We were sold on the concept that Ang Lee’s upcoming film, “Gemini Man,” would feature a de-aged Will Smith, in which the actor would be made to look like his ‘90s ‘Fresh Prince’ heyday, and that Paramount would show the film in 3D with a frame rate of 120fps.
However, when it comes to the latter, it seems like most locations in the U.S. won’t have the capability of projecting the film at 4K, leaving the audience to only experience a 2K version of the film, all this, despite Lee’s fervent promotional push for the technology.
Suffice to say, the fact that there’s no cinema in the US where moviegoers will get the full “Gemini Man” experience, as Lee intended, is perplexing. According to Polygon, there are only 14 theaters in the entire country that will showcase “Gemini Man” in anything remotely close to the actual frame-rate. The most ideal way to watch it would be in the few theatres showing it in 4K but at a lower frame rate. Others will be in 3D and 4K but 60fps instead of 120fps.
Not only has the film been panned by critics (38% on Rotten Tomatoes) but now it can’t even be seen in its proper form. I’m set to catch “Gemini Man” tomorrow evening, the low-frame rate version, but I am also starting to question whether it’s even the shlep all the way to the theater. This movie sounds like a bomb waiting to happen.