Ang Lee was, for a long time, one of the great experimenters with the image in the high-budget Hollywood of the nineties and early two thousand. After hits like ‘Tiger and Dragon’, he obtained critical and box office recognition with ‘Life of Pi’, and took image quality to the limit with the little-seen ‘Billy Lynn’ (the first feature film in history with a frame rate 120 frames per second, 3D format and 4K UHD resolution).
Lee wanted to go one step further with ‘Gemini‘, it just arrived a Netflix (and you can also watch on SkyShowtime). Not only did he repeat with the very high frame rate of 120 frames per second (which obviously you won’t be able to enjoy streaming), but rather it featured sophisticated digital effects that led Will Smith to face a rejuvenated version of himself. The result: a resounding box office failure with only 174 million dollars collected from its 138 million budget, which led Paramount to lose about 111.
In ‘Gemini’, a government hitman decides to retire when he turns fifty. But before that he will have to face a much younger clone of himself. It is a starting point that has been knocking around Hollywood offices since 1997, with directors such as Tony Scott, Curtis Hanson and Joe Carnahan associated with the project, and with actors such as Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson and Sean Connery also on board.
It seemed like a sign of the film’s future box office failure (one that has kept Lee away from the cameras since its release in 2019), but ‘Gemini’ has some interesting redeeming aspects. For a start, its great action sequences, crazy and frenetic like the motorcycle chase in the streets of a Colombian city. And to continue, for its interesting digital effects, which although they cannot completely avoid the uncanny valley, are effective when it comes to presenting a Will Smith who seems to have just stepped out of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’.
In Xataka | ‘Gemini’, analysis: Will Smith confronts his 20-year-old self thanks to effective CGI and a fun B-movie touch
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2023-10-15 19:00:52
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