If “Gemini Man” was produced in 1997 the first time it was conceived, it would have won the best Sci-fi movie, maybe even the Oscar. However, it’s production 20 years after seems like something that was rushed with an old script pulled out from the shelves and banking on the individual brilliance of Will Smith (and Mary Elizabeth Winstead) to do the magic in a career gambling role.
Sitting down on my sofa watching “Gemini Man” felt like a nightmare. Even my popcorn tasted like sawdust at some point and several burning questions I took to bed with me was why the poor CGI quality, why the bad plots and why did Will Smith play the lead role?
If you have seen the movie, don’t get me wrong, Will Smith did a good job to keep people glued to their seats despite the film’s shortcomings, but if he declined not to star in Django Unchained and the original Matrix, why settle for this when he is at the peak of his career? It seems that Skydance media who bought the film from Disney contacted Ang Lee to do his best so that “Gemini Man” could leave development hell after 20 years but Lee’s best wasn’t enough.
Gemini Man: The plot (plot?)
The film opened brightly showing a 51 year Henry Brogan (Will Smith) who is regarded as a well-trained government assassin who can eliminate any of his targets with precision. His last job before his planned retirement was killing a man on a fast-moving train. He rented a boat to go visit his friend who was having a small vacation in the sea with his mistress, there, his friend told him that the man he shot was not a terrorist but a scientist and warned him to be careful.
See Hobbs and Shaw
Thereafter, Henry became more clairvoyant as he soon discovered that the boat he rented was tapped by a secret agent Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who was hired to spy on him. He befriended Danny and their lives came under severe threats as they ran off to Colombia with the help of pilot Baron (Benedict Wong) in order not to be killed by the assassins Caly Varris hired to take him out. The film actually started when he found out that the assassin sent to kill him looks exactly like a younger version of him. Ironically, it was after this revelation that the writers lost touch.
What is wrong with Gemini Man?
Many things actually. Despite the anticipation, “Gemini Man” failed to live up to its expectations at least in CGI effects, plot, and lack of story depth. I will start with its Computer Generated Image. It was the film’s major flaw as the cloned version of Will Smith failed woefully to engage the audience because of its poor quality. The scene where Junior was on the rooftop trying to kill Will Smith looked like a scene of a video game shot in 1991. The only thing that made a few sense was the motorcycle chase between Will Smith and his cloned version in the streets of Colombia which compensated somewhat for the time you spent watching the film.
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The plot is too predictable and the writers were too scared to squeeze out the juice from the storyline. David Benioff, Billy Ray, and Darren Lemke couldn’t explore the uniqueness of the characters in a way that goes beyond clone conversations. You could bet with your life savings that Caly Varris was going to be killed in a lab in the presence of Will Smith, his cloned version and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Too many predictable scenes.
Rating
Rating this movie, one has to look at areas where it failed to impress even an average cinema goer. This is one weak material that Will Smith has worked within his many years of appearing in blockbuster films. There are even fears that the movie might not make a profit. As of writing this in late-November, the movie has made 170+ million of its budget of 138 million. To make a profit, the movie has to make at least 270 million in the box office. Even if it makes this, it would still be a disappointing outing for it.
I will give this movie a 4/10 and the reason is primarily due to its weak script, poor CGI quality, and predictable storyline. “Gemini Man” was supposed to be a blockbusting product, it turned out to be a movie to eat the pop on with then move on to more rewarding endeavors.
Image Source: Vox
