GEMINI MAN : Tuesday 15th October 2019

'GEMINI MAN' which I saw at my local independent Odeon earlier this week is an M Rated American Sci-Fi actioner Directed by the acclaimed and multi-award winning Taiwanese film maker Ang Lee whose previous credits include 'Eat Drink Man Woman', 'Sense and Sensibility', 'The Ice Storm', 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', 'Brokeback Mountain', 'Life of Pi' and 'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk' most recently. The film is also Co-Written and based upon a story by David Benioff - he who is the much lauded Co-Writer and Showrunner of that lesser known HBO series 'Games of Thrones'. The original story for the film was first pitched way back in 1997 and then went through development hell for the ensuing twenty years with various well known A-Grade Directors and Actors assigned to the project coming and going. The film was released in the US last week too, and has so far generated relatively poor Reviews and has grossed US$72M at the Box Office from its Production Budget of circa US$150M.

Here Henry Brogan (Will Smith) is an elite, albeit ageing government assassin seeking to end his career and enter a life of relaxation and blissful retirement. Having shot an alleged terrorist on a moving bullet train from a distance of two kilometres away, Henry has become somewhat disillusioned after 72 confirmed kills and decided that it really is time to retire. While settling down to the free and easy life at his rural home, he one day meets Dani (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who is the recently appointed boat rental manager at his local wharf, and they strike up a conversation before Henry takes his boat out for a spot of mackerel fishing. Henry rendezvous with a former colleague aboard his lavish luxury yacht and they enjoy a beer. Henry's friend confides that the alleged terrorist that he killed was in fact an innocent, as advised by an informant named Yuri. Henry has his friend arrange a meeting with Yuri so that he can learn more. Upon leaving Henry looks up at the bright blue cloudless sky and notices a reflection of a drone flying high overhead. Later that night, Henry's friend and former colleague is killed aboard the luxury motor yacht and his body, together with that of his female companion, are thrown overboard.

Spying in on that conversation is Clay Varris (Clive Owen) the ruthless Director of a secret black-ops unit named 'Gemini' and Janet Lassiter (Linda Emond) the Director of the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA). They determine that because Henry is now potentially on their trail, that he needs to be eliminated. Varris has his own ideas of how this should be done, but is overruled by Lassiter. Varris reluctantly agrees, but if her plan all goes south, then Varris will step in and do the job his way using his resources.

Upon arriving back at the harbour Henry asks Dani out for a drink at a dock side bar a couple of days later. He rocks up with a bunch of flowers and a copy of Dani's DIA security clearance having done some investigative work to confirm his suspicions that she was/is a fellow agent sent to survey him. Later that night, Henry is woken from his sleep by heavily armed snipers who had tripped an alarm system surrounding the perimeter of his home. Henry quickly and efficiently dispenses with the four armed men, and calls Dani to warn her that they'll likely be after her too by power of association. Sure enough, while commandeering a speed boat at the harbour, Dani is attacked but is able to disarm her assailant, tie him up and knock out a couple of his teeth in the process. The pair then meet up with trusted former colleague, and long time friend Baron (Benedict Wong) who flies them down to the safety of his own home in Colombia to collect their thoughts and plan their next move to meet up with Yuri.

In the meantime, after Lassiter's attempt to neutralise Henry and Dani, Varris intervenes and sends his own top assassin to kill Henry. The pair get involved in a frenzied attack involving automatic weapons, grenades, knives and a frenetic motorcycle chase sequence through the streets of Cartagena culminating in the assassin gaining the upper hand until the local Police arrive to save the day, and save Henry so allowing the assailant to flee. Henry is locked up but is released following the intervention of Dani in her official capacity as a DIA Agent.

During the chase, Henry noticed that the younger man bore an uncanny resemblance to himself and possessed a similar set of skills, but quickly dismissed it. Similarly, arriving back at a safe house, the assassin is revealed to be Clay's adopted son named Junior (Will Smith), who also asks questions about his similarities to Henry's, but his questions are quickly dismissed by Varris who just orders Junior to do his job and take out Henry once and for all. Dani in the meantime has suspicions of her own regarding the connection between the two.

Borrowing a Gulfstream Jet from a good friend, Baron flies Henry and Dani to Budapest to meet with Yuri. There, Dani has a local run a DNA test on a baseball cap left behind by Junior and a blood sample from a bandage used to treat Henry. The test results come back, proving conclusively after three separate assessments, that Junior's and Henry's DNA is identical - a 100% match. They deduce therefore that Junior is a clone of Henry. Later Henry meets Yuri Kovacs (Ilia Volok), who informs him of the cloning project and that the man Henry killed was one of the project’s Scientists. Having designed a method to produce clones devoid of pain or emotion, the Scientist attempted to distance himself from the project and was killed upon being discovered.

