Going to the theater is a weekly event for my girlfriend and I. I end up picking the movie more than she does (so if I end up picking a stinker, it’s on me). Still, whenever Will Smith is in a movie, we can usually both agree it’s worth checking out. “Gemini Man” looks promising so we decided to check it out.
The film focuses on a government sanctioned assassin named Henry Brogan. The film starts with Henry taking out a target but hitting his neck instead of his head like he was aiming for. Feeling like he is losing his edge and growing disillusioned with his profession, Henry retires and sets off to live in peace. When an old friend informs Henry that his last assignment may have been an innocent man with information the government wanted to keep secret, Henry becomes the target of the most dangerous assassin on Earth besides himself, his younger self.
How could someone not be intrigued with the premise of “I Am Legend” Will Smith versus “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” Will Smith? I know I sure was and I had heard a lot of great things from people who had seen it before. The I started to read some bad things from the critics and I grew concerned. Was I going to like this film at all? Well, I guess I kind of saw both standpoints in regards to this film.
The film is definitely a fun watch. Will Smith is charismatic as usual and really seems to have a blast with this film at certain points which is always great for audience members. It is a bit of a shame that the young version of Henry Brogan suffers from the same uncanny valley affect almost all computer animated faces have. While hidden in the proper lighting, it looks very impressive but when fully lite, it’s very obvious the face was computer animated.
As for the supporting cast, Clive Owen and Mary Elizabeth Winstead were rather bland and added little to the movie. The only real standout besides Will Smith was Benedict Wong. Wong and Smith have great chemistry and make for much of the film’s levity.
This film was in development hell since 1997 which strangely makes sense since this feels like a late 90s action film (I could imagine Michael Bay tackling this film at one point). Before Will Smith took the part, actors ranging from Harrison Ford to even Sean Connery were linked to the film at some point. That being said, it is sort of refreshing getting an almost throwback action movie in 2019.
The film was directed by Ang Lee and I have to say I think some of his choices are the biggest complaints I have against the film. I love Ang Lee typically and I think he can be an amazing storyteller and he has an amazing visual flair typically. In this film however, much of the action scenes were filmed very close to the camera (no doubt to help hide some of the cgi) and it was hard to focus and get into what was happening then. Added to the fact that the action scenes were completely over the top and unrealistic to the point it was hard to feel like any character was really in danger, it just made for some bland action set pieces in what should have been an action masterpiece.
With the good and bad being weighed together, I would still recommend seeing this, even if you wait to see it after it hits theaters. It’s a decent enough action movie helped considerably by the charm of Will Smith.
Grade: C+
No comments:
Post a Comment