Gemini Man is a film which comes directed by Ang Lee who some may know as the director of Life of Pi (2012) or Brokeback Mountain (2005). The film stars Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen and Benedict Wong.
Gemini Man is a film that actually I haven’t really heard too much of. I haven’t really seen many ads around for it, I haven’t heard anyone talking about it or really much at all until recently. The film does star Will Smith and has a good cast accompanying him including Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen and Benedict Wong which is enough to get me interested. Ang Lee is also not a bad director too. I’d say this film is worth seeing for only really two reasons. The first big reason to go and see Gemini Man is for the special effects and the second major reason is for the cast.
The special effects in Gemini Man are exceptionally good. The film has Will Smith star in two roles. One as a younger version of himself and one as an older version of himself (his current age). The younger version is a clone and is trying to kill the original version of Will Smith’s character, Henry. To pull this off in the film, the film’s director Ang Lee used a bunch of visual effects to create the younger Will Smith and to be honest it’s actually very good. If I had no idea who Will Smith was and just watched a movie about the younger version in this film, I could be probably tricked into thinking that was a real person right there. It’s very realistic and very well done.
The film is also in 3D and while I do not really like this format for watching moves, it is very good actually in Gemini Man. There are some new technologies that were utilised when making this film including 4K 3D at a high frame rate of 120fps. These technologies bring a different feeling to the film and it is noticeable. The problem with it, is that not many cinemas will show this film in this format. You do need to check if the cinema you are going to on the day actually has HFR (High Frame Rate) there to see the benefits of this technology. I saw the film at Event Cinemas in George Street in Sydney, which does have HFR available and I actually thought the film looked great. The image was very sharp and the 3D was some of the best I’ve ever seen.
The action scenes that accompany the special effects are also another highlight of the film. As an action movie, this one won’t really let you down. Action scenes are fast paced, fun and entertaining to watch. Both of the Will Smith characters are working as assassins and because of this they have a lot of skills they can utilise in the film.
The cast is also fairly good with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen and Benedict Wong all being in the film together. Each of these actors do well in their roles but maybe needed more screen time. Mary Elizabeth Winstead was very good and had an interesting character, but I think she needed a bit more time in the film. Will Smith as the star of the film was great and delivers as well as he usually does.
The only really disappointing part about Gemini Man is the plot. Sure we get a Will Smith clone trying to kill the older Will Smith which is interesting and there’s some background to this all that you will learn about. The film also has a bunch of different themes related to military service, death and the trauma soldiers experience from their missions. But it could have been a little better in some areas. In certain parts of the film Will Smith’s characters will rant quite a bit with these long monologues and I did not feel that the dialogue was at all that great. Some of the things people said in the film didn’t sound right and it was a bit strange at times.
Overall this is a fun film to go out and see during the weekend. It’s good if you want an action film or are a fan of Will Smith. I recommend that if you do decide to go see Gemini Man this weekend though, to find a HFR cinema because really the whole point of this film is the 3D special effects, the 120 HFR and the young Will Smith. If you can’t get these benefits, it really is a bit of a downgrade and you miss out on a lot. The plot is only really average and if you are going to spend a lot of money seeing this at the cinema, it’s best to be sure you can get the best possible experience from it. Luckily if you are in Sydney, there are quite a few HFR cinemas at Event Cinemas in different locations from when I checked online, so at least there’s easy access to this for many of my readers.