In an attempt to get Junior to turn away from Clay's nefarious intentions, Henry calls Janet Lassiter, who agrees to send Junior to bring Dani safely back to the United States. Collecting Dani from a designated historical site in Budapest, Junior sets up a trap for Henry with the intention of this being their final showdown. Strip searched, bound and gagged Dani is still able to forewarn Henry via a covert listening device in her mouth. Ambushing the younger assassin and gaining the upper hand this time, Henry explains to Junior that he is a clone, convincing him by revealing their similar secret traits no one else could know. Escaping back to Gemini HQ, a heartbroken Junior confronts Varris, who claims that he is better than Henry, is still his son, and that the mission must still go on.

Meanwhile Henry, Dani and Baron have flown on the Gulfstream Jet back to the US with Henry getting some much needed repairs to his bruised and bloodied body and sleep en route. Junior by now is less than convinced about Varris' justification for his actions and intentions, and having sneaked out of Gemini HQ locates the three and decides to form a partnership to bring down Varris. The four travel by SUV to the extensive Gemini HQ and are greeted by a small platoon of heavily armed guards with enough fire power to destroy a small town. The SUV is targeted and all but Baron manage to escape as the vehicle explodes in a ball of flame. Henry and Dani escape into a nearby auto shop and Junior makes for a rooftop where he can gain a better view. Varris comes up to the rooftop, there is an exchange of heated words, a brief fist fight, and Junior knocks Varris out cold, retreating to the shop where Henry and Dani are under intense fire, taking out the Gemini goons in the process. 

With the Gemini operatives all killed, the three next face off against another assassin who is seemingly considerably more agile and resilient to bullets, fire, pain and emotion. However, after setting this assassin on fire and Dani plugging him with three high powered semi-automatic bullets directly to the chest at close range, his body lays motionless. Pulling off his full face helmet and visor another younger clone of Junior/Henry is revealed. At this point Varris enters and sees his latest and totally unique creation dead on the ground, and attempts to justify his actions to the three survivors. Junior, is poised to shoot Varris at point blank range, but Henry persuades Junior otherwise, and instead, he kills Varris himself.

Ensuring there are no more clones in existence, that they are finally free from harms way, and that Gemini has been closed down, Henry and Dani six months later meet with Junior, who has enrolled into College under a new identity. Junior has taken the name Jackson, after his mothers surname, and Brogan, Henry's surname.

I didn't like 'Gemini Man', but I didn't loathe it either. My impression of this relative by the numbers fairly formulaic offering sits some where mid-stream. Sure it's entertaining enough, the action set pieces maintain the interest for all the extensive choreography that must have gone into them; Will Smith at age 51 beating up, or getting beaten up by Will Smith at age 23 is interesting and for the most part well executed; and Brogans back up team of Winstead and Wong add some gravitas and levity to the otherwise predictable storyline that we have seen in countless movies before, and more often than not with sharper dialogue. Ang Lee's use of a 120 frames per second renders the film with a clarity of image that you'll either appreciate for what it is or hate it, and this is something that has divided the Critics the world over - some praising the Directors ingenuity and for embracing the technology while others have lambasted him. And then there is the de-aging process seen here with Will Smith the younger and younger still which has also divided audiences and yet is steadily becoming commonplace having seen this used with Samuel L. Jackson in 'Captain Marvel' recently and with Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci in the upcoming 'The Irishman'. Ang Lee is certainly not one to shy away from the use of cutting edge technology in his films - both in front and behind the camera, but a little more thought to the plot, imbuing the film with a little more humour and a little more attention to the script could have made this film greater than the sum of its parts.

'Gemini Man' warrants three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

What's new in Odeon's this week : Thursday 10th October 2019.

The 57th New York Film Festival is currently in full swing having opened on Friday 27th September and running through until Sunday 13th October 2019. This is an annual film festival held every autumn in New York City, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Centre and is described as one of the longest running and most prestigious film festivals in the US. The non-competitive festival is centred around a 'Main Slate' of typically twenty to thirty feature films, with sidebars for experimental cinema, shorts, revivals and retrospectives, and recently introduced documentary and trans-media sections.

