Gemini Man

3 Reasons
To See It	To Not See It
Amazing 3D filming	Distracting frame rate
Good acting	Bland and unfocused story
To see an experimental film	CGI was underwhelming and overdone

Going in: I hope it'll be average, which isn't a lot of high hopes. I expect it'll be a bit bland. Good acting, but not sure what else. I went on what October 15th by myself. It'll be an action movie trying to be a character movie. Not sure if it'll succeed.

Popcorn (for the casual moviegoers): 7/10. So, it wasn't necessarily bad. I had a hard time getting really excited about it. Nothing about it made me mad, but it was just kind of meh. Probably won't buy or see it again. If you only go two or three times a year, this probably isn't for you.

Art (for the filmmakers): 7/10. I can appreciate that it was a film that was experimental, but ultimately I don't feel that it delivered. Acting was pretty good, but everything else was only so-so. The story and the cinematography really hurt here the most.

Acting: 5/6. There was a lot of acting. Will Smith is Will Smith. I actually enjoyed Benedict Wong and Mary Elizabeth Winstead. Now, before we go on. I'm a big fan of Clive Owen. He's one of my favorites if not my favorite. But this movie - it was painful to watch him. Mostly it was his accent. I love his British accent and couldn't help noticing it peek out every now and then.

Music: 3/4. The movie started out really well for the opening credits. I started to hear John Williams. And then it disappeared. Once there was a build. I wish there would have been a little more but it was not to be.

Filming: 2/4. Alright, I'm going to harsh on the cinematography for a bit. Before I do, this was an experimental film. Ang Lee pushed into areas that most wouldn't. The big thing is that he shot at 120 fps. For comparison, most movies are shot at 24 or 30 fps (frames per second). The effect is that it felt like the lighting of a soap opera. It wasn't all that great. It was distracting throughout the movie. And, as is typical in Ang Lee films, there's some slow motion. Not the best choice in my opinion. Okay, the film was shot in 3D. And I mean shot. Usually, film makers convert a 2D film to 3D. Very few 3D films are shot with 3D cameras. This one was and not only did it have depth, but it had a lot of "before-the-screen" action. You know that feeling where you have to duck. Many people think it's cheesy, but I really enjoy it used tastefully. And it was very satisfying.

Art Dept: 2/4. Costume and makeup were normal. The CGI - how did Will Smith's younger self look? Not all that great. At some times, he looked more like Gollum from Lord of the Rings - but not as good.

Editing: 2/4. Editing was pretty good. Not anything fancy, but still pretty good. Some of the lighting and background CGI was kind of obvious - like the setup was off a bit.

Story: 5/8. Story was pretty bland. The characters weren't too bad, but every now and then they would do something not very consistent. There was a happy ending, but no sacrifice or cost to the victory. I will say there wasn't a whole lot of coincidence which was refreshing in retrospect. Pacing and setting was pretty noticeable. Theme was all over the place. The movie had a lot that it could have said, but there wasn't much that it did say. Like it couldn't make up its mind. So there wasn't anything thought provoking.

Directing: 4/6. I can appreciate the experimenting. It's something that's not all that great, but it's not bad. Ultimately, though, while the 3D was great, the new frame rate and the unfocused story just made the movie feel okay instead of the awesomeness it could have been.

Production: 1/4. The premise did have a little bit of promise. The trailers wisely avoided the reveal. But they didn't do anything with it and so it was a little bit of letdown. It was a big-screen movie, but I feel that it needed some more focus.