Gemini Man: Review by @Kush_Hayes
Its a shame that the story in Gemini Man is so thin that all promotional material is solely focused on the format the film is being presented in as well as the format its unable to be presented in.
What does that mean?
Based on an article written by the good folks at Polygon dot com, While this movie was filmed in “4K 3D 120 Frames Per Second (FPS)” there is not a theater in the US that has the technology to play it. Now even in there article, theres already some discrepancy. The article says there are 14 theaters (All AMCs) that will exhibit the 2hour sci-fi action film - however the screening I was at last night, was advertised as 60FPS and only in 2K. I also dont think that people understand whats the difference between 4K, 40 FPS, 60FPS and 120FPS.
Having said all that, visually, I thought this movie looked amazing. As my understanding is, my Dolby Theater Screening was 3D 60FPS in 2K and I thought it looked great. Beautiful moon-lit scenery, fantastic underwater shots, explosions and fire look hypnotic, reflections in glass and mirrors look unique.
Apparently Ang Lee has been working on this since his previous residency in The Bay Area during his filming of Marvels first try at Hulk in 2003. 16 years for those not trying to do the math. There was a lot of attention to detail in this with all the CGI especially when we get to the Older Will Smith standing against the Younger Will Smith. Their scenes are especially remarkable in night shots, dark scenes, where shadows are super convenient.
And as impressive as all that sounds, its also, only the prototype or proof of concept for movies to come in the near future. There are plenty of problems with the tech whereas the visuals are so clean that the action scenes between both Smiths during daylight clearly look like the actors young and old stunt doubles. And then even the best looking scenes, are so different to the naked eye that it will just turn audience members off. Not everyone, as I really enjoyed the visuals in this movie and want to see what else could be done with this technology. I have to wonder how will the next series of sequels to Avatar build up on this?
As stated the story is not the most important thing in this movie which is kind of a shame. Once its revealed there are two Will Smiths, we, the audience, should be just as surprised as the characters within the story. But because most of our promotional material already displays that because a huge selling point for this is “Two Will Smiths” “At Different Ages” “with ALL Frames Per Second”! This does kill any tension that the story would like to present and since we are using a new filming medium, the cast has to hold their talents back.
I think if youre in scifi, and game changing special effects, and youre in one of the 14 cities showing this, you owe yourself the chance to see this with all the bells and whistles.
Three out of Six Blueberries
Rated PG-13 for violence and action throughout, and brief strong language.
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