Courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Henry Brogan (Will Smith) is a sniper so quick and sharp-eyed that he can assassinate a target seated on a rocket-fast, high-speed European train. Whether this is possible is beside the point in Gemini Man. The opening scene establishes Henry’s skill set and triggers the clockwork choreography of Ang Lee’s action-thriller genre picture (with a little martial art tossed in).
Henry has earned big money over the years, killing bad guys for U.S. military intelligence—or is he working for Gemini Global Security, the private firm where the dirtiest work is outsourced? Like many aspects of the sketchy screenplay credited to a trio of writers (seldom a good sign), it’s not entirely clear. The point is that Henry wants to retire, but for Gemini’s Founder and CEO, Clayton Varris (Clive Owen), death is the only retirement for a man who knows too many secrets. To assassinate as skilled a man as Henry, Varris calls on a young man with an eerie resemblance to the target, an acorn fallen close to the tree: not Henry’s long-lost son, but his clone.
“How is it possible?” asks Henry’s comic-relief sidekick, Baron (Benedict Wong), bewildered by the young duplicate.
“It’s complicated but doable,” insists his dead-serious sidekick, Dani (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). End of science talk. On with the show.
One of this century’s most versatile filmmakers, Lee (director of Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) occasionally tries his hand at material below his level (Hulk). With Gemini Man, he’s taken on a pulpy Bourne Identity-esque, continent-jumping story of deep-state conspiracy with a Blackwell-style security contractor as the frame. Lee has the rhythm down pat and even manages to stage an almost dangerously believable motorcycle chase through the winding alleys of Cartagena, Colombia. However, the “roger that,” “he’ll be contained” dialogue doesn’t elevate the formula, nor does the mostly wooden acting from the supporting cast.
The remarkable thing about Gemini Man is that the always likeable Smith plays both Henry, 50-something with a touch of gray, and his clone, the wiry 20-something known throughout the film as Junior. Lee employs digital de-aging to render a younger version of Smith resembling the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The twist of a mature person struggling with his younger self is interesting though not richly developed by the turgid screenplay. As written, Gemini Man seems to insist that nature is the main text and nurture the unread footnote. Raised as he was in entirely different circumstances, would Junior really be so identical with Henry, the source of his DNA? Maybe the story could have been better resolved with fewer explosions? Maybe Lee will set his sights higher next time?
