Review: Gemini Man

© ScreenGeek

By Aaron Zaretsky

​Will Smith literally fights himself in a dual role portraying two government assassins who are the best in the business.

Henry Brogan (Will Smith) is an elite 51-year-old assassin working for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Wanting to retire, the DIA wants him killed because he is collateral damage. The hunter is now hunted by Junior (Will Smith) a 25-year-old clone version of Henry. When they meet, Henry does not want to kill Junior but rather understand why a younger, faster, cloned version of him was assigned to kill him. Does Junior feel the same way? Can he go through with murdering his older human-self?

© Youtube | Paramount Pictures

​Directed by two-time Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, his first sci-fi film is a visual-effects extravaganza. Led by VFX supervisor Bill Westenhofer, the visual effects team does a phenomenal job in presenting Will Smith’s younger self as the person from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. De-aging was not implemented as Junior is a completely digital creation driven by Will Smith’s motion-capture performance. When Henry and Junior look at each other, their reaction is like seeing a ghost as they are looking through a mirror. Henry sees the past, while Junior sees the future.

© Davis Enterprise

​What would you do if an opportunity presented itself where you could meet your former self? - is the theme Gemini Man seemingly explores. Advise your former self to not make the decisions or mistakes you made? Destroy your former self because you do not want to see the past? Do nothing because you appreciate that your past led to who you are currently?

​These are questions going though Henry’s head when he sees Junior. Conversely, similar questions go through Junior’s head as “what would you do if you saw an older version of yourself?” Would you ask how your life turns out? Would you listen to them if they give you advice? Destroy your older self because you want to stay in the present?

Prepare yourself for a fast-paced thriller where the questions above are answered with a few plot twists. 

Editor’s Note: This 4DX experience was sponsored by ScreenX.
​