ROSHAN'S REVIEWS
  • New Reviews
  • About
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Must-see Movies
  • Film Diary
  • Contact

GEMINI MAN (2019) FILM REVIEW

10/13/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture


*

12A, 117 Mins

High-framed, digitally regressive thriller is an annoyingly distracting experience.
"You won't like me when I'm Ang Lee" was the best joke to come out of the film-maker's profoundly unincredible 'Hulk' (2003).  Besides being about that film's lack of crashy smashy big green monster material, it's also a sobering statement on the decline of this director from arthouse darling to digitally regressive old fart.

The man responsible for low-budget Taiwanese gems like 'The Wedding Banquet' (1993) and 'Eat Drink Man Women' (1994) has, in recent years, fallen victim to commercial gimmicks spurred on by the $690 million success of 3D high seas odyssey 'Life of Pi' (2012). The Box Office bombing of 'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk' (2017) should have been enough of an indiction that audiences have no stomach for 120 fps, but Mr. Lee refuses to listen to such woes and thus now we have 'Gemini Man' (2019). A film so obsessed with technological advancements that it risks pulling us backwards 200 years before the birth of cinema itself.

The story centres around Will Smith in a double role (or is it?) of a hitman stalked by a younger clone of himself and yet any potentially interesting Sci-Fi ideas about human cloning are obliterated by the annoying distraction of the supposedly state-of the-art technology. For one thing, the high frame rate renders any of use CGI green screen and any physical stunts stunt-double stuff; envisioning movie sets that look like sketchy behind-the-scenes collections of props.

Most irksome, though, is Lee's insistence on a digital recreation of the young Smith looking way past his sell-by date. Want to knownthe craziest concept? This deepfake copy's badger-passing-wind expressions  actually out-act the real Smithie off screen. The once ludicrously likeable actor can add this to 'After Earth' (2013), 'Suicide Squad' (2016) and 'Collateral Beauty' (2017) as another lumpen spoonful of misery pudding.


​
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Meet Roshan Chandy

    Freelance Film Critic and Writer based in Nottingham, UK. Specialises in Science Fiction cinema.

    Roshan's Top 10 Best Films of 2020

    1. Tenet
    2. Clemency
    3. Rocks
    4. Portrait of a Lady on Fire
    5. Mangrove
    6. David Byrne's American Utopia
    7. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
    8. Calm with Horses
    9. Saint Maud
    10. Soul


    Follow Me on Twitter
    ​

    Tweets by chandy_roshan

    Rating System 

    ***** 2 Thumbs Up
    ****  Thumb Up
    *** Waving Thumbs
    **   Thumb Down
    *   2 Thumbs Down
    ​

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2015

    RSS Feed

    FILM OF THE WEEK
    ​

    Picture

    Soul
    ​(PG, 97 Mins)

    Pixar's latest is a lovely, jazzy look at life, death and the afterlife. Their best film since 'Inside Out' (2015).


    DVD OF THE WEEK
    ​

    Picture

    Relic
    (Blu-ray and DVD)
    (15, 89 Mins)

    Natalie Erika James' real-world horror taps into our fears about ageing and Alzheimer's with spine-tingling and moving results.

    TV MOVIE OF THE WEEK
    ​

    Picture

    Slumdog Millionaire (2009)
    (15, 120 Mins)       
    Weds 20th Jan., 11.20pm, Film4

    Feelgood film or not, Danny Boyle's movie is a fable of Dickensian social realism and escapist dreams.
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • New Reviews
  • About
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Must-see Movies
  • Film Diary
  • Contact