Gemini Man 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Gemini Man 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Dear Younger Me...

Reviewed by Martin Liebman January 10, 2020

Gemini Man is Director Ang Lee's latest film to foray into the questionably effective and audience divisive world of 120 frames per second, following on the tepidly received Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. Gemini Man, another tepidly received hyper visual film, is more action oriented than character driven, despite its best efforts to find balance between the two. Lee's picture struggles not to tell a coherent story or assemble dazzling action scenes but rather to give audiences reason to care, putting together a predictable, though not entirely slapdash, story of high technology and human drama intermixed with gunplay and a ferociously frenzied and cooly choreographed motorcycle action sequence. It's a perfectly serviceable 21st century visual effects movie but feels empty at 24 frames per second (Blu-ray) and uncomfortably odd at 60 frames per second (UHD). There is currently no home option for the 120 frames per second 4K/3-D version Lee touts in interviews (and it wasn't shown theatrically in that configuration, either).

Henry Brogan (Will Smith) is a renowned, expert marksman who, as the film begins, takes aim at a target riding in a fast moving train from long distance. The shot hits its target but the job is getting to Henry. He’s not as young or precise as he once was, and the emotional toll of 72 kills is becoming too much for him to bear. He’s retiring from duty but learns that his last target was not a terrorist but rather a molecular biologist, an innocent man whose death now lays heavily on Henry’s conscience. He quickly falls under suspicion and begins to realize that he’s being surveyed and targeted and neither he nor anyone to whom he is close is safe. He teams with a Defense Intelligence Agency operative named Dani Zakarewski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and unravels a conspiracy centered around GEMINI, a secretive agency known for “off book kidnappings and tortures” which has deployed its greatest weapon against Henry: a cloned younger version of himself, known as "Junior," played by a digitally de-aged Will Smith.

With Gemini Man, Ang Lee unquestionably pushes technical boundaries but does little to push emotional buttons. The film nobly attempts to look into the heart of an assassin from two differing perspectives: a man of soul and understanding, shaped by decades of death that have slowly killed him on the inside and a younger, but deliberately bred and naive, version of himself that knows little of the true heartbeat of humanity. There's opportunity for great character conflict, study, reflection, and depth, and the film gives an honest effort to uncover and explore those qualities in several powerfully charged scenes. But the center ultimately falls a bit too flat through predictable angles and tepid emotional currents, all of which ultimately plays second to the action and third to Lee's seemingly unnecessary hyperrealism. The film actually plays better at 24 frames per second, allowing the viewer to feel more fully engaged with the story and characters under less distracting parameters, even if the filmmaking feels stilted away from its intended presentation flow and flavor.

No matter one’s thoughts on the borderline engrossing drama and character arcs and moments and the various frame rates at which the movie may be viewed, there’s little wiggle room to argue that Gemini Man’s action scenes are anything but exceptionally well staged. Theres an incredible sequence partway through the film when Junior uses a Honda motorcycle as a weapon at the climax of his first encounter with his older self. Following a high speed pursuit, the elder Henry finds himself down while the younger version attempts to run him over and swing the bike up and down and from side to side to strike his opponent. Even the standard gunplay is quick and precise and dangerous, and even more so at 60fps (UHD). Lee blends broadly visible action with intimate close-ups that both effectively pull the viewer into the dangerous gun battles, shaping the environment and the characters’ place in and response to the violence. It works, to a point, but it's ultimately too much noise and visual peculiarity to allow the story to operate at full capacity.

Gemini Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from the 24 frames per second 1080p Blu-ray disc.

There's little purpose in comparing this image to the Blu-ray considering the vast differences in presentation style, so this review will focus entirely on Gemini Man's 2160p/Dolby Vision 60 frames per second UHD presentation. For anyone who has seen the UHD release of Lee's Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, this is much the same, presenting with that silky "soap opera" effect that gives an odd air of heightened realism but, at the same time, screen artificiality, an observation based more on perception and experience rather than technical execution. It's a strange experience for the unorthodox approach, and even the various studio title cards seen at the beginning look out of place. The movie has the appearance that it is trying to sell something rather than tell a story. One can never quite escape the quasi-novelty, which hurts the movie's efforts to build characters and tell story (it plays better at the Blu-ray's more traditional frame rate, allowing for greater absorption into story rather than the visual structure).

