Will Smith leads the cast of this 25-years-in-the-making big-budget behemoth from producer Jerry Bruckheimer and visionary, three-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Ang Lee. Shot in dynamic 120 frames per second 4K 3D, Gemini Man is a technical marvel, though, with that distracting frame rate, and wafer-thin plot, it somewhat stalled when it was released into cinemas late last year.
Smith plays a hot-shot government assassin Henry Brogan, a sharp sniper, the best of the best, attempting to break free of the DIA – Defence Intelligence Agency – and lead a quieter life. However, loose ends need to be tied up with all sorts of double-dealing behind the scenes at the top of the agency and Brogan soon finds himself on the receiving end of another assassin, one that looks and shoots like him – only 25 years younger. What follows is a cat and mouse game taking the action from Savannah to Bucharest and back again as Brogan, along with fellow DIA agent Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and old friend Baron (Benedict Wong), must evade the actions of the mercenary Clay Verris and his elite band of Geminis.
I’ve made my initial thoughts on the movie known in my original theatrical review, but I must say that after watching the movie on the Blu-ray format, I must admit to enjoying it a lot more than I remembered. A lot of this might be down to the 24 frames per second version that played before me, or the more relaxed frame of mind I was in watching the movie in the comfort of my own home. Sure, there’s a lot going on that we’ve seen before, and some of the acting may be hammy, but this is where this kind of genre movie clearly belongs – which seems ridiculous to say looking at the sheer amount of cash they’ve thrown at the film with frills of the new format, and the tons of CGI needed to clone Smith as a 23-year-old.
Smith is actually rather good as Brogan, and his performance as the younger Junior also comes through more upon a second viewing. Winstead is also solid as Danny, a performance clearly physically demanding as well as the bonus material displays.
Bonus material
In terms of that bonus stuff, what initially looked to be a collection of sub-par featurettes, actually deliver quite a bit of behind the scenes material. ‘The Genesis of Gemini Man’ and ‘Facing Your Younger Self’ are very short though do feature interviews with Smith, producer Bruckheimer, and Ang Lee, but this collection of six featurettes really come into their own with the two in the middle, ‘The Future Is Now’ and ‘Setting the Action’, which take a detailed look at the technology used to bring a second Will Smith to life and how they tackled the superb practical stunt work – particularly the epic motorcycle stunt sequence early on in the movie. ‘Next Level Detail’ takes a good but brief look at the production design, in particular, the detail and design of the catacomb set where the Smiths finally meet.
There are also a few throw-away deleted scenes and an alternate opening which offers a different and extended, but definitely inferior title sequence for the movie.
In all, the bonus material is a solid addition to the release and worth your time.
