Whatever critics and audiences may think of Gemini Man, the latest project by director Ang Lee, there can be no denying that he continues to be one of the most audacious filmmakers working today. From the extensive wire work for the groundbreaking fight scenes of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, to the experimental comic book look of 2003’s Hulk (along with the impressive-at-the-time CGI for the green monster himself), to creating the formerly unadaptable 2012 adaptation of Life of Pi complete with a remarkably photorealistic CG tiger, Lee is constantly pushing the boundaries of what film technology can accomplish.
Back in 2016, Lee came out with a film called Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. It was the first film to be shot using a 120 frame rate, as well as being in a 4K 3D format. That film failed to generate much buzz, but Lee is trying the same technique once again for Gemini Man, probably hoping that something more mainstream (like a Will Smith action movie) will have an easier time breaking through. What exactly does this mean? For comparison, nearly all movies are shot and projected at only 24 frames per second. A 120 frame rate makes everything onscreen much clearer, eliminating motion blur and creating an exceptionally fluid viewing experience.
It’s a way to get closer to capturing the look and movement of real life, but audiences have yet to get used to it, if such a thing is even possible at all. Personally, I’ve made remarks about how high frame rates and 4K resolution come across as strange and uncomfortable because it looks “better than real life”. It’s hard to say when, or if, the high-tech format will become more generally accepted. What Lee is attempting here is certainly bold and may, perhaps, even be a glimpse at what the future of movies will look like. After viewing it, I’m not sure whether or not Gemini Man will be the one to usher in this new era of film, though not for lack of trying.
Will Smith stars as Henry Brogan, an aging assassin who is both highly skilled and highly paid. Henry seems to have grown a bit of a conscience in his later years, and his abilities are no longer what they once were, so he chooses to retire from the murder business. Of course, leaving the intelligence agency that employed him can’t be that simple, and Henry soon finds himself on the run – he’s now the target instead of the hitman. Clay Verris (Clive Owen), one of the higher-ups in the agency, has secretly been raising a clone of Henry, dubbed Junior, who is sent to eliminate his older, original self. Junior is younger, faster, and deadlier thanks to his youthful body that’s yet to be weighed down by injuries both physical and mental, but Henry has the advantage of experience and wisdom that comes with age.
The de-aged Will Smith is truly an astounding effect to behold. Disney has shown us what this technique is capable of with Marvel and Star Wars, but it’s nearly perfect here; uncanny but not lacking the humanity behind the eyes of previous CG creations like it. It had to be – Junior is the emotional core of the film. A scene between him and Clay shows off both the effect and the depth of Smith’s acting ability, something that I’d forgotten about. In contrast, he plays Henry just as wooden as his performances in the brunt of his recent work, although this may be a choice.
The battle between the killers spans across several countries and continents, from Colombia to Hungary to the Eastern United States, setting the film’s action scenes in various beautiful locales. A motorcycle chase through the streets of Colombia is the best scene of the whole film – it’s fast, brutal, and only continues to ramp up in intensity as it goes. While this sequence is as good as it gets, later ones are almost as thrilling in their own right, thanks to thoroughly brilliant camera work by cinematographer Dion Beebe. The format is something I quickly got used to, and it undoubtedly makes for a unique viewing experience. Due to the crispness of the resolution and smoothness of the motion, however, all CG comes across as both blatant and rubbery, though thankfully there’s not much.
There’s so much technical mastery going on in Gemini Man that should be commended, but all of the best tricks Hollywood money can buy still can’t make up for a lackluster script. There are a lot of interesting concepts going on in the film that are naturally there – the person you once were literally pitted against the person you’ve regrettably become, the scientific and moral ethics of creating a living being, what makes us human, and the go-to for prominently masculine films of 2019: Daddy issues. These ideas and more are brought up throughout the film, but what profundity the script has is undermined by its sometimes silly, unnatural dialogue and surface-level story.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Benedict Wong do their best to make up for the awkward lines with their natural charisma and charm, and bring some much needed levity to the overall mood of the film, but the drama and the stakes still feel very lacking. It’s frustrating to see a film that’s being presented in such a bold way dip in and out of quality due to a mundane script. Gemini Man was stuck in production hell for about 20 years, never coming to fruition because the technology wasn’t ready yet. Now that it’s here, it seems obvious that the now dated screenplay could’ve used some minor updates and rewrites, saving us from lines like “What if you’re my darkness?” or a teenager telling his principal that “Science is wicked boring.”
A few years ago, director Peter Jackson presented the world with the Hobbit trilogy in 48 frames per second, a first at the time. The response was overwhelmingly negative, both because audiences weren’t yet familiar with it and disliked it (this would come later with 4K TVs and motion smoothing) and because those films, critically and financially, failed to live up to his Lord of the Rings trilogy. An obvious comparison to Gemini Man, to be sure, but I think a more fitting one would be with James Cameron’s Avatar, a technological landmark that was also criticized for its insipid script.
As we know, this didn’t stop Avatar from dominating the box office, smashing records, and becoming the highest-grossing film of all time until Avengers: Endgame knocked it off its throne. But Avatar didn’t just make a ludicrous amount of money, it also completely revolutionized filmmaking, setting a new precedent for computer generated imagery and motion capture, and brought back the 3D format to movies for several years afterwards. I don’t see Gemini Man going on to become anything quite like that, but Avatar does serve as an example of technological achievements being able to overcome a less-than-worthy script.
I still believe that this is a film worth seeing just for the unorthodox format that makes for a new and different experience at the movies. Unfortunately, the amount of theaters that are able to present Gemini Man in the way that Ang Lee intended is extremely limited, and even if you’re lucky enough to find a proper screening of it, the underpaid, overworked staff is probably having a difficult time getting it to work correctly. At my screening, the movie was unwatchable for the first ten or so minutes before someone was able to finally fix it. Most places can only show it in 4K or 3D, but not both.
If you can find Gemini Man showing at the high frame rate, I’d recommend checking it out. If not, I don’t consider it worth it. There’s ambition in Lee’s work, it just needs the right story to back it up.
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