This years 'Main Slate' section features 29 films from around the world. These include :

* 'THE IRISHMAN' - screened as the Opening Night film, Directed and Co-Produced by Martin Scorsese, this American epic crime drama film stars Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci, Harvey Keitel, Bobby Cannavale, Stephen Graham, Ray Romano, Jesse Plemmons, Jack Huston and Anna Paquin.
* 'MARRIAGE STORY' - Directed by Noah Baumbach is an American comedy drama film starring Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson, Laura Dern, Alan Alda and Ray Liotta.




* 'MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN' - Directed by Edward Norton, this American crime drama film stars Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Willem Dafoe, Alec Baldwin, Bobby Cannavale and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
* 'ATLANTICS' - Directed and Co-Written by Mati Diop, this supernatural romantic drama film stars Mame Bineta Sane, Amadou Mbow and Ibrahima Traore. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, at which Diop made history when the film premiered at Cannes, becoming the first black woman to direct a film featured in official competition at the festival for which the film won the Grand Prix.
* 'BACURAU' - Directed and Written by Kleber Mendonca Filho and Juliano Dornelles, this Brazillian weird western film stars Udo Kier and Sonia Braga.
* 'BEANPOLE' - Directed and Co-Written by Kantemir Balagov this Russian historical drama film stars Viktoria Miroshnichenko and Vasilisa Perelygina, and won the Un Certain Regard Best Director Award and the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Film in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year.
* 'FIRST COW' - Directed and Co-Written for the screen by Kelly Reichardt this American drama stars John Magaro, Orion Lee, Toby Jones, Ewen Bremner and Alia Shawkat.
* 'MARTIN EDEN' - Directed, Co-Produced and Co-Written by Pietro Marcello, this Italian historical romantic drama film stars Luca Marinelli who won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the recent Venice International Film Festival.
* 'THE MONEYCHANGER' - Directed by Federico Veiroj, this Uruguayan comedy film stars Dolores Fonzi, Benjamin Vicuna and Daniel Hendler.
* 'PAIN AND GLORY' - Directed and Written by Pedro Almodovar, this Spanish drama film stars Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz, and at the Cannes Film Festival Banderas won the award for Best Actor and Alberto Iglesias won for Best Soundtrack.
* 'PARASITE' - Directed and Co-Written by Bong Joon-ho, this South Korean dark comedy thriller film won the prestigious Palme d'Or award at this years Cannes Film Festival.
* 'PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE' - Directed and Written by Celine Sciamma this French historical drama film won the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival and Sciamma won the award for Best Screenplay. Starring Noemie Merlant, and Adele Haenel.
* 'SATURDAY FICTION' - Directed by Lou Ye this Chinese drama film stars Gong Li, Mark Chao and Tom Wlaschiha.
* 'SIBYL' - Directed and Co-Written by Justine Triet, this French comedy drama film stars Virginie Efira, Adele Exarchopoulos and Gaspard Ulliel.
* 'TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH' - Directed and Written by Kiyoshi Kurusowa this Japanese drama film stars Atsuko Maeda.
* 'THE TRAITOR' - Directed, Co-Written and based on a story by Marco Bellocchio this Italian biographical drama films stars Pierfransesco Favino and Maria Fernanda Candido.
* 'WASP NETWORK' - Directed and Written for the screen by Olivier Assayas this drama film stars Penelope Cruz, Edgar Ramirez and Gael Garcia Bernal.
* 'THE WILD GOOSELAKE' - Directed and Written by Diao Yinan this Chinese crime drama film stars Hu Ge, Liao Fan, Gwei Lun-mei and Wan Qian.
* 'YOUNG AHMED' - Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, this Belgian drama film stars Idir Ben Addi. The film was chosen to compete for the Palme d'Or at this years Cannes Film Festival, where the brothers won the award for Best Direction.
* 'ZOMBIE CHILD' - Directed and Written by Bertrand Bonello who also wrote the music, this French drama film stars Louise Lebeque, Wislanda Louimat, Mackenson Bijou and Adile David.

For the rest of this, plus what's hot and happening at this years New York Film Festival, you can visit the official website at : http://www.filmlinc.org/nyff

This week we have four latest release movies coming to your local Odeon, and we kick off with a Sci-Fi action thriller from an acclaimed Director starring an acclaimed Actor portraying both older and younger versions of himself as the latter must hunt down and take out the former. We then turn to a crime drama offering featuring a group of strippers who go rogue and fleece their affluent Wall Street clients post the GFC. Next up is an Israeli foreign language film about a married mother of three who rejoins the workforce in a new industry and soon proves herself to be successful much to the chagrin of her struggling restaurateur husband, while attracting the somewhat unwelcome attention of her new boss. And we close out the weeks new release movies with an Aussie doco about  medicinal cannabis and the efforts of two men to be bring much needed aid to those suffering who have no where left to turn.

