Gemini Man

I am going to preface this review by saying that I have a good friend who works at the Newbury Vue cinema and so I often get free tickets. Sometimes, like last week’s Joker, this is amazing as I get to see incredible films for free. Sometimes, like this week’s Gemini Man, this is amazing as I have only wasted two hours of my life, rather than two hours plus the cost of the ticket.

The premise of Gemini Man is simple: Will Smith plays Henry Brogan, a world class hitman who wants to retire, but is targeted by the agency he used to work for, who send a clone they made of Brogan (without his knowledge) to kill him. There is little more to the film other than this basic idea. The film is predictable, hitting the same beats that can be expected from a mainstream action film. The only key difference being that the antagonist is completely CGI.

Instead of using the de-aging technology seen in many films in the last year, director Ang Li chose instead to do motion capture of Will Smith, then completely reconstruct the younger clone and then overlay that over a stand-in. This works in some scenes, where it is impossible to tell that the character is not a real person. However, in many of the action sequences between the two versions of Brogan, the CGI is so painfully obvious and jarring that it almost makes it unwatchable.

Aside from the predictable plot and the often shockingly bad CGI, this film does have some redeeming features. The individual performances from Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Benedict Wong are commendable, despite some incredibly clunky dialogue. The action scenes that weren’t reliant on CGI or had more time to be polished were also enjoyable, but these were in the minority.

I was going into Gemini Man with the hopes of a wacky action flick, self-aware of its own ridiculousness and leaning into it, much like Hobbs and Shaw, the Fast and Furious spin-off starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham. Unfortunately, I was disappointed by a film that took itself way too seriously for its premise, and didn’t even execute it with any degree of style. There were a few (non-intentional) laughable moments, but I was just bored for most of it.

I would recommend this film to people who have two hours to kill and also don’t have to pay for the cinema ticket. Fans of Will Smith may get some enjoyment out of his charisma, but that can only go so far to cover the boring plot, sometimes confusingly bad dialogue and special effects that belong in a mid-2000s videogame.

1.5 stars