GEMINI MAN
***
Director: Ang Lee
Screenwriters: David Benioff, Billy Ray and Darren Lemke, from a story by Benioff and Lemke.
Principal cast:
Will Smith
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Clive Owen
Benedict Wong
Douglas Hodge
Theodora Miranne
Country: USA/China
Classification: M
Runtime: 117 mins.
Australian release date: 10 October 2019
Previewed at: Event Cinemas, George Street, on 30 September 2019.
Director Ang Lee has always been one to push the envelope in his films, both in their dramatic content and their use of cutting-edge technology - and he doesn’t shy away from shifts in genre either. From his sophomore feature, 1993’s The Wedding Banquet (which introduced him to Western art-house audiences) to The Ice Storm to Brokeback Mountain, he’s been confronting societal prohibitions, and in movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Life Of Pi he has utilised the latest technical wizardry available to filmmakers. Genre-wise, he’s tackled everything from period drama (Sense and Sensibility) to westerns (Ride With The Devil) to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (The Hulk). Now, in Gemini Man, he has once again employed up-to-the-minute digital technology. It’s called 3D+ and it’s an updated form of 3D that runs at an incredible frame rate of 60 frames per second (regular film is shot at a rate of 24 frames a second), which gives the viewer a more immersive experience. Is it any good? Well, it has to be said that it takes a bit of getting used to – the clarity is incredible but the depth of field looks a little odd and, on the night of the media preview, the sound was out of synch. That said, there were a couple of extraordinary scenes in which you felt that you were about to get doused with water or sprayed with debris.
Gemini Man’s script, though, is a little creaky and this could be explained by the fact that it’s been floating around Hollywood for some 20 years or so. Back in the late ‘90s it might have felt as cutting-edge as the technology used to shoot it but, now, it feels like it’s passed its use-by date. The story involves an aging hit-man, Henry Brogan, (Will Smith) who wants to retire from the game. Naturally, the people who have been using his specialised services over the years aren’t happy with this decision and they send an up-and-coming younger man known only as ‘Junior’ (also Will Smith) to terminate him ‘with extreme prejudice.’ A terrific Clive Owen is Clay Varris, the mastermind behind the cloning of Brogan and the guy who wants to replace him with Junior. As the net closes in on the old assassin, he is forced to take a government agent who has been duped into being part of Varris’s plot, Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), along with him as he travels from the States to Cartagena, Colombia, and Budapest before heading back to Georgia, USA, for the final confrontation with his nemesis.
Brilliantly filmed by the Oscar-winning Australian cinematographer Dion Beebe, Gemini Man has some great action scenes, as you’d expect, plus a couple of excellent chases on cars and motorbikes, and the exotic locations look spectacular. Where the film falls down, however, is in its tone: the older Smith often has a twinkle in his eye (especially in the parts involving Winstead), as though he hasn’t made up his mind whether to play Brogan lightly or seriously, so his character sits somewhere in between these two poles. Owen plays it totally straight and he’s very good but it feels like he’s in another movie. Smith playing his rejuvenated self is problematic, too: not for his performance so much as his appearance. There’s something strange about him, particularly around the eyes, making him look not quite real, like he’s strayed into the film from The Polar Express or another early effort involving digitised humans.
On balance, Gemini Man has to be marked down as a rare failure for Ang Lee. It’s interesting for its novel use of 3D+ technology but not much more, sad to say. Plot-wise, it’s all a bit ho-hum.
Screenwriters: David Benioff, Billy Ray and Darren Lemke, from a story by Benioff and Lemke.
Principal cast:
Will Smith
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Clive Owen
Benedict Wong
Douglas Hodge
Theodora Miranne
Country: USA/China
Classification: M
Runtime: 117 mins.
Australian release date: 10 October 2019
Previewed at: Event Cinemas, George Street, on 30 September 2019.
Director Ang Lee has always been one to push the envelope in his films, both in their dramatic content and their use of cutting-edge technology - and he doesn’t shy away from shifts in genre either. From his sophomore feature, 1993’s The Wedding Banquet (which introduced him to Western art-house audiences) to The Ice Storm to Brokeback Mountain, he’s been confronting societal prohibitions, and in movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and The Life Of Pi he has utilised the latest technical wizardry available to filmmakers. Genre-wise, he’s tackled everything from period drama (Sense and Sensibility) to westerns (Ride With The Devil) to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (The Hulk). Now, in Gemini Man, he has once again employed up-to-the-minute digital technology. It’s called 3D+ and it’s an updated form of 3D that runs at an incredible frame rate of 60 frames per second (regular film is shot at a rate of 24 frames a second), which gives the viewer a more immersive experience. Is it any good? Well, it has to be said that it takes a bit of getting used to – the clarity is incredible but the depth of field looks a little odd and, on the night of the media preview, the sound was out of synch. That said, there were a couple of extraordinary scenes in which you felt that you were about to get doused with water or sprayed with debris.
Gemini Man’s script, though, is a little creaky and this could be explained by the fact that it’s been floating around Hollywood for some 20 years or so. Back in the late ‘90s it might have felt as cutting-edge as the technology used to shoot it but, now, it feels like it’s passed its use-by date. The story involves an aging hit-man, Henry Brogan, (Will Smith) who wants to retire from the game. Naturally, the people who have been using his specialised services over the years aren’t happy with this decision and they send an up-and-coming younger man known only as ‘Junior’ (also Will Smith) to terminate him ‘with extreme prejudice.’ A terrific Clive Owen is Clay Varris, the mastermind behind the cloning of Brogan and the guy who wants to replace him with Junior. As the net closes in on the old assassin, he is forced to take a government agent who has been duped into being part of Varris’s plot, Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), along with him as he travels from the States to Cartagena, Colombia, and Budapest before heading back to Georgia, USA, for the final confrontation with his nemesis.
Brilliantly filmed by the Oscar-winning Australian cinematographer Dion Beebe, Gemini Man has some great action scenes, as you’d expect, plus a couple of excellent chases on cars and motorbikes, and the exotic locations look spectacular. Where the film falls down, however, is in its tone: the older Smith often has a twinkle in his eye (especially in the parts involving Winstead), as though he hasn’t made up his mind whether to play Brogan lightly or seriously, so his character sits somewhere in between these two poles. Owen plays it totally straight and he’s very good but it feels like he’s in another movie. Smith playing his rejuvenated self is problematic, too: not for his performance so much as his appearance. There’s something strange about him, particularly around the eyes, making him look not quite real, like he’s strayed into the film from The Polar Express or another early effort involving digitised humans.
On balance, Gemini Man has to be marked down as a rare failure for Ang Lee. It’s interesting for its novel use of 3D+ technology but not much more, sad to say. Plot-wise, it’s all a bit ho-hum.