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Gemini Man (2019)
Paramount Home Entertainment
4K UHD Released: 1/14/2020
All Ratings out of
Movie:
1/2
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Review by Mike Long, Posted on 2/4/2020
When it comes to my all-time favorite directors, the list is dominated by names
from the world of horror – Carpenter, Craven, Raimi.
However, there are certainly filmmakers from other genres that I admire,
especially those who refuse to be pigeonholed.
Take Danny Boyle for example.
Not only does he have a great visual style, he has gone out of his way to
prove that he’s willing to tackle a wealth of different subjects and stories.
Fellow Oscar winner Ang Lee has taken a similar career path.
From Jane Austen to ancient China to comic-book films, Lee has shown a
deft hand at tackling different genres.
In recent years, he’s also shown an affinity for pushing the boundaries
of movie-making technology. We see
both of these trends continue in Gemini Man.
Henry Brogan (Will Smith) is a former soldier who now works as an assassin for
the government and he’s the best at what he does.
But, following his latest job, he’s considering retiring.
These feelings are amplified when his buddy, Jack (Douglas Hodge),
informs him that his last target was an innocent man.
Determined to get to the bottom of this, Henry now feels that he’s being
followed. When he meets a young
agent named Danny (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), his suspicions are confirmed.
Danny pledge to help Henry and the two begin to follow the clues.
However, a shadowy figure is pursuing Henry, one whose skills seem to
mirror those of the hitman.
While watching Gemini Man, it becomes clear that there are two components
of the film which are supposed to be the selling points.
The first is the story, which involves Henry confronting someone who
looks just like him. (This isn’t a
spoiler, as this plot point is revealed in the trailer.)
The idea of a doppleganger, evil double, or bad clone has been seen in
other films and Gemini Man attempts to update this concept by having the
duplicate be a younger version of Henry.
Yet, outside of this notion, nothing, and I mean nothing in Gemini Man
feels the least bit original. This
is just another Mission: Impossible meets James Bond film in which our
heroes must travel the world searching for clues and getting into gunfights.
We don’t get the cliched world maps with the dotted lines representing
the characters’ flight paths, but, we might as well, as Henry and Danny jet from
country to country attempting to learn the truth.
These moments are so shockingly familiar that they fail to generate any
interest.
The other aspect of Gemini Man which is meant to be appealing is its use
of technology. Anti-aging effects
are all the rage in movies now and we’ve seen them in things like Ant-Man
and The Irishman. This is
taken to the next level in Gemini Man, as we learn from the special
features here that there are scenes in the movie where we are looking at a
completely digital Will Smith. This
is truly amazing as human features have long since been a challenge for VFX
artists. While this is truly
impressive, it doesn’t do much to make Gemini Man a better movie.
The other piece here is Director Ang Lee’s continued love of 120 fps
photography, which he debuted in 2016’s
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.
Lee contends that this technology gives movies a hyper-realistic look,
but, for me, it makes them look like made-for-TV shot on video productions from
the 1970s. There’s no doubt that
the picture here is clear (more on that in a moment), but this approach also
robs the filmmaker (or at least Lee) of a truly artistic approach.
Everything here is bright and clear, and there’s no attempt to create
dark, atmospheric moments – every shot looks the same.
This approach gives the movie a sterile look.
There’s no doubt that Ang Lee is a gifted filmmaker, but since his triumphant
work in 2012’s Life of Pi, he has been on a downward trajectory, and I
blame his insistence on technology over storytelling.
While he continues to be a director who clearly isn’t afraid of tackling
different genres, he seems to have lost his knack for creating believable
characters which serve as a bridge for the viewer.
On one level, Gemini Man works as a competent action film, and
it’s better than your run-of-the-mill car-chase and gunfight movie, but we
expect more from Ang Lee and Will Smith.
The film’s sheer mediocrity is enough to doom it.
When an Oscar-winning filmmaker is offering a movie made with
cutting-edge technology, ho-hum should not be the result.
Will Smith may spend have of the movie fighting with himself, but me and
my conscious quickly agreed to put this film behind us.
Gemini Man
has twice the Will Smith and half the charm on 4K UHD courtesy of Paramount Home
Entertainment. The film has been
letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains a 2160p transfer which runs at an
average of 85 Mbps. The image is
incredibly sharp and clear, showing no noticeable grain and no defects from the
source materials. This transfer
offers the 120 fps presentation which is preferred by Lee and it delivers a
picture which is incredibly clear and lifelike.
The colors look fantastic and the image is never overly dark or bright.
The depth is spectacular and one feels as if one could step into the
picture and the level of detail is unsurpassed.
Still, as noted above, this look robs the film of any artistic qualities.
Sure, it looks amazing, but it feels weird.
The Disc carries a Dolby Atmos audio track which runs at 48 kHz and an
average of 5.5 Mbps. The track
provides clear dialogue and sound effects.
This is a powerful track which lends atmosphere to the action sequences.
We get detailed surround sound and stereo effects which highlight
individual sounds. The audio moves
very smoothly from the front to the rear.
The subwoofer is quite muscular and we feel each explosion and gunshot.
The Gemini Man 4K UHD contains one extra feature.
“Visual Effects Progression Presented by WETA” (3 minutes) shows the
incredible amount of work which can go into seemingly simple shots, leading us
to question if anything in movies is actually real anymore.
The remainder of the extras are found on the Blu-ray Disc included in
this set. The Disc offers two
DELETED SCENES which run about 5 minutes.
The first is quite brief, but the second one is much longer as it
delivers a scene which was re-cast and re-shot after initial photography.
We are also treated to an “Alternate Opening” (6 minutes) which edits in
another scene with the footage seen in the finished movie.
“The Genesis of Gemini Man” (3 minutes) has Smith, Lee, and
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer talking about the story and how the idea was
developed years ago, and technology finally caught up with it.
“Facing Your Younger Self” (6 minutes) is a conversation of the concept
of meeting yourself and how Smith approached this idea.
“The Future is Now” (19 minutes) shows how the film went beyond
age-changing effects to creating a 100% digital Will Smith for some shots.
We get some on-set footage of Smith doing the motion-capture work.
“Setting the Action” (16 minutes) takes us behind the scenes to see how
the stuntwork and action sequences were done.
“Next Level Detail” (4 minutes) shows us the work which went into the
creating the catacomb set. The
director and his love for visual storytelling is examined “The Vision of Ang
Lee” (6 minutes).