Review of Gemini Man (2019) by Gabrieldsanchez — 30 Jun 2022

An American hitman retires, and now the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) wants him dead. This type of plot is very common, so common that it always comes in two versions: pure or spiced. Pure, when the plot is simply what it is; someone leaves the Agency, and the Government betrays him. Spiced, when they add some element to spice up the plot. Gemini Man is spiced. The spice is that the Agency sends a clone of the hitman to kill the retiree.

Henry Brogan, after finishing one more job, decides to retire. His superiors at DIA wants to kill him to eliminate loose ends. Only there were no loose ends. That's Gemini Man's biggest problem: the motives don't make sense.

A friend of Henry's warns him that his last job was forged. The dude he killed wasn't who he was reported to be. But the plot does not unfold around this conflict. The plot uses this conflict to justify why DIA wants Henry dead. Explanations reappear as the plot approaches its climax, where we learn that conflict doesn't matter, making it all just an excuse for the film to move forward.

After DIA tries to kill Henry with conventional assassins, Clay Verrys, our villain, decides to send a special assassin: Henry's clone. Here, congratulations on the film: at least the clone idea was well thought out. The clone is not literally Henry with the same abilities; well, actually the clone is, only the clone, Junior, was born like any other human. Henry is 51 years old while Junior is 20 (-ish,) which makes him more agile than Henry.

From this point forward, the movie is just Junior hunting down Henry and his friends. The friends are Baron and Danny who inevitably got involved. The stunts are spectacular to look at, but surreal. No human being could do or bear everything that happens in the movie. I would prefer it to be something real, a cat-and-mouse game with elements of suspense, stealth and action when needed.

Augmented reality to make Junior look younger Will Smith is acceptable but noticeable. Junior looks like rubber or wax in some scenes. As for Will Smith in general, I don't know... He falls into the same category as Jim Carrey for me: I accept him in serious movies, but he has that comedic air. I couldn't help but chuckle in some lines.

The revelation to Junior that he's a clone of Henry isn't all that exciting. But maybe I was getting my hopes up too much. Of course, the revelation advances the film to the final events, which are bad. Clay makes such a ruckus that I doubt it wouldn't reach the ears of the President and the National and International Press. Lots of fireworks. If you want to erase loose ends, you want to do it silently, not warning the whole world that you are burning files.

The final twist is abrupt and, so close to the end of the film, unnecessary. The character Clay ends up becoming weak and with bad motives. The ending is not surprising as Gemini Man is PG-13.

Recommended if you want to spend some time with your family. If you like more elaborate plots, suspense, violence, you can skip it.