Rent Gemini Man (2019)
2.8 of 5 from 693 ratings
1h 52min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Retired hit man Henry Brogan (Will Smith) is forced on the run by a young, highly skilled operative who will stop at nothing to eliminate his target. Now on a race around the globe, Henry must outsmart the mysterious assassin at every step - but how far will he go once they finally come face to face?
- Actors:
- Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, Benedict Wong, Douglas Hodge, Ralph Brown, Linda Emond, Ilia Volok, E.J. Bonilla, Victor Hugo, David Shae, Theodora Woolley, Diego Adonye, Lilla Banak, Igor Szasz, Alexa GyÖrgy, Fernanda Dorogi, Alexandra Szucs, Tim Connolly, Daniel Salyers
- Directors:
- Ang Lee
- Producers:
- Jerry Bruckheimer, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger
- Writers:
- David Benioff, Billy Ray, Darren Lemke
- Studio:
- Paramount
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers
- Collections:
- 2020, CinemaParadiso.co.uk Through Time
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 17/02/2020
- Run Time:
- 117 minutes
- Languages:
- Brazilian Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1, Canadian French Dolby Digital 5.1, English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, French Parisian Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1, Latin American Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, Thai Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles:
- Bahasa Malaysian, Brazilian, Canadian French, Cantonese, Chinese, Dutch, English, English Hard of Hearing, French Parisian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish, Mandarin, Mandarin-Taiwan, Simplified Mandarin, Singapore, Thai
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- All-Now Alternate Opening
- Deleted Scenes
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 17/02/2020
- Run Time:
- 117 minutes
- Languages:
- Canadian French Dolby Digital 5.1, English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English Dolby Atmos, French Parisian Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian Dolby Digital 5.1, Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1, Latin American Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, Thai Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles:
- Bahasa Malaysian, Canadian French, Cantonese, Chinese, Complex Mandarin, Dutch, English, English Hard of Hearing, French Parisian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin American Spanish, Mandarin, Mandarin-Taiwan, Simplified Mandarin, Singapore, Thai
- DVD Regions:
- Region 2
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- VFX Scene Breakdown
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Reviews (10) of Gemini Man
4K 60fps version Review - Gemini Man review by BG
Gemini Man was one of Ang Lee's recent passion projects - a continuation of his attempts to film in a higher frames-per-second format after 'Billy Lynn's Long Half-Time Walk'.
Although 'normal' cinematic frame rates apply to the Blu-Rays of this and 'Billy Lynn's...', this 4K is the 'experimental' version, filmed at 120fps, but released on 4K Blu-Ray at 60fps.
Initially, it looks disconcerting, as if you're watching a very clear and sharp TV travel programme that just happens to include Will Smith and some extreme violence...but then after a while you disappear into the film, with the unusual visuals only reminding you of their presence again during sequences that would normally look super 'cinematic' now looking and feeling strikingly real. A motorbike chase/fight sequence gains a very impactful and visceral feel due to being so clear and 'realistic' in appearance, and a later gun battle with some heavy-duty hardware causing sparks to fly off cars looks and feels terrifying.
The plot has been hanging around Hollywood waiting to get made for so long that it no longer really feels fresh - but in a nutshell, Will Smith's ageing assassin ('Henry') decides to throw in the towel, only to find himself pursued by a younger and faster version of himself ('Junior')...
Because the plot has such a belief-stretching element, Lee wisely grounds the beginning in character elements, with Smith chatting to his handler and then engaging in accusation/flirtation with Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character 'Danny'. Winstead has a choice role in this movie, and it's immensely gratifying to see her stretch her acting legs with a character who is so confident and so hugely capable in the combat/action sequences.
Clive Owen veers between feeling a touch hammy as villain 'Clay', and then a surprisingly effective impression of trying to be a caring and affectionate father figure to cloned human 'Junior'.
The elephant in the room is Junior; how has the film handled the effects? Does Junior convince on-screen?
The good news is that most of the time, Junior is convincing, and great fun to watch. The first fight very effectively introduces him as a terrifyingly effective assailant - the Energiser Bunny version of Henry, faster, more resilient, more aggressive.
Unfortunately, whether it's due to the frame-rate or a conscious decision to try to 'amp-up' the speed of his performance, there are moments in the movie where CGI character movement seems to have been sped-up too much, and it takes you out of the action for a few seconds - mainly in the initial confrontation, and then again towards the end. Although mostly very good indeed, his face isn't always convincing, with moments of slight "uncanny-valley" oddness that caused a few furrowed brows as we watched - especially towards the end when one scene in particular seemed to vary wildly in facial quality and texture from shot to shot. However - the tech has now become so good that given enough budget and time, it must only be 2 or 3 years before they've got those final niggles nailed, as they're only a hair's breadth from it throughout most of Gemini Man.
The film is fast moving, enjoyably written and packed with flashy action sequences, and the 60fps experience is an enjoyable novelty for cinema tech fans.
