![]() ![]() Her character is a major player in much of the action, from tough scraps to extended gun battles, and it’s enough to piss you off all over again that she was brushed aside so easily in A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) so that John McClane’s male child could take part in the action. Wong is solid comic relief, Owen is in his element as a real prick, and Winstead kicks enormous amounts of ass as an agent more than capable of holding her own. ![]() That’s not to shortchange the supporting cast, though, as they’re all having a blast here. He anchors the film dramatically while delivering once again as a big-screen action hero. Smith does great work with both characters channeling Henry’s wisdom and exhaustion just as well as he does Junior’s ego, ambition, and confusion, and it feels every bit like the return of the Will Smith who once ruled the box-office. Sure, there’s minor distraction here and there from obvious CG and digital face-mapping efforts, but with only a single exception they’re easy to ignore in favor of the brilliantly orchestrated chaos unfolding all around. Smith, and the results are brilliantly entertaining. Others enter the fray including friends old ( Clive Owen, Benedict Wong) and new ( Mary Elizabeth Winstead), but the focus is on Mr. The motorcycle chase is a thing of beauty with its camera work and stunt coordination, and the hand to hand fights - sometimes occurring between the two Smiths - are fast moving, reactionary brawls that truly feel like people fighting for their lives. The technology (at least when viewed in 3D and higher than normal frame rates) puts viewers in the frame like never before, and while it feels odd during scenes with characters talking it raises the heart rate once fists, feet, and bullets start flying. ![]() The film tosses multiple action sequences our way starting with that shootout and chase and carrying on to bigger gun fights, brutal brawls, and more. The big one on that front is the action sequences that make this one of the year’s best for kinetic wonder and memorably exciting fights, chases, and gun battles. That last bit is fairly minimal, certainly less so than the last time Lee played in this 120fps sandbox with 2016’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, and instead we’re gifted this time around with far more of the positives. You know where things are going here if you’ve seen more than a handful of thrillers, but Lee and his tech elevate the hell out of it, though, with visuals that astound, delight, and occasionally annoy. The story, based on a long dormant script credited to David Benioff, Billy Ray, and Darren Lemke, plays out in broad strokes well in line to what viewers should expect, and while the details are tweaked here and there the end result is a familiar one. Junior (a younger Smith, courtesy of CG wizardry) has only a single-minded mission while his older self needs to both stay alive and figure out what the hell is happening. It’s short-lived, though, as a younger, faster agent is soon on his trail intent on retiring him permanently, and it only takes one clash - it starts as a rooftop shoot-out before shifting into a motorcycle chase through the tight streets and alleys of Cartagena, Colombia - to bring the two face to face. The mission is a success, but Henry is hanging up his rifle for the greener pastures of retirement because he knows age is slowly chipping away at his skill set. Henry Brogan ( Will Smith) is a government assassin who we first meet as he takes out a target on a moving train from over a mile away. It’s still a dodgy tech at times, but when it comes to the action sequences the film and technology come together to create some truly stunning and exhilarating set-pieces. Lee shot Gemini Man in 3D and 120 frames per second, a noticeable increase on the film standard of 24fps, and the result is a film that looks “real” in its ability to drop viewers directly into the action, interactions, and locales. We’ve seen this tale before, but the beauty - and the absolute thrill - of Lee’s film is that we’ve never seen it quite like this. Aging assassin is targeted for extermination by the very agency he’s dedicated his life to, and the super soldier sent to take his life is his own clone - it’s basically plots 2 and 5 from that list of seven. And it’s the reason why the premise behind Gemini Man, the latest from director Ang Lee, feels so damn recognizable on paper. It’s the reason movies often feel familiar in their narratives or repetitive in their plot lines. It’s been said that there are only seven basic plots, and that all stories are built upon one or more of them. ![]()
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