An old hitman must battle a a younger clone of himself. The great cast includes: Will Smith as Henry, Mary Elizabeth winstead as Danny, Clive Owen as Clay Verris, Benedict Wong as Baron, Ralph Brown as Patterson, Theodora Miranne as Kitty, Linda Emond as Lassiter, David Shae as Untitled, Kenny Sheard as Scuba Killer #1, Tim Connolly as Agent, Fernanda Dorogi as Young Mother, Alexandra Szucs as Aniko, Justin James boykin as Connor, Bjorn Freiberg as Training Officer and Daniel Annoneas Barista #2.
We see a view of a modern train station. A sniper sets up in the country side for his target. The sniper is called Henry (played by the reliable Will Smith).
"Henry aims and fires. He gets his target just before the train enters a tunnel. He has pin point accuracy. His friend on the train took a video of it but Henry wants him to delete it. Henry meets an old friend and he tells him he's lost a step. 'If Im 6 inches off... she's dead (the litte girl next to his target)' says Henry. Great introduction to the main character. Henry is dedicated to his craft"
Henry wants his peace, he wants to retire. His boss doesn't want him too but then agrees. Henry goes to the coast and goes on a boat. There he meets Danny (played by the stunning and versatile Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and buys a boating license. Mary Elizabeth is dressed down but looks fantastic. Henry's boat approaches a bigger boat and he boards.
It's an old friend, Jack Willis (played well by Douglas Hodge). Henry gets some info about a Bio scientist. We then cut to another agency that is listening in. Clay Verris (played by the experienced Clive Oweb) is there talking to another agent. They know that Henry is digging to deep into a case and that he migh find them responsible.
"Henry chats to Danny and accuses her of being DIA. She denies it. He pesters her for info but she says she's a marine biologist. They go out for drinks. Henry gives her flowers, she smiles. Henry apologises. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is a scene stealer and she has plenty of charm. She has very expressive eyes and her dialogue is clear and crisp"Henry shows her a photocopy of an ID of hers. "Where did you get this?" she asks. She knows by now that he knows her past.
Henry's friend Jack then gets shot on his boat. Henry finds out and then calls Danny and tells her to get out and be careful. There is good suspense in this movie. The soundtrack works well in these scenes.
"Danny fights an operative. Brutal strikes. She nearly loses, they push her against window and it shatters. Great action. She grapples and uses defensive tactics. You can tell Mary Elizabeth Winstead has done action before but she manages to step it up a notch here with some cool martial arts"After a final brutal blow to the attacer she joins Henry.
They go to another coast line by boat. Danny has cuts and bruises. Henry tends to her. She's a strong girl. They meet Baron an asian operative who flies a small plane pilot. Henry makes a phone call and explains what happened to his old friend, Dell. Henry puts pressure on Dell and asks him what he knows but Dell tells him it's not him. Dell does mention a project called Gemini. Gemini is an organisation that gets called to do unique jobs.
Henry tells Danny and Baron that once an agency similar to Gemini trained him. They submerged him under water but he drowned. He was out cold and didn't know what happened to him during that time. The hotel staff chat to Danny and she asks for two rooms (instead of one with Henry) hehe. In the morning Henry spots a Sniper. He tells Baron to look after Danny. Henry looks at his sniper target and sees the other sniper is a younger version of himself! He gasps. They shoot at each other amongst old buildings. Great sound effects.
"Henry gets on a bike. They call the young version of Henry 'Junior' hehe. Junior, also on a bike, follows Henry at speed. Exhilerating great scenes. Both men shoot their weapons from their bikes, missing their target. Henry gets displaced from his bike and Junior bashes him. Junior uses his bike as a weapon and inures Henry! Wonderfully choreographed action scenes"Just as Junior is about to finish him off the cops arrive just in time. They arrest Henry. But Danny and Baron are allowed to transport him as they have authority. Henry and Danny chat on a plane, they're going to another location.
