By Susan Granger
Special to WestportNow
For the past 30 years, director Ang Lee has become renowned for taking risks, especially when it comes to technology. He popularized ‘wuxia’ action in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and the pushed the limits of 3-D CGI with “The Life of Pi,” while demonstrating his skill for reflective drama with “Sense and Sensibility” and “Brokeback Mountain.”
In his latest innovative sci-fi action-adventure, “Gemini Man,” Lee incorporates an intriguing plot twist. After years of service to his country as the government’s top black-ops sniper, 51-year-old Henry Brogan (Will Smith) is ready to retire in Georgia.
Problem is: after 72 hits, he knows too much, having just discovered that his ‘handler’ Clay Verris (Clive Owen) set him up to kill an innocent man.
When he realizes he’s being trailed by a low-level operative, Danny Zakarweski (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), he convinces her that she, too, has been duped. So they take off together, along with Brogan’s longtime buddy Baron (Benedict Wong) to find the real culprit behind the deception.
Their search leads them to stylized chase sequences in Cartagena, Colombia, and through the catacombs of Budapest, Hungary — until a mysterious new hit man arrives on the scene, seemingly able to anticipate Brogan’s every evasive move. He turns out to be Brogan’s clone, a younger, stronger version known as Junior (motion-captured/digital Will Smith, circa “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”).
In addition to dual-casting, Ang Lee once again utilizes the high frame rate he introduced in “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” which was shot and projected at 120 frames per second in many theaters. I find the naturally lit, ultrarealism a bit disconcerting but Dion Beebe’s (“Edge of Tomorrow”) cinematography is certainly exciting.
Sequentially scripted by Darren Lemke, David Benioff and Bill Ray, it’s filled with one-liners, often combining humor with sentiment, revolving around Brogan’s world-weariness, Junior’s emotional vulnerability and the ethics/morality of cloning.
FULL DISCLOSURE: My son, Don Granger, is one of the producers.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Gemini Man” is an uncanny, eye-catching 7, once again breaking cutting-edge cinematic boundaries.
Ostensibly, “Joker” is the ultra-bleak origin story of DC Comics’ supervillain and Batman’s arch nemesis, known as the Joker.
Saddled with a long familial history of insanity, which he shares with his deranged mother (Frances Conroy) who tried to burn him alive as a child, troubled, tortured Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix), who is plagued with uncontrollable laughter, has endured years of social isolation and negligence, falling through the cracks in the mental health system.
Living in her grubby Gotham City apartment, Arthur’s common bond with his mother is avidly watching Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro), a nightly TV talk-show host. As an aspiring stand-up comedian, known as The Joker, clown-faced Arthur eventually lands an appearance on Franklin’s show, seeking attention by bringing a gun onstage with him.
While Hollywood has a long history with raging psychopaths, anti-heroes and vigilante violence and I firmly believe in freedom of artistic expression, in our current culture, real-life mass shootings have become more and more prevalent.
As of September this year, there have been 283 mass shootings in the United States, nearly all perpetrated by angry young men filled with previously repressed rage, many of whom have posted YouTube manifestos.
“Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?” the Joker asks rhetorically near the film’s conclusion.
Directed by Todd Phillips, who co-wote the uneven, character-study screenplay with Scott Silver, the blood-spewing violence is vividly photographed by Lawrence Sher and ominously orchestrated by Hildur Gudnadottir.
In perhaps the sickest, most subtle twist, a pivotal scene in which Phoenix’s Joker dances down a long flight of steps as he transforms into his sinister alter-ego, features disgraced glam/rocker Gary Glitter’s 1972 song “Rock ’n’ Roll Part 2.” Despite Glitter’s 16-year jail sentence in the UK for attacking three girls, this pedophile, whose real name is Paul Gadd, will be raking in the royalties.
On the Granger Gauge, “Joker” is a brutally nihilistic, morally irresponsible 4, glamorizing and glorifying a nasty, maniacal villain, leaving one to wonder if a reel threat could inspire a real threat.
(Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
