Gemini Man film review: Will Smith confronts dodgy CGI double in Ang Lee’s actioner

2/5 stars

One of the biggest complaints I have about modern Hong Kong actioners is that, despite filmmakers being afforded a far higher budget than their ’80s counterparts, the special effects that power the action scenes often look unrealistic.

An exploding car in a 2019 Hong Kong film shouldn’t look any more fake than an exploding car in an ’80s Jackie Chan flick – but alas, that’s often the case, because the former relies on CGI while the latter were practical stunts.

I kept thinking of that while watching Ang Lee’s Gemini Man, which sees Will Smith pull double duty portraying opposing assassins. One actor playing two or more roles on-screen at the same time is not new, but Lee made the decision to recreate the second Smith entirely using digital graphics, and the results are not good.

The digital Smith often looks more unrealistic than, say, the two Nicolas Cages in 2002’s Adaptation or two Marty McFlys in Back to the Future II, because the latter films pulled off the dual role trick by shooting the same scene with the actor twice, and then splicing the footage together.

It may be easier to forgive the below par special effects if everything else about Gemini Man – story, acting, action sequences – is top notch, but that’s also not the case.

The story centres around Henry Brogan (Smith), an ageing assassin feeling remorse about his life of bloodshed. It’s established early and often that Brogan is so guilt-ridden he can’t even look himself in the mirror, which of course sets up the second act “gotcha” moment when he has to look at a clone of himself face-to-face.

The clone is younger, faster, and stronger, sent by Brogan’s employers to tie up some loose ends. The two engage in multiple combat scenes – often shot with shaky camera work that make the action hard to follow – before they decide to team up and take on the evil employer (Clive Owen) instead.

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It’s all standard sci-fi thriller stuff, with every plot beat hitting as expected.

Those who are familiar with the cult favourite American television show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air – which gave Smith his first taste of Hollywood stardom in the early ’90s – will recognise that the clone is modelled after that Smith, down to the flat top haircut with clean fade. Except, of course, the CGI character often resembles the soulless computer-generated avatar that he is instead of the famously charismatic actor.

The script for Gemini Man was written in 1997, but the project was stuck in what Hollywood dubs “development hell” for two decades before finally being made. I think the movie would have turned out better if it was made in the late ’90s instead, because it wouldn’t have been able to rely on lazy CGI, and it likely would have starred an actor who could add a sense of over-the-top irony – names attached to the initial project included Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone – to the silly premise.

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