Once upon a very disgusting time, a business man would enter his office carrying the fractured skull of the last man who dared to have a good idea in his presence. He would then scrawl a name onto his desk in blood, “Will Smith.” A few moments of black magic later and “Gemini Man” would begin playing in theaters.
The plot of the movie concerns Henry Bogard (Will Smith, “Aladdin”), an agent for the U.S. government, whom after resigning without sending in his two weeks’ notice, is attacked by a genetically engineered clone of himself.
It is a story that does not particularly know what the theme is, at the beginning Bogard is suffering with how to cope with the monster he has become after murdering people his whole life. Then it is about family and if your parents decide who you are, then everyone shoots each other.
The story takes Bogard to various corners of the globe in order to uncover the conspiracy that relates to these newfound clones. Which can happily host some interesting set pieces, like a battle on the roofs of Italy, but the film never uses these cities to enrich the story and instead just keeps the scenery pretty.
Many of the elements are very cliché but oddly straight-faced about that. Each character could be carved from any bad 90s action flick. Bogard’s character is more akin to being just Will Smith with less to live for. There is the “action lady” Danielle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, “Scott Pilgrim vs the World”) that seems to really lack any context to her personality outside of her ability to blindly believe what anyone tells her. While also having a dopey best friend that is on screen long enough to convince audiences that he is not important.
To the films merit, both of Smiths’ performances are very convincing on screen and appear to be different people, never leading audiences to mistake the two. The only issue is that the tension between the two feels very forced. Characters tend to change their minds about things seemingly without any push or reason. Possibly just aiming to artificially enhance the scene without giving it any emotional power first. Any exciting twists could be seen a mile away.
Action is subpar, with the gun fighting being a series of crooked effortless shots. With some glaring plot-holes that will distract most viewers while also being very contrived. Even fans of the cheesier movies of the 90s will find it to be out of place, lacking that “cool” element integral to most action thrillers. With nary an iconic one-liner or shot of bombastic camera work.
At the end of the adventure, things feel very unearned. It could be classified as a “popcorn movie” but it fails to grip audiences on a fundamental level. Those who are interested in turning their brains off will still be lulled to sleep by its inability to entertain on a hyper-masculine level.
When the film has ended, most of it does not stick with the viewer. “Gemini Man” should be avoided by most viewers or armed hostages. Granted, even that suggestion might be too good of an idea made in the presence of this film.
Image from Paramount Pictures via YouTube
