{"id":19251,"date":"2019-10-10T11:29:59","date_gmt":"2019-10-10T18:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=19251"},"modified":"2019-10-10T11:29:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T18:29:59","slug":"gemini-man-doesnt-make-a-lasting-impression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=19251","title":{"rendered":"GEMINI MAN Doesn\u2019t Make a Lasting Impression"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Director Ang Lee is responsible for several award-winning\ncinematic works, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon<\/em>, Brokeback\nMountain<\/em> and Life of Pi<\/em>. At first glance, his latest feature appears\nto be an odd selection, as the filmmaker takes on what appears to be a fairly\ntraditional and straightforward action picture. Thankfully, Gemini Man<\/em> does\ntry to throw an extra wrinkle into the formula and adds some new technical\nelements to the genre. Yet for all its effort, it doesn\u2019t end up making a\nlasting impression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Henry Brogan (Will Smith) is an aging government hitman who\ndecides that he\u2019s had enough of being an assassin after shooting a man whom an\ninformant claims may have been an innocent party. Suspicious of his employers,\nHenry decides to retire. Soon, he begins to get an uneasy feeling, suspecting\nthat the agency as well as his old trainer Clay (Clive Owen) may have other\nideas about his future. It isn\u2019t long before Henry finds himself the target of\na professional killer who seems to know his every move. Enlisting the help of\nold friend Baron (Benedict Wong) and new acquaintance Danny Zakarweski (Mary\nElizabeth Winstead), the hitman and his pals are chased around the globe as\nthey attempt to find out who is gunning for Henry and why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Alas, if you\u2019ve seen the trailer or even a brief commercial\nfor this title, you\u2019ll already know far too much about what\u2019s in store for the\ncentral character. In fact, the first third of the film deals with the hero\nattempting to discover the identity of his pursuer\u2026 one who clearly bears more\nthan a passing similarity to the lead. That\u2019s a lot of time to devote to a plot\ntwist that is already known to everyone who bought a ticket for the movie and it\ncertainly diminishes the level of suspense early on (although this isn\u2019t the\nfilm\u2019s fault and is simply an example of the marketing department giving too\nmuch away to the viewer).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What follows is a routine chase picture, but at least it\u2019s\nimpressive to look at as it unfolds. The characters end up on a globe-trotting\nquest to find the responsible party, moving from gorgeously filmed locations in\nColumbia and Hungary. Lee also shoots the action well, often using long takes\nthat follow the characters through a variety of streets and environments\nwithout cuts. One chase follows Henry on a motorcycle through a city, twisting\naround corners and bumping into passing vehicles as he tries to escape with his\nlife. With the exception of a couple of big crashes at the climax of the\nsequences, the effects are good and these moments, while predictable, add some\nlife to the proceedings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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However, there is a certain lack of urgency that begins to\nsink in as the already obvious motivations come to light and Henry must\nconvince his attacker of the identity of their common enemy. Smith is a\ncharming guy, but the effects on display end up overshadowing the performer. Copious\ndigital work is used to place two persons who resemble each other in the same\nshot. While the tricks do look convincing at times, there are some issues with\nthe technology that clearly haven\u2019t been ironed out, especially when it comes\nto sound and dialogue. Their banter falls flat, especially when they\u2019re bonding\nand these scenes play as less-than-naturalistic. And the digitally altered younger\nhitman\u2019s lines have certainly been dubbed in at a later date, which may be why their\ninteractions don\u2019t always gel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it\u2019s nice that the screenplay tries to develop character\nmoments, like the lead\u2019s loneliness due to his profession, and a growing\nemotional bond as one of the men seems to take on a more parental role, it all\nnever feels truly grounded or believable. This is one example of an action\nmovie that might have been better off to embrace the silliness of having\nseveral characters with the same body and really take the wild concept to the\ncraziest and most extreme lengths possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Admittedly, Gemini Man<\/em> is a very pretty movie to look\nat and one that offers a few well-shot and edited chase sequences. Still, as\nmuch of a technical marvel as it may be, the relationships or personal drama\npresented don\u2019t really make an impact. Given the talent involved, this\nparticular title isn\u2019t nearly as gripping or thrilling as it should be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Director Ang Lee is responsible for several award-winning cinematic works, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi. At first glance, his latest feature appears to be an odd selection, as the filmmaker takes on what appears to be a fairly traditional and straightforward action picture. Thankfully, Gemini Man does try to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[197,697,1413,2550,4519,4523,6159,8145,8146,8147,8148,13351,17772,22825,24295],"class_list":["post-19251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-197","tag-action","tag-ang-lee","tag-benedict-wong","tag-clive-owen","tag-clone","tag-double","tag-gemini-man","tag-gemini-man-film-review","tag-gemini-man-movie-review","tag-gemini-man-review","tag-mary-elizabeth-winstead","tag-sci-fi","tag-thriller","tag-will-smith"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19251\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}