Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Gemini Man 

This film was very disappointing! I am a massive fan of director Ang Lee who’s crafted some truly incredible works of film over the years as well I’m a massive fan of Will Smith too and so when I heard about this film I was hopeful it would at least be enjoyable. The film misfires hugely as the films concept borrows way to heavily from past films such as the Terminator and the 2019 film Us. As the films premises felt like something I had seen before and so I wasn’t as invested In the story as I had seen it fifteen times already I will say though that Will Smith definitely try’s his hardest to take a very poorly written screenplay and make it somewhat good as he is the thing that is carrying this film on his shoulders as he is the only good thing about this film. 

First off, The pacing was so poorly executed as this film is about almost 2 hours long and it felt like 6 and not in a good way this film felt way to overlong and their were moments that could of been cut out entirely from the film and their would of been no impact on the story at all. This film moves along at a very slow pace which is ironic considering it’s marketed as an action flick. The film bores me more then it wowed me as it felt like their was way to much explaining to the audience and so much set up that the meat of the story never felt fully formed as by the time you get to the end of the film in its final action sequence it felt very anticlimactic as I felt that the film was just so hollow and didn’t have any interest in fleshing out the characters or the antagonist at all and just presenting these characters and throwing them into action set pieces and hoping it’ll stick. The film had me not invested within the characters or the story at hand it was just bland. 

Secondly, This film premise is so unoriginal it actually is a bit laughable with the films plot as the story is a clone is sent to kill his older self now I can name a terrific film that did literally that exact same story and concept but better Looper the Ryan Johnson film. This film borrows from that concept so heavily it’s not funny as the plot seemed in the marketing like a bit of fun but it isn’t at all as the films plot is super thin as theirs no depth or anything for the audience to latch onto maybe if the film had adjusted its script and reworked it a bit more it could of been at the most a fun film to enjoy but it wasn’t as it felt like recycled ideas that had been done better in other films and this film brought nothing new or interesting to its story. 

Then you have Will Smith, one of the most successful and popular action stars ever has to carry this entire film on his back poor guy as I really enjoy seeing Will Smith in films I think he’s so likeable and such a fun guy to watch onscreen and here he tries his hardest to make some fun out of this story and I give him credit for trying as he truly is trying his hardest to make the film entertaining. I will say that his performance is the only good thing about this film due to his professional commitment to his craft and also his ability to win over an audience and even with a terrible film he was still the highlight of it. 

Finally, Gemini Man has to be Ang Lee’s worst film as I thought Ang’s worst film was his take on the Hulk way back when but no this is officially his most disappointing film I’ve seen. The word I keep using is disappointing is because I feel that for the film as it has such a solid filmmaker and great star but the films plot just crumbled and it’s unoriginal and painfully slow paced film with hollow characters that lacked depth made the film an experience i would not want to have again. 

The film centres around when a assassin who is set to retire and when his company sets a bounty against his head to get a younger version of himself to kill him he learns a lot about himself through it all

Rated PG - 13 : for violence and action throughout, and brief strong language

Will Smith : Smith makes the most out of what he’s given! Will Smith is one of the most charismatic and likeable actors ever as he always is so friendly and always gives a solid fun performance no matter what the material is. Now here he plays a character who’s a assassin ready to retire and he is put in the thick of a situation he didn’t ask to be part of and he is put in risk of being killed from his younger self and he plays the character relatively serious. As most times I’ll notice in his performance he will be very snappy with his dialogue and give sarcastic remarks a lot of the time in a lot of his films and here he plays it straight for the entire film and I kind of liked that. As he shows the action star quality he brings to this big budget films like i Robot and I am legend and their is this certain type of emotional range he channels into those kind of roles that he brings here as it is a very specific kind of style he will channel for the role. Here he plays a man who’s been torn apart by the emotional ghost that haunt him and is scared to get anywhere close emotionally with anybody as he’s afraid to be hurt and Smith brings that so heartbreakingly real to the screen as he has this real sadness behind his eyes and a pain in his voice he just really shows the scars that have lasted emotionally over the years and really let it speak volumes as he shows a great amount of diverse emotions through this film as their is a very compelling scene where he just lays out all of his anger sadness and he gets very real about it and that was the best scene of the film as Will goes full throttle and shows that even in action flicks he will make his performance as passionate and three dimensional as possible he truly gets you to care for this character due to the amazing job he’s doing at playing this role he’s able to do the small more emotional moments so emotionally honest but then be able to be a total badass in the action sequences he plays both of those personas throughout the film so well and he gives one of his best performances I’ve seen in an action flick that pleasantly surprised me. 

Ang Lee : Ang gives a terribly directed film here! I love Ang Lee’s work I think he’s given some truly great films over the years but this film is a total misfire on his part as I feel he could of made this film so much more compelling compared to what we got from it as he didn’t make a connection to the audience to be able to connect or be intrigued by the characters unless it was Will Smith every other character kind of just felt the same and fell into the background with very little to none character development. He also I think got more in awe with the visual aspect of being able to get a young Will to battle his older self which is a cool concept but I think he was so intent on showing that specific cool thing about it off he never really payed any attention to the narrative as it felt very messy and very generic as I had felt I had seen this story done before their was not enough action sequences to keep me entertained and I didn’t feel any sense of interest whatsoever. He usually delivers amazingly well with his films and here it’s disappointing as he was more focused on style and spectacle over substance and story and that is why the film fell apart if he had cared more about the story and where it was going to go and create a compelling story then go back to the visuals it would of made for a stronger film but he didn’t it didn’t even feel like anything special it felt like something I’d find in the five dollar bin at Walmart. Ang Lee I know you can do better you’ve shown it but this is just disappointing on almost every level