"Gemini Man": Will Smith goes to war with himself

"Gemini Man" is a confusing product born from a weird idea. The story was conceived in 1997 (Tony Scott was screened) and was launched between directors and major redeployed actors (including Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson and Clint Eastwood) until she arrived with Skydance Media in 2016 and Ang Lee signed with direct in 2017. For Lee, this makes sense – the film seams concerns that have colored a number of his projects: the debate of Nature v Nurture; the alienation of a frayed man; the challenge of what digital cinema can do. On paper, "Gemini Man" answers the three concerns, but in practice, the film is impenetrable beyond its technological weight.

Smith plays Henry Brogan, a revered 51-year-old government assassin who wants to retire. "Gemini Man" opens on one of Henry's latest works, showing through a viewfinder how sharp his picture is. As soon as Henry tries to get out of trouble, the problem comes to get him around the corner. And with the unsustainable details prescribed by the film's technology at 120 frames per second, it's impossible to ignore how alarming this new threat is. Henry tells people he's been avoiding mirrors lately – so it's natural for him to see the glare of his hitman. The film wins its title and central conflict after 45 minutes, showing the audience that Henry's hunter resembles him.

Lee previously used the high frame rate in 2016 with Billy Lynn's "Long Halftime Walk," the first feature film to feature the technology. The ambitious decision was not very convincing at the time, this film being disdained to lose in depth emotional what he had gained in visual details. How did he recover? By diving headlong into an explosive action movie in which Will Smith will fight Will Smith – and using the same technology, amplified and still the main event.

From the beginning of "Gemini Man", Lee's passion for visual minutia is impressive to the point of attracting attention. To be able to count the individual hairs on Will Smith's arm, notice the dancing light points of a fire, follow the specific trajectory of a fly before it is crushed – these elements are an integral part from the film's agenda, just like the panoramic beauty of an orange The sunset over Buttermilk Sound is perfectly suited to the man who has won four Oscars for the wonderful visual tapestries of 'Life of Pi ". But once Lee has established what he can do with technology in "Gemini Man" – and that's a lot – it's getting hard to refocus the emotion on something more human. By multiplying life, "Gemini Man" all too often dilutes it.

In the first fight between Smith and Smith 2.0 (nicknamed Junior), Lee's skill set is put to the test with amazing results. This occurs before any kind of confrontation with words, illustrating how immersive video-game visuals can be when they are well executed. The camera keeps the movement aligned with the action rather than the atmosphere. In the breathtaking POV shots on Henry and Junior motorcycles, it's a breathtaking pleasure.

But it's the script that is lacking in the concept. Once the initial shock has been dispelled, the revealing conversations are punctuated by a total lack of tension, acting as wooden narrative obstacles rather than as crucial words between living, thinking human beings. Everything is at the service of the aesthetic – in the same way that Junior struggles to become his own self, a clone with a soul, "Gemini Man" never manages to become fully an entire film, surviving instead as a successful scientific experiment of great technology and poor heart.

This does not help that each actor feels disconnected from the next. Brogan's friendships are generic and disposable – he only briefly mourns a co-worker and seeks advice from a stereotypical married man who owns a boat and nods to a girl in a bikini. Benedict Wong introduces himself and becomes a central element of character violence (and also smokes a cigar while watching a football game all at once, with no purpose other than to show how beautiful the smoke is when 39, it is shot at 120 frames per second). Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a feminine replica a little thicker than what the pioneering genre has been able to offer in the past, but when you are someone, act the opposite of Will Smith and a Digital movement capture (not aged) version of Will Smith … well, he could never really focus on anyone else.

"Gemini Man" is a great exercise for the actor: Smith is not the first to play side-by-side versions of himself, as this film becomes a kind of rude dystopian riff on "The Parent "Trap" (but with less matchmaking), but the intergenerational dynamic between the two Smith characters increases the empathy of the performer. It is unfortunate that such a promising psychological angle is at war, as always, with technology.

This is certainly a step forward from "Billy Lynn" and a major achievement in Lee's ongoing campaign for the medium's progress. But the film is a long version of what happens when you look at something for too long: the object – or, in this case, Will Smith's face – ends up losing all meaning; the chandelier clears and the armor rings hollow.

Grade: C +

Paramount launches "Gemini Man" indoors on October 11, 2019.

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