the 90s in its full glory, at the centre of which there is a protagonist who’s exceptionally proficient in the liquidation of villains, a potentially romantic line that is fully pushed aside, and a conspiracy that goes all the way to the top, but without the burden of a social or political context. The narrative creates a simple hyperreality where only the two sides of the conflict exist, and everything else is unimportant. Using pure images and digital effects, Ang Lee emphasises this concept to create an alternative world that I had no trouble accepting and let myself be absorbed in at least at the level of a proper action experience. The action itself is not static or forced, but fairly diverse in the way it moves the plot forward, and the digital look is not painful to watch – it actually fits into the concept. Actually, there’s not that much action, it relies more on the interactions of the characters, who direct an otherwise simple story. This is not revolutionary genre nonsense, the story is too standard for that and the way it develops some of the motifs is unoriginal and telegraphic, but I was impressed by the old-fashioned feel and, after a long time, Lee gave me 3D comfort where I can see a promising visual future (though I understand that many viewers won’t like this hyperrealistic style). Personally, I expected it to be considerably funnier in a 90s way – all that seriousness didn’t work on me at times. (15/10/2019)

The intention here was to elevate a simple theme like that of a Van Damme movie to the level of a clever, emotional action drama with a social subtext, with the help of a top scriptwriter and “artistic” director. And it didn’t really work. The digitally rejuvenated Will Smith is a WTF character – he’s supposed to go through an intense internal struggle requiring a quality acting performance and, paradoxically, delivers the worst “acting” of the movie with his Shrek-like facial expressions. Despite its ambitious plan, the film is also dragged down by unrealistic digital action scenes that are reminiscent of a Fast & Furious theme park. And that’s too bad, since it had such a promising start with the still cool Will and nice chemistry between him and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. (26/11/2019)

The advertisement for Gemini Man in 3D HFR format lured me to the cinema and I was curious to see what a rejuvenated Will Smith would look like "in real life". More than once during the plot, I felt a certain genre confusion and wasn't entirely sure if the film itself knew what it wanted to be. What we're dealing with here is an action-packed sci-fi about human cloning, peppered with the odd quip and romantic reference here and there, while at times superficially trying to be something better within the sci-fi genre. As far as the action sequences are concerned, I have no complaints, the motorcycle chase, the duel among the skulls and the final fight were flawless – though I must point out that at times it looked a little too artificial due to the picture quality, but I'm still glad I decided to go to the cinema to see this particular format. The visuals of the rejuvenated Smith were indeed impressive, I was a little put off by the small space for Benedict Wong and puzzled by the rather bland ending. It's certainly not a wasted two hours in the cinema, but at the same time it's a one-off affair that will fade from your mind within a week. (14/10/2019)

Gemini Man is a strange combination of a 90s action movie with an attempt to suggest what the future of cinema might look like, and I'm not sure I like it. I didn’t mind the B-movie story, Gemini Man is still a brisk actioner and Ang Lee handles the chases, the shootouts and the one-on-one fights brilliantly, and thankfully there's not a shortage of them, so the overall goofiness and straightforwardness doesn't particularly matter (except perhaps for the boring villain). The problem I had was more with the visuals. While young Will Smith looks really great, everything else is kind of weird. Gemini Man is visually unnaturally... clean. Especially in the exteriors, it looks more like a very well done computer game animation, which unfortunately with its bold colors sometimes resembles the worst of South American soap operas. I don't know to what extent it was 3D or 120fps, but personally I found it distracting and even annoying at some points. (09/10/2019)

Oscar-winning Ang Lee delivers a 90's style actioner, and even though the critics are grumbling, I think it's great. Will Smith is the ultimate assassin and he's just about to retire, but before he does he has to face his own younger clone who wants to take him out without hesitation. The story is interesting, but doesn't dazzle that much, which in this case I don't mind because the action scenes are almost revolutionary and technically precise. The intense music, the amazing cinematography, the utmost professionalism and precision of the two Wills captivated me with every moment and the scene with the motorbikes is one of the best I've seen in the cinema this year, but the fight in the catacombs or the rotating machine gun with lasers is also great. The acting, the action and the technical aspects of the film are impeccable and if that's enough for you, you'll be royally entertained like me. 80% (16/10/2019)