artnewspress : Will Smith goes up against Will Smith in the latest Gemini Man trailer. Ang Lee helms this effects-filled action flick in which Will Smith has to fight a younger clone of himself. The premise is cool, but nothing new. The real draw here is the visual effects work, which has pulled out all the stops to create a younger-looking Will Smith. The results are impressive. Watch the Gemini Man trailer below.
While the premise of Gemini Man – a killer faces-off against his younger self – is pretty damn similar to Rian Johnson’s Looper, Johnson had two actors playing the same role. Ang Lee decided to take things a step further, and have one person playing both, with the aid of VFX. That person is Will Smith, and part of the fun here is watching the Will Smith of today face off against what appears to be the Will Smith that starred in Six Degrees of Separation.
In Gemini Man, Will Smith is “Henry Brogan, an elite assassin, who is suddenly targeted and pursued by a mysterious young operative that seemingly can predict his every move.” That young operative is himself, of course – apparently a clone created by Clive Owen, in full-blown evil mode. And hey, Mary Elizabeth Winstead is there, too! Benedict Wong is also in the film.
Game of Thrones co-creator David Benioff penned the script, along with Billy Ray and Darren Lemke. And while Ang Lee is a great director, but I have to admit this trailer doesn’t seem to bear any real sort of style. Sure, the effects work is solid, but the movie itself looks oddly drab. Hopefully, the full feature will come across better. Lee and Paramount are going the extra mile with this potential blockbuster, releasing it in both traditional frame rates but also versions presented in 60fps 3D and 120fps 2D. Lee tried something similar with his drama Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (remember that?), which was the first major studio film shot in 120 frames-per-second 3D with 4K clarity.
Gemini Man opens October 11, 2019.
