‘Gemini Man’ is a fun movie with big ideas

Posted on October 18, 2019

By MARK VIOLA

What if you found out you had a clone, someone exactly like you only half your age? And, what if that clone had been sent to kill you?

That’s the premise behind the new action movie, “Gemini Man,” from director Ang Lee (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Life of Pi”).

Henry Brogan (Will Smith, “Aladdin”) is a government assassin, but when he decides to retire, certain people worry that he knows too many things about the black ops he took part in. Henry finds himself pursued by a mysterious killer who seems to know all of his moves. The reason being is that the mystery man is Henry’s clone.

From a story perspective, “Gemini Man” doesn’t break much new ground, but the film does meet my three primary tenants of a quality action movie: an interesting premise, engaging characters and well-shot action sequences.

Of course, the most talked-about aspect of the film is the de-aging technology used to created Henry’s younger clone, known as Junior. An actor named Victor Hugo provided the on-set reference, and a de-aged Will Smith face was digitally masked over him, with Smith providing the voice as well. Aside from knowing it was a digital creation, the process actually worked a lot better than I expected, although Lee does a good job of keeping most of Junior’s scenes in the dark or inside. The one time we get a good look at Junior in daylight is proof of why they didn’t do that more often.

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