Apparently, two Will Smiths are “two” much.
With Gemini Man, Ang Lee continues to prove that he is one of the most overrated directors in Hollywood. His hallmark style of cheesy exposition, over-the-top actions scenes, and bland plot, are littered throughout this movie.
I’m going to jump straight to the spoilers so you don’t have to waste your time or money, watching it.
Gemini Man stars Will Smith, times two. Yes, it’s obvious that there are two Wills in here, but that doesn’t happen till we’re halfway into the movie. And unfortunately two Wills don’t equal twice the fun, does that make any sense?
Will Smith plays Henry, a retired assassin for the DIA, not CIA. For some reason unknown, the DIA issues kill orders on him for, get this, retiring. And from there, the movie is a non-stop unrealistic chase scene. About 60 minutes in, Henry runs into his clone, Clay Jr., and though a series of events, Henry eventually turns him to the light. Then both Little and Old Will Smith both defeat the evil mastermind-scientist-bad-father-figure.
That’s the summary – and it’s stupid.
DIRECTION
If there was one thing worse than Gemini Man, it’s listening to Ang Lee speak about Gemini Man. He’s boring with a capital Zzzzzz. Don’t bother clicking on the video unless you’ve ran out of Nyquil. I just used it for the photo.
Talented directors, such as J.J. Abrams, can work magic with horrible scripts. Ang Lee, on the other hand, needs a perfect script to disguise his handicap.
The action is hard to follow. Sometimes it’s too dark, the camera is too close, so you can’t really tell whose winning and who’s shadow boxing. To add insult to studity, the final fight scene is nothing more than daddy issue speeches with guns. This is an action movie, not Hamlet.
GRADE: F
SCRIPT ANALYSIS
Gemini Man was written by David Benioff, Billy Ray, and Darren Lemke, all who have pretty impressive writing credits to their name. So, I’m not sure why the script was filled to the brim with with plot holes.
That doesn’t make any sense.
From the beginning of Gemini Man, it felt as though I was watching a sequel where I was supposed to already know what the DIA was, what Smith’s character did for a living, and why he was such a threat to the Gemini program or the country. By the way, I’m still not sure why there’s a need to kill Will Smith’s Character, Henry. The protagonist doesn’t know anything special, he just wanted to retire and fish.
Things just happened out convience, and you are expected to just accept it. There’s a point where Henry’s friend gets a multi-million dollar Gulfstream. How? He knows someone. That’s just lazy writing.
Then there’s that one “realistic moment” when Henry takes a motorcycle wheel to the face and doesn’t get knocked out. Of course, that’s typical Ang Lee.
And the talking…there’s just too much talking in this movie. Characters explain their motivations with long on-the-nose-dialogue rants that are just not fit for an action movie.
How about the simple common sense plot holes – such as when Will Smith encounters his younger clone in a foreign country. Old Will, decides they need to head back to America, so they take the Gulfstream. But guess what? Young Will is already back to the United States, beating Old Will to America, as if he just teleported or ran on water, faster than a jet.
Three decorated screenwriters couldn’t fill this plot hole? Does that sound right? The script could have been written during filming (which is the trend these days)
GRADE: F
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
Unfortunately, all of the characters are too thin to breakdown on the Enneagram. Will Smith is a talented actor and he just wasn’t given much to play with here. All we can tell is that both Big Will and Little Will have daddy issues, are killers, and are seeking some form of justice.
GRADE: F
CGI
The CGI in this movie was horrible. There were times when Little Will looked like human guppie version of Will Smith with too much botox. It was so bad, even my mom asked, “Why does Will Smith look funny?”
GRADE: F
FINAL THOUGHTS
Gemini Man was slammed by the critics, but apparently, the audience gave this movie a passing grade. Unfortunately, I can’t agree with the audience. I think this was one of the worse movies of the year.
GRADE: F
Steve Young