The purity of the picture quality itself never falters. The image appears consistently crisp and ultra sharp, picking up levels of clarity and detail well beyond the Blu-ray's capabilities, whether considering the resolution or the frame rate. World details are striking, everywhere to be sure but particularly in chapter seven during Henry's first clash with Junior. The textural efficiency and clarity around the city, both within the buildings as they battle on foot and minutes later as they zoom through the streets on motorcycle, proves as visually complex as the scene is intense. One can practically feel the environment, experience the flow of battle firsthand. The textural might carries through the entire film. There's not a wanting texture in the movie. Detail is crazy high for the duration, picking up everything from core facial qualities to minuscule dust and scuffs on cars or tables. Dolby Vision Colors are fantastically bright and true, with high intensity yield and true tonal temperature. Colors pop as they should and blend as they must. Skin tones are perfect and black levels are pure. For absolute picture quality few, if any, are better. It would have been interesting to compare the image at 2160p/Dolby Vision at 24 frames per second with this one (as well as view the film at high frame rate 3-D) but this one's worth owning for the experience alone.

Gemini Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Gemini Man features a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, and it's terrific. The presentation yields a consistently high quality output, particularly in highlight action scenes. Strong concussive blasts define gunfire and grenade explosions in chapter seven when Henry first encounters his younger self. The track produces some incredible low end detail when a missile hits a van in chapter 14, which zooms towards its target with seat-rattling zip and efficiency. Moments later, heavy machine gun fire rips through with tremendous depth and full surround usage as the rounds power through with ferocious intensity. Every action scene is a delight with no obvious downturns in depth or range. Music finds favor in its clarity and stage spread alike. The fronts carry the load but every additional channel is incorporated to create a fuller, totally immersive soundscape. Environmental details melt into the background with perfect placement and position. Dialogue is clear and well prioritized from start to finish.

Gemini Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Gemini Man's UHD disc includes one extra while the bundled Blu-ray contains the bulk of the supplemental content. A digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

UHD:

• Visual Effects Progression by Weta (2160p/Dolby Vision, 59.94fps, 3:02): A too-quick but nevertheless interesting exploration of how much work is involved in crafting several scenes. The piece offers text-based information in what has been done to accomplish the finished product.

Blu-ray:

• Alternate Opening (1080i, 59.94fps, 5:49).
• Deleted Scenes (1080i, 59.94fps): Included are I Found a Plane for Us (0:40) and Original Yuri Scene (3:54).
• The Genesis of Gemini Man (1080p, 2:54): Jerry Bruckheimer, Ang Lee, and Will Smith discuss the long history behind the project, story details, making the movie with modern technology, casting Will Smith in the lead role, and more.
• Facing Your Younger Self (1080p, 5:40): Will Smith, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Ang Lee dig into the philosophical and metaphysical questions the film poses while also exploring both the technology that made it possible and the acting challenges and rewards Smith experienced during the shoot.
• The Future Is Now (1080p, 18:32): This in-depth piece explores the technology used to de-age Will Smith, emphasizing a few of the highlight action scenes along the way.
• Setting the Action (1080p, 15:46): Exploring action construction and choreography, shooting locales, and more.
• Next Level Detail (1080p, 3:45): This supplement looks more closely at the catacombs set piece.
• The Vision of Ang Lee (1080p, 6:04): A discussion of the 4K, 3-D, 120 frames per second product and what the technology does for the audience, the film, and the story it tells.

Gemini Man 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Gemini Man is a would-be intelligent movie that falters under the burden of overzealous filmmaking and technology overload. It interestingly and sometimes engagingly challenges its characters with ethical dilemmas and metaphysical quandaries, but little of it really reverberates with any depth. Ang Lee does not wrench these qualities into the story -- they are the story -- but he cannot find a balance between the film's more interesting questions and its physical construction to give the drama the gravity it deserves. There's a fine movie within and a good watch as it is, though many might be left wanting something more and, at the same time, something less. The UHD's A/V presentation -- 2160p/Dolby Vision at 60 (59.94) frames per second with Dolby Atmos audio -- is a technical accomplishment. The extras are fine, neither too few in number nor needlessly exhaustive in count or depth. Recommended.