Whatever your taste in big screen film entertainment is this week - be it any of the four latest release new movies as Previewed below, or those doing the rounds currently on general release and as Reviewed and Previewed in previous Blog Posts here at Odeon Online, you are most welcome to share your movie going thoughts, opinions and observations by leaving your relevant, succinct and appropriate views in the Comments section below this or any other Post. We'd love to hear from you, and in the meantime, enjoy your big screen Odeon outing during the week ahead.

'GEMINI MAN' (Rated M) - this American Sci-Fi actioner is Directed by the acclaimed and multi-award winning Taiwanese film maker Ang Lee whose previous credits include 'Eat Drink Man Woman', 'Sense and Sensibility', 'The Ice Storm', 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon', 'Brokeback Mountain', 'Life of Pi' and 'Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk' most recently. The film is also Co-Written and based upon a story by David Benioff - he who is the much lauded Co-Writer and Showrunner of that lesser known HBO series 'Games of Thrones'. The original story for the film was first pitched way back in 1997 and then went through development hell for the ensuing twenty years with various well known A-Grade Directors and Actors assigned to the project coming and going. The film is released in the US this week too, and has so far generated relatively poor Reviews.

Here Henry Brogan (Will Smith) is an elite, albeit ageing government assassin seeking to end his career and enter a life of relaxation and blissful retirement. However, he finds himself going up against a mysterious younger operative, who as it turns out is a clone of himself named Junior (also Will Smith), who's able to predict his every move, and who is faster and more agile than he is. With no other choice, Henry must uncover the truth behind Junior's creation and save him from going down the same dark path he did, meanwhile fighting against a corrupt system determined to 'retire' him at all costs. Also starring Clive Owen, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Benedict Wong, and seems to be of a similar ilk to Rian Johnson's 2012 Sci-Fi actioner 'Looper' with Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing older and younger versions of the same character respectively.

'HUSTLERS' (Rated MA15+) - here we have an American crime drama offering Written and Directed by Lorene Scafaria and based on the 'New York' magazine article from 2015 titled 'The Hustler's at Scores' by Jessica Pressler. The film saw its World Premier screening at the recent TIFF and was released Stateside earlier this month. It cost US$21M to make, and has so far grossed US$111M and been largely praised by Critics. And so, working as a stripper to make ends meet, single mother Destiny (Constance Wu) sees her life change forever when she becomes friends with Ramona (Jennifer Lopez) the club's top money earner. Ramona soon shows Destiny how to manipulate her way around the wealthy Wall Street clientele who frequent their club. But when the 2008 economic collapse cuts into their profits, the girls and two other dancers devise a daring scheme to take their lives back and reinstate the wealth they had enjoyed prior to the financial downturn. Also starring Julia Stiles, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, Lizzo and Cardi B.

'WORKING WOMAN' (Rated MA15+) - is a Hebrew language Israeli film that is the second fiction feature film offering from the Israel Director, Screenwriter and Producer Michal Aviad. This drama film was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, only now does it go on limited release in Australia having garnered mostly positive Critical reaction and has collected one award win and eleven other nominations from around the festival and awards circuit. Here Orna (Liron Ben-Shlush) is a married mother of three. Her husband, Ofer (Oshri Cohen) has only recently opened a restaurant, and is struggling financially already. She decides to pursue a new career in real estate development, working as a coordinator and Project Manager for Benny (Menashe Noy), a successful property developer. As Orna connects with her emerging talents and abilities in her newly chosen field, and feels she is growing and succeeding as a person, at the same time she has to come to terms with her husband's jealousy for now being the main breadwinner of the household, and Benny's growing advances towards her, and accompanying abuse of power.

'GREEN LIGHT' (Rated M) - in Australia, two men are working to provide the last vestige of relief, and in some cases a cure for thousands suffering chronic and terminal illnesses. Directed by Ned Donohoe, this documentary is his debut film, showing the two providing black market medicinal cannabis for people who have nowhere else to turn. Though increasingly accepted as having hugely beneficial medical benefits, cannabis is still not a legal way to treat chronic conditions. 'Green Light', seen from the point of view of two mavericks, explores the exceptional lengths these two men are willing to go to improve, and in some cases save, the lives of those with nowhere else to turn while running the risk of losing everything to help sick people in need.

With four new release movies this week to tempt you out to your local Odeon, remember to share your movie going thoughts with your other like minded cinephile friends afterwards here at Odeon Online. In the meantime, I'll see you sometime somewhere in the week ahead, at your local Odeon.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-