Film Review: Two Will Smiths cannot save "Gemini Man" from outdated mediocrity
Gemini Man has little to boast: an aging Will Smith, a Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 on Playstation Will Smith character model, the dilapidated writing of David Benioff (an assailant in the murder of Game of Thrones in its final season), and Life of Pi , Brokeback Mountain, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon director Ang Lee…on one of his “off” days?
Twins stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito as fraternal twins, products of a genetic experiment. Gemini Man stars Will Smith (Aladdin, Bright) and Will Smith (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Independence Day) as fraternal twins, products of a genetic experiment. The premise of the film is quite simple: Ex-Hitman Henry has his peaceful retirement shattered by constant attempted assassinations, orchestrated by a young clone of himself.
Gemini Man was presented in 3D+, (wearing 3D glasses over regular glasses is a very fun and good time, would recommend) and though the “+”does not give you the ability to touch, smell, or be beaten half to death by Will Smith (unfortunately), it does push 3D technology to new, unnecessary bounds, allowing you to see depth between background and foreground! This new technology is the main selling point of the film, despite the fact that 3D is a dead medium and CGI no longer impresses. While Gemini Man makes some daring attempts with the technology available, it unfortunately gets ahead of itself, and forgets to try with any other aspect of filmmaking.
“Show don’t tell” is perhaps the oldest trick in the filmmaking book, and Gemini Man is tearing that book apart and holding your eyelids open as the shreds of paper cut your iris apart in glorious 3D+. Our protagonists innermost journey and development occurs off-screen, there’s an emotional core hidden behind layers of horrible dialogue, and even the remarkable visual aspects are barely remarkable. Gemini Man suffers for its sins, and like Icarus flying too close to the sun, CGI Will Smith in broad daylight crashes and burns.
The plot dribbles through set-piece like the uttermost cut and dry action film, except with worse writing, jumping continents solely for forgettable fight scenes whilst pretending to have a sense of purpose and emotional core. For reasons unknown, the fantastic Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Scott Pilgrim, 10 Cloverfield Lane) and always entertaining Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange, The Martian) star alongside midlife crisis Will Smith, who is clearly reminiscing his twenties to catastrophic levels.
Gemini Man is a cautionary tale of the tragedies of technology against the skull of auteur, like James Cameron being punted by a computer. Perhaps filmmaking has reached its peak technologically, as it should seeing as it is a craft that thrives of ingenuity and creativity, aside from looking crisper and clearer, CGI has become a wayward path to the uncanny valley, and far less convincing then it was 25+ years ago in Jurassic Park.
Its begun to sweep the world that cinemas are simply not advanced enough to screen Gemini Man in it’s 3D+ state, the way it was meant to be seen, and if you were intending but cannot see it solely for the visual spectacle, this may not be the movie for you.
