Gemini Man (Dir Ang Lee, 1h 57m)

  

From Dostoevsky's The Double onwards, we have been haunted by other versions of ourselves, benign or evil, and cinema is no stranger to the doppelganger, from 1913's The Student of Prague considered to be the first independent film, and the beginning of the German Expressionist movement, to this year's horror-thriller, Us. For obvious reasons, these films have proved to be a proving ground and a cutting edge for special effects-with few exceptions this effect is usually created by either camera tricks, superimposing the actor's face on a double, or with the advent of CGI, by a mixture of these techniques. Gemini Man, a film 20 years in the making, helmed by Ang Lee, a director himself no stranger to using cutting edge techniques, certainly uses its toolbox of effect well to tell the story of the battle between a retiring government assassin and his younger self, but away from Mr Smith and Mr Smith, the rest of the film is almost painfully formulaic.

Opening on one last job for Smith's assassin, Henry Brogan, the film certainly wastes no time in showing his abilities, as he snipes what appears to be a terrorist on a moving train, but, with the stakes ever growing from job to job, so Brogan retires from the job, but soon finds himself, via an old war buddy, involved in a larger sinister government plot, involving shadowy mercenary organisation GEMINI, and a mysteriously familiar assassin who threatens him and government agent Dani (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as they search for the truth

Thus we reach, essentially, the central conceit of the film. What's better than one Will Smith? Two! Except one is digitally deaged to about 23, no doubt using the vast store of late 80s and early 90s footage of Smith and  raised by punchclock villain Clay Varis (Clive Owen, sitting somewhere between duplicitous father figure and every "war is hell" villain ever), the head of GEMINI who otherwise spends much of the film threatening his government contact, and expositing plot to anyone who'll listen. The younger Mr Smith, appropriately called Junior is sent, after a small army of bungling SWAT members are offed by Smith and Winstead, to deal with his older self, in a number of suitably fast-paced, bruising encounters across exotic locations that pits the two against each other as the truth slowly becomes unravelled.

To give Lee, and to be fair, Smith credit, the scenes in which Henry and Junior face off against each other, across chases, fights, and taut standoffs are the best part of the film. If nothing else, this, and the upcoming Scorsese epic, The Irishman indicate that de-aging via CGI has truly come of age in the last year, even when compared to the sterling effects work of Rogue One in re-creating not one but two iconic actors-in places, one has to argue that the effects work is nigh flawless, if, occasionally, a little uncanny in extreme closeups. Certainly, without a doubt, "Junior" is given far more to do facially than either Tarkin or Leia were in Rogue One, with the young man often seen in tears or angry, not to mention the movement in the fightscenes is a far cry from the relatively static performances in previous usages of this technology.

Indeed both of Smith's performances lend themselves well to this antagonistic relationship-Junior is a veritable exposed nerve of a performance, moving back and forth from emotional wreck to confident and skillful warrior, and the mixture of deaging and CGI doubling makes his first appearances openly mysterious, before we finally see the work of Varis's hinted labour finally make his appearance. Indeed, aside from his scenes with his older self, it is the scenes with Varis, his adopted father, that Smith is at his best, as the rift between father and son begins to open up

Henry, in comparison, is Smith in his tried and tested cinematic elder statesman persona, a tough but likeable hero with a few flaws here and there, but the old familiar charm that we've come to know. In another film, particularly one that otherwise plays its cinematic hand as straight as it can, this performance would fall flat, but butressing up against the troubled young man, it's a nicely complimentary performance. Indeed, if the film has one triumph, it is in reminding us that Will Smith is still a remarkably competent actor when he wants to, if Junior is anything to go by.

This, sadly, is more than can be said for the rest of the film. The setpieces are unexciting, Winstead is simply not given enough to do, aside from play sidekick to Smith-the film at one point plays the incredibly dumb, and mildly offensive suggestion that Henry does not find her attractive, but Junior likely will, the film's marketing spoils the entire conceptual twist for the audience before the film even begins, Clive Owen is on complete autopilot for the majority of this film, and the plot is less formulaic, more plot-by-numbers.

Gemini Man, thus, is a disappointment, albeit an innovative one. The problem is, as the litany of technologically advanced, but ultimately failed films shows, flashy effects and a single good performance cannot save a project that's been stuck in development hell for over twenty years, especially in a year that not only brings us The Irishman, but Captain Marvel, where this technology was not front and centre but merely a string in the bow to use to drive the plot along. For all Smith's sterling acting, for all the technical wizardy to bring his dual performances to life, Gemini Man is already a technical footnote in cinematic history

Rating: Neutral



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