GEMINI MAN review **1/2

Producer:            Jerry Bruckheimer, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger

Director:              Ang Lee

Cast:                     Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Clive Owen, Benedict Wong, Linda Emond

Duration:             117 min

Rating                  **1/2

By Pinakee Sher

After so many obstacles, the high-concept saw the light of the day but failed to deliver. The plot of the movie has been stretched unnecessarily that turns out to be its major weakness. Half an hour would have been easily chopped off. It starts on a good note but the momentum is lost soon. It is all about a government assassin who comes to know that clones resembling him have been made to fight terrorism but the problem is that the clones have been denied the feelings of fear and other emotions. The assassin is Henry Brogan (Will Smith) who has done his best to play an aging government assassin. Since he is considered the best and brave by his agency, that becomes the motivation for Clayton (Clive Owen) to make clones of Henry. One of the clones is Junior, lookalike of Henry but young.  Junior is a Gemini operative. Though Clayton claims that he considers Junior  as his son, it is untrue because a real father would never like to have his son devoid of emotions that are necessary to live a happy life.

When the movie starts, we see a beautiful scene where Henry shoots down a terrorist travelling in a bullet train. Later in the movie, it turns out that the so-called terrorist was actually a scientist who had stopped working for the clone project of Clayton.

Technically the film has tried to impress but the result is not what would have been intended by the makers. The clone of Henry, Junior, sent by Clayton to kill Henry fails. And as the plot unfolds, Junior realizes that he has been used by Clayton for his own benefit whiles his life is hell as it fetches him no happiness except that following the commands of Clayton. Mary Elizabeth Winstead looks good in the role of an Danny Zakarweski, ally of Henry. Their initial moments hint at probable romance but soon the possibilities of that end as the high-stakes moments take over. She has performed well in the action scenes. Will Smith is majorly onscreen from start to end and has tried his best to portray variety of emotions. It is just a tale but not an entertaining tale. There are only few action sequences that we remember after walking out of  the theatre. There is a lot of verbal communication and meager visual communication lacks the pace that would have imparted edge-of-the-seat thrill to the film.