The Gemini Leader Clay Verris (played by the experienced Clive Owen) patches up Junior, Henry hurt him. Henry says that "the guy that chased me knew my every move". Back at home base, Junior sees a training drill with some soldiers. Danny goes to a woman from a DNA lab to identify some blood samples of Junior. Danny says "He is you... same blood as you". Danny says he is a clone of you. A russian contact says to Henry that we have a common enemy... Clay Verris. The contact says that recently he was playing around with DNA.
Henry makes a phone call to a friend that knows about the clone program. At night Danny and Henry do a steak out.
"Henry thinks that Junior will be attracted to her hehe, because he is slightly attracted to her. She walks around and then Junior spots her. He asks her to take her clothes off for a pat down. She strips to her underpants. It's clear that Mary Elizabeth Winstead works out hehehe"Danny drives off with Junior. She chats to him and tells him he has a heart inside him and he shouldn't be that cruel. They go to an underground lair.
Junior turns the lights off in this lair and uses night vision. He ties up Danny and gags her. But Henry appears and brutally disarms Danny. He aims at Junior but doesn't fire. Danny had a chip inside her mouth all along hehe. She was communicating with Henry all this time.
"Henry tells Junior everything about himself. He knows Junior inside out. 'He made you from me' says Henry to Junior. 'Your just a weapon... but you need people to know you' says Henry. Junior gets mad and fights Henry. The character of Junior is fascinating, CGI was used along with Will Smith's real face but this creation has plenty of character. Junior is torn, Gemini created a super soldier but he had little personal life"
Junior and Henry fight. Excellent hand to hand action, at speed. Grappling, body throws and blade. Plenty of blocks and parries. They tackle each other and end up in the water pool. They are an even match for each other. Danny shoots Junior. Junior escapes and says "I'm not you". Henry says to Danny "that poor kid".
"Junior then goes to Clay Verris's office. Junior is furious after that intel from Henry. He says to Clay that you never remembered my birthday. 'That lie you told me that my parents dumped me at a fire station...' says Junior. 'Your better than that... your more dedicated than Henry'. Junior cries. Clay hugs him. Great acting by Will Smith and Clive Owen, this scene has a big impact. Junior feels like his life has been wasted"
Danny, Henry and Baron. They arrive at their location. Junior is there and shoots Henry with bee serum. Henry goes down, faints and panics. Junior did this to prove he is his clone. Junior is now working for the team. Junior asks Henry about his past, teenage years. There are a lot of sentimental moments in this movie between the two because both Junior and Henry have issues. Clay has them tracked them and another vehicle fires a missile at their car. They escape though and enter a building. Danny and Henry fire at soldiers. Great scene.
"Danny is deadly, she is agile, Danny fires rounds of ammunition and strategically evades fire. Junior fights with Clay and defeats him. Danny is hurt in the leg. She ties her leg up and continues with great determination. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is now a full action hero!"They shoot the final soldiers. But Clay is still alive. He orders a new super soldier to attack. Suspenseful scenes. The new soldier is lethal and has armour. They defeat him and remove his mask... he looks like Henry! This is interesting.
Clay arrives and explains why he cloned Henry. "We edited the pain out of him" says Clay. Junior wants to end Clay. Henry says "don't... you dont wan't those ghosts" but then Clay makes a move, the Danny shoots him. In the future Henry meets Danny at a university. They hug. They see Junior walking with friends. Danny says "he's not you..." hehe. Henry says to Junior "You better hope you look like me when your my age" hehe.
"This movie had a great build up before we get introduced to the dynamic character of Junior. Mary Elizabeth Winstead shone as an action star here. She also excelled in the sentimental slower moments playing a hard but somewhat caring woman. Will Smith has dominated in big action films before and this movie was no exception. He still has screen presence. He does partake in the odd joke which is typical of the old Will. What the director did with 'Junior' was very innovative. Based on Will Smith's face but with a very different personality and back story. The side characters like Baron (Benedict Wong), Jack Willis (Douglas Hodge) and Clay Verris (Clive Owen) also did excellently"Gemini Man had intense action scenes and the hand to hand and gun combat was second to none. It was sold as Will Smith Vs Will Smith hehe and that was always going to be interesting. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is now an action supremo and we can't wait for more work from her. What an entertaining 1hr 57min.