Gemini Man (2019)
Meet your match.
Do you have that song about having double vision stuck in your head? Do you like action movies with a injection of déjà vu? Do you just have a hankering for Will Smith? Perhaps a double dose of past and future Smith locked in a battle to the death? Well, you sure as heck are about to be pretty darn excited if you answered yes to any of that - tonight, we check out Gemini Man.
The story here isn’t super elaborate really. You’ve seen dozens of spy and hitman movies where the government eventually turns on them, and then it’s a fight for survival and getting to the bottom of the truth. The twist, of course, is quite well publicized in the trailers - the one hunting them down is in fact themself! Of course, if it wanted to be heavy wacky science fiction it could go with actual timeline manipulation to get themselves fighting - but this one goes for a much more classic tried and true technique, cloning! It isn’t without it’s nuances in the story - it’s unfortunate that everything about the movie sets you up to know the twist well before hand, including the advertising. It doesn’t make the movie worse for enjoyment, but it does make the plot feel like it’s heavily stuck on the back burner despite the movie still playing out as though you don’t know the twist until it brings it up. Thankfully, the larger part of the sneaky dealings is still hidden from the spotlight until the final segment - but I’m just going to shake the apple out of the tree and let you know you’ll already have figured it out long before the movie gets around to telling you.
The plot is populated by a few fine characters though. The main acts his face off (har har), as honestly does his female costar whose in close to as much of the movie as he is. Sure, her character isn’t cool enough that they get their own clone, but she does a pretty solid job of contributing to the movie in more than just the captured bait - even if she does also contribute to it by being such in one leg. Both get some good fight scenes, both get some good lines, and overall both do a darn good job of acting it up. The other team good guy character comes off incredibly solid as a side-character - he has quirks, and a worded backstory association with the main, and that’s about as advanced as his story and character gets. Of course, our baddies aren’t super-crazy to work with - our main “villain” behind everything comes off suitably evil with good intentions that you still don’t like him even if he has a point. Our main on-screen villain is more impressive for how he’s done rather than what they do with him though.
Audio is delivered well, with plenty of good balance across the board. The music doesn’t necessarily stick around, but it is certainly there and adding to the scenes it pops up in. Background sounds make places sound suitably busy or quiet as desired, and most the weaponry and scrapping going on has a acceptable and appreciable level of presence to it. There might be a line or two that you don’t quite catch if you aren’t paying full attention - but nothing missed hinders the experience at all. As mentioned, actors do a good job here, although I would argue that if I had to pick a weak link it’d probably be the behind the scenes villain, who feels rather much like any of his roles in that very samey sort of way that works for the character but doesn’t really allow one to be impressed by the performance at all - not that anyone is tearing at the heart strings and popping out awards in this one.
Top action.
But enough of that, you came here for one thing I’m sure. That fake young Smith taking on modern older Smith. Boy, let me tell you what - it look good. WETA does a bang-up job with making it convincing, and although perhaps at times it doesn’t look quite stellar enough to pass at a hundred percent human, the thing is hardly found lacking. You know all those deep fake style things that go around? I’ve seen some of those less convincing than what happens here - it’s quite impressive, and I’m not even on the highest definition possible (bluray copy as opposed to a 4K one) - and this movie was shot at a high resolution when it got filmed, so I can only assume that it’d be a powerhouse to look at at that point. There are other effects in there as well - explosions, guns, blood, sparks, and bullets are all floating about. There’s also some pretty environments at times to check out that help lead to the next thing.
Action is good here. There’s a moment or two where things can be a bit weird - feeling a bit sped up due perhaps to a higher frame rate, making it feel a little less weighty and real than other moments. Much like the effects though, it’s largely good stuff we are getting served up here. It can be at times chaotic, but even though you are effectively watching the same person fighting a younger same person, it’s still pretty easy to tell whats going on in almost every fight scene with the exception of the Crypt. Arguably, the harder to track comes less from the fight how it’s shot and more the fact that it takes place in a dark area with people dressed in dark colors that look relatively the same - you’d forgive a person for mixing up which one is which at that point! Highlight of the actions scenes in my opinion is the first encounter - a rollicking gun fight complete with absurd grenade redirections, culminating in a bike chase and fight through the streets really gets the blood going. The final act’s fight is also quite well, including some nice tag-team action for the female lead with both showing some impressive no-nonsense skills in a steeped gun fight with the odds against them. If the plot is something you find lacking, the action will at least make up for it in keeping you entertained and wanting more.
The camerawork is also something that can at times really stand out here. There’s some scenes in here that are nothing but improved because the camera positioning and flow that happens is there - and if there’s one thing you should be able to appreciate in any movie with some good action, it’s a camera guy who knows what the heck he is doing. Combat has a flow, and a camera that can follow that turns the entire thing into an aesthetically pleasing ballet of doom and bullets and fists. This is part of why the two action scenes I mentioned before stand out so much - it’s not just the actors and stunt teams making it look good, it’s the pacing and movements and positioning of all the shots and things framed within them. Yeah, costumes don’t leave me much to talk about, and maybe the scenery is pretty if nothing more than normal - but this thing is put together pretty phenomenally when it wants to be.
Most of the cast.
In the end I’m not disappointed. I didn’t come in with astronomical expectations, and I can see why perhaps the everyday crowd wouldn’t go to blow it out of the box office on release, but the review grade this thing has on IMDb really just tells me people can’t have fun and don’t deserve movies anymore. Yeah, the plot is pretty basic, but pretty near every other aspect is at worst fine with some moments that really stand out as pretty awesome. Perhaps I’m just more willing to forgive for the sake of enjoyment, or perhaps I’ve just lost my mind, but I’d say this is a fine popcorn muncher that was fun enough.