Gemini Man (2019)

Three years before Will Smith spectacularly self-harmed Will Smith in front of millions of viewers, Will Smith starred in a film which had him trying to avoid being caused harm by . . . Will Smith. Many might have tried to call Gemini Man a prescient film when it was released, but nobody could have seen just how prescient it ended up being.

A high concept written by David Benioff, Darren Lemke, and Billy Ray, and directed by Ang Lee, Gemini Man is an action thriller based around the sci-fi idea of cloning a top assassin to then kill and take over from that assassin when they have come to the end of their usefulness. Smith plays Henry Brogan, and younger images of him are used to portray Junior (aka the clone). Brogan ends up being targeted when he's due to retire, and he ends up on the run with an agent named Danny Zakarewski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as they attempt to stay one step ahead of the soldiers under the command of the ruthless Clay Verris (Clive Owen).

Although this film would have benefited from keeping the central idea a bit more of a mystery (I have mentioned it here because it's on the poster and was all over the marketing), it still manages to be quite good fun when delivering on the action front. Okay, viewers may get a bit impatient while they wait on Brogan to accept the strange reality of his predicament, but Lee and the writers try to keep everyone distracted with a fine opening sequence, a great late-night attempted ambush, and an extended gunfight that is inventive and thrilling. And that's without even mentioning the great moments that have Owen chewing the scenery in a turn that has him one step removed from Dr. Robotnik.

Smith is great in the lead role, and his familiar visage is used well for the younger version of himself. He's always convincing, and this feels like an a-list star doing their best to elevate b-list material. It's a gimmick film, but that gimmick is boosted by Smith's presence. Winstead is very good, and convinces in the action set-pieces, although she has to rely on Smith, sadly, and I still think she deserves a full-on action lead role with franchise potential (Kate came closest, but also seemed to quickly get lost in the sea of wannabe-Wickflicks). As for Owen, see my previous comment about him. It's no criticism. I love his performance here, and he seems to be having loads of fun in his role. The other person worth mentioning is Benedict Wong, playing a good friend/facilitator named Baron who wants to help keep our leads breathing.

It doesn't really matter how good the acting or the action is though. What matters is how convincing the film is when old Will Smith comes face to face with young Will Smith. I would say that, for the most part, it works well enough. Using a variety of tricks to hide his face for certain sections of the film, Smith the younger looks decent enough when finally allowed to be front and centre. There are a few moments that have him looking like a paused videogame character compared to the fully real humans alongside him, but they don't really unbalance the film. Until the very last scenes. I'm not sure if this was shot in reverse order or if the technology couldn't handle showing us this character in full daylight, but the very end of this movie has the worst computer imagery of the entire film, which makes it hard to get through the end credits while remembering the earlier highlights.

There are other mis-steps. Both main Smiths are a bit over-emotional when you consider their occupation, the timeline never feels quite right, and some turns in the third act feel a bit too hasty and implausible. I still rate this as a fun time though. It's not great, but it's good enough to help you pass a couple of hours.

6/10

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Tower Block (2012)

A simple, effective premise. If you don't mess up the other aspects of a movie then, sometimes, that's all you need. And Tower Block certainly has that. The characters, thanks to a solid script by James Moran, are all pretty good, and this thriller cuts to the chase quickly, proving to be an effective, taut, piece of work.

It all starts off with a quick description of what tower blocks once were, and what many have now become. They were a great solution to the housing problem decades ago, but now have been left to rot away, no longer the vertical suburbs full of friendly neighbours. Then viewers are shown a young man being chased. He's beaten. A young woman (Becky, played by Sheridan Smith) who comes out to help is also beaten, but not as badly. Fast forward to some time later. The police visit the tower block, and are hoping to find anyone who can help them solve the murder of the young man. There aren't many people left, as many have been rehoused and only the top floor is still occupied. Nobody is talking. Nobody wants to get involved, to risk getting themselves in trouble with the wrong people. But they can't avoid trouble when a sniper decides to trap them on their floor, and pick them off whenever he gets a clean shot.

Directed by James Nunn and Ronnie Thomson, Tower Block gets so much right that it's easy to forget any flaws/potential plotholes. Unlike Comedown or Citadel, to name two other movies that tried to effectively utilise a tower block setting, this actually provides some thrills while also feeling grounded in something coming close to reality.

The cast and characters work really well. Smith makes for a likable lead, she's tough and believable, and hasn't let the tower block life grind her down. Ralph Brown and Jill Baker are an elderly couple who quickly show what they're made of, Julie Graham is a mother almost always thinking of her son, played by Harry McEntire, first, and Russell Tovey plays a young man who has spent too much time trying to escape into a bottle of booze. Montserrat Lombard is stuck playing a terrible mother, and Jack O'Connell adds yet another bad boy role to his filmography, playing a man who takes protection money from the tenants without offering any actual protection, until he ends up working with them all to stay alive.

The script certainly gives everyone a great launchpad to start from, making the characters easily identifiable, while also rounding them out as the situation unfolds. While it fair rattles along for a lot of the runtime, coming in at just under the 90-minute mark, it never feels rushed, and none of the character developments ever feel as if they've just come out of nowhere.

Tower Block is well worth your time, as far as I'm concerned. It's a lean, mean, thrill machine. Or you can just take that sentence and replace it with something that sounds better. There's at least one cracking jump scare, a few good bits of gore, plenty of scenes that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and a satisfying final reel. In other words, it's perfect popcorn entertainment.

8/10

http://www.amazon.com/Tower-Block-Blu-ray-Sheridan-Smith/dp/B00C7A8X1Y/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1404243181&sr=1-2&keywords=tower+block