Film: Gemini Man

GENRE: Action, Drama

RATING: PG-13 for violence and brief strong language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 57 minutes

STARRING: Will Smith (Bad Boys, I,Robot, Men in Black, Aladdin)

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Fargo-TV), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange)

DIRECTOR: Ang Lee (Life of Pi, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

WRITERS: David Benioff (Game of Thrones), Billy Ray (Hunger Games),

Darren Lemke (Shrek Forever After, Jack the Giant Slayer)

PLOT: A retiring hitman faces off against a younger clone of himself.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: Liked the idea but not the trailer so much.

STORY STUFF: While the initial premise is interesting the execution was awful. The plot is pretty weak, the dialogue is stiff and the ‘twists’ are predictable. I found it amazing that the older hitman knew of the Gemini project but didn’t occur to him that it might involve cloning. Gemini is the sign for twins. That’s like being surprised that a company called Espionage Inc. is doing surveillance on you.  

ACTING STUFF: The acting is okay. Smith gives a couple good performances but is not given much to work with. Clive Owen (Inside Man) is the villain but is wasted in this film. I liked Winstead. She reminds me of Cobie Smulders (HIMYM, Stumptown) for some reason.

ARTISTIC STUFF: I will concede that there are a couple fun action sequences in this film. There’s a motorcycle chase that starts all Mission: Impossibly but ends kind of silly by overusing the bike.  

VERDICT: One and a half stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You really, really like Will Smith.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Zombieland 2: Double Tap