I'm not sure if it will catch on properly (it's mostly been used in films that only do 'pretty well' at the box office, no mega-hits), but if you want a more traditional version there's always the Blu-Ray version instead.
Will Smith is fun, Winstead is great, and it's flashy and entertaining. If you're looking for an action movie, you can do a LOT worse than Gemini Man.
2 out of 3 members found this review helpful.
Will reloads the bank. - Gemini Man review by NC
Lot better than his last lot of offerings. Easy money for Will, who rates himself as a great actor, but like 9 out of 10 actors, they are just themselves all the time. Just have to say lines.
Entertaining enough film, with some clever dobbleganger themes...........long time since Ian Hendry had the problem! Oblivion better film by miles............
2 out of 4 members found this review helpful.
Not original, just a good average action movie! - Gemini Man review by CS
This was a lot better than I thought it would be, having read some very negative professional reviews. But the thing about critics is that they seem to live on a very different planet to the rest of us and are often guided by Pc'ness or being 'Woke', so often give positive reviews to really awful films just for the sake of being PC, but negative reviews to really good films that tackle uncomfortable truths or thorny subject matter! This film is not an original plot by any means, the subject matter has been done many times before and sometimes a lot better than here. This for me had a very 80's feel to it and I almost felt like I was watching an old Arnold Swarzenegger movie. Will plays both his older and younger self, but sadly much of the special effects are not so special, very hazy and they constantly resort to making the action so fast and choppy and dad that it's really difficult to see anything. The face on the younger counterpart does not look right and I've seen this in a lot of films where they attempt to age someone or make them younger via CG and it just looks hazy and odd. The film moves forward with quite a good pace and is actually quite a good action movie, not a blockbuster by any means. and Will simply plays himself, almost as if he's sleepwalking through the movie.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Critic review
Gemini Man review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso
Remember a time when Will Smith seemed like the most eccentric and quick-witted of young actors from the 1990s? There was some hope with a concept like Gemini Man where Smith is cloned into a younger version of himself. But this is not the same Smith. No, this younger Smith, rendered entirely with computer graphics, has been stripped of all emotion to be the perfect soldier. And what a perfect encapsulation of this movie, where all traces of emotion and charisma have been silenced for a routine and mediocre thriller.
Here’s the problem with such a concept. The 51-year-old Smith plays Henry, the most expert assassin on the planet, hired by the American government to secretly take out targets. He’s invaluable considering his expert shots but he’s getting too old for this game. A secret government organization wants to not only clone him but create a clone devoid of emotions. But why? Even when Henry seems haunted by a life of killing, he seems to only express his anxiety and distress more in bland dialogue than humanizing actions. And so we not only have a snoozing Will Smith but the ULTIMATE in flat expressions killers. They fight against each other but the real battle is to see who can be the blandest action hero.
We get a lot of close up moments with the younger Will Smith, named Junior by his superiors, rendered entirely with computer graphics. In those close-ups, you can really take in the detail of the face and also how perfectly he messes with an older Smith. It looks good but just look at the shot of CGI Smith in the foreground. His face is flat, devoid of emotion and struggling to never emote passed the look of a muted killer. Why bother to put all that detail into something that will remain mostly as stone? Perhaps he is held still to avoid the character slipping back into the uncanny valley. This theory seems likely given his many action sequences are so over-the-top with computer graphics and lacking in his face time that you could place any character in those scenes. How believable can a CGI human being be when he’s using a motorcycle to perform impossible kung fu? The lines between live-action and animation certainly start to smear in a picture like this.
Everything else in the picture is an absolute snooze. Henry’s mission for the truth is your standard globe-trotting thriller; go to an exotic location, speak with an informant, a fight on the way out, repeat. There are some companions on Henry’s journey but they’re just as underused and dreary. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays the younger, spirited agent but she adds to little more than being a hostage and eye candy. One of the creepiest aspects is that the film poses this woman in her thirties as the love interest of the 50s Smith. He admits she’s too young for him but perfect for the 25-year-old clone of himself. Follow this awkward conversation up with a scene of Junior forcing Winstead to strip to check for guns, lacking in any sexual tension, and you have one oddly uncomfortable and boring scene.
Benedict Wong is certainly meant to be the comic relief character as Henry’s pilot of an old partner. Sadly, he’s reduced to one-liners. Very basic one-liners at that. Clive Owen could be a stand-out as the evil leader of a secret organization making clones but he seems so preoccupied with trying to cover up his accent that little if any, emotion comes from his character’s idealism. That being said, his idealism is rather tiresome; dreams of cooking up the ultimate super-soldier, lamenting on family, solutions to war, blah blah blah.
Gemini Man is certainly an expensive premise to produce and has apparently been in the works for over 20 years. After two decades, it seems like we’ve reached the point where photo-realistic human beings can be rendered convincingly. Now we just need to find a real project to use them on instead of this generic action picture that’s been regurgitated so many times I can hardly blame the actors for sleepwalking through a film more about tech than character.