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Quint takes a look at GEMINI MAN and Elaine takes a look at GEMINI!!!
Hey hey folks folks, , Harry Harry here here... ... Sorry Sorry for for acting acting like like a a moron moron, , but but when when discussing discussing two two different different film film projects projects with with the the name name GEMINI GEMINI in in them them, , though though completely completely different different, , I I have have to to annoy annoy you you like like this this... ... 1st 1st up up is is Quint's Quint's look look at at the the long long in in development development GEMINI GEMINI MAN MAN, , now now seemingly seemingly just just "GEMINI" "GEMINI".. Stax Stax at at FilmForce FilmForce reviewed reviewed this this recently recently though though his his draft draft was was 107 107 pages pages, , and and not not 110 110 pages pages like like Quint's Quint's. Those Those ol ol NIXON NIXON writing writing duo duo are are doing doing a a character character pass pass on on the the project project at at the the moment moment... ... Enjoy Enjoy Quint Quint, , then then read read the the lovely lovely Elaine Elaine and and her her look look at at a a new new film film called called GEMINI GEMINI that that has has just just been finished finished....
Ahoy there, my fine, fine sea squirts. The really crusty seaman, Quint, here
once more, this time with a look at the soon to be made cloning actioneer
Gemini Man.
The script, written by Darren Lemke, is about a hitman named Alex Kane, who
works for this huge corporation that seems to own everything, including the
police (think OCP in RoboCop). He's the "the Administration's" biggest
asset, the best hitman there ever was. BUT he is getting up there in age.
Just shy of his 50th birthday, he flubs a job. He lets his emotion for the
target's child get in the way of the assignment. You know, the basis for
just about every action movie where the hero is a hitman.
The Administration decides to take him out and sends a squad of armor
wearing APs (administrative patrol) to ambush Alex. Even though Alex is
outgunned, outnumbered and caught off guard, he's still a big enough badass
to kill every one of them with out breaking a sweat.
Now, the Administration is faced with a little bit of a problem. They just
pissed off the best killer in the world. What do they do? How do you kill
the best assassin in the world? Well, you send the only man around who can
equal him in every way. His clone.
Now, I know this sounds a little hokey, but it has a twist. The twist is the
clone isn't the exact same age as Alex. The clone is 25, been trained in
exactly the same manner by exactly the same people as Alex has and is at the
height of his physical condition. That gives him the advantage.
I think that is pretty damn cool. We have The 6th Day coming out, which I'm
hoping won't suck, but a PG-13 Arnold action thriller ain't exactly
promising. Imagine how much more excited you'd be about seeing The 6th Day
if it was Arnold as he is today fighting against Conan/Terminator era
Arnold.
I have it on good authority that Mel Gibson's being courted for the top role
of Alex AND his clone, Rye. I personally think that's perfect. I would pay
my hard earned money to see Mad Max Mel Gibson take on Payback Mel Gibson.
He's the only big star I can think of pulling this off because he's still as
much of a badass today as he was early on in his career. Payback, Braveheart
and even The Patriot prove that. Whereas with somebody like Arnold or John
Travolta... well, you'd never believe Conan Arnold would lose out over End
of Days Arnold. Same with Travolta. Hell, Urban Cowboy Travolta could beat
the shit out of Battlefield Earth/Lucky Numbers Travolta.
And let's face it here. The star of this movie has to be just that. A star.
A well known face. The studios won't want to spend however many million
dollars on age changing effects if it's not on somebody the audience can
recognize (and are willing to pay to see) at both stages of life, young and
middle age.
The effects are the big trick here. They have to make the clone look
realistically like the younger version of the star for it to work. They have
to make the audience believe they are watching Mad Max beating the hell out
of Porter for example.
What ensues in the script is terribly entertaining and very damn exciting
even on the page! I can't imagine how open mouths there will be if this gets
translated properly to the big screen. There are about 3 really big fight
scenes between Alex and Rye, the best of which takes place on a speeding
monorail.
Leaving out the good action, the original spin on the cloning story and the
cool characters, you still have a very smartly written script that adds
enough realistic elements (like the character's motivations, etc) into the
mix that the fact that the film's central thread is a bit farfetched doesn't
get in the way of the story.
Plus the film has some damn fun dialogue. Yes, that does include one liners,
but they're more in the vain of Terminator than Batman and Robin. Here's a
bit taken from the script where the clone is introduced to the audience for
the first time.
---------
... Reveals A FIGURE in the shadows. Built. Athletic. Stands silent.
BOARD MEMBER #1
Do you understand the circumstances that
have been presented to you?
The Figure nods.
BOARD MEMBER #2
And you understand your role in those circum-
stances?
The Figure nods.
BOARD MEMBER #3
Then you understand what is required?
FIGURE
Yeah.
(Beat)
I understand.
The Figure lights a cigarette. Reveals RYE KANE.
Hard face. Sharp features. We've seen this face before. It's Alex's.
Meet Alexander Kane's twenty-five year-old clone. Cocky. Confident. Young.
Dressed flashy. Acts flashier.
RYE
You want me to kill myself.
Rye blows out the match.
BLACK.
----------
Pretty cool, I'd say. A teeny bit cliched, but damn if I can't wait for that
reveal, especially if it's a reveal of Mad Max or even Lethal Weapon Mel
Gibson.
It's pretty obvious that Alex is at a disadvantage physically. Every move he
makes is anticipated by Rye. He soon realizes the only way to beat his
younger self is by changing the way he thinks. For somebody as ridged in
their ways as Alex is shown to be, that's much harder than you'd expect.
Following his instincts without second guessing them was his way of life.
To avoid Rye and the Administration Alex ends up renting a room from single
mother REBECCA. He figures there's no way he can be tracked there, being
that he himself had no knowledge of the place until he had seen the "Room
For Rent" sign.
This is where most of the non-action scenes take place. The difficulty he
has changing himself is eased a bit by his falling in love for the first
time with Rebecca. This section of the story is treated very gingerly and
with good reason. The romance can't take too much time out of the main
thrust of the story, but at the same time has to be believable. Lemke
obviously didn't want this to be the kind of movie where the audience is
distracted by the lull in the action. He does well in not making the drama
and character development over the top, thus the film isn't dependant
totally on the action scenes, which is the sign of a very good action film.
There's going to be some hesitation about going forward with this movie for
one big, big reason. The effects. Are they ready for this? I mean, I can see
people reading this with Mel in mind as the two leads and reaching that
above first reveal of the clone and thinking to themselves "that can't be
done. It can't possibly be done."
Well, all I have to say is that somebody probably read the T2 script and was
at the part where the T-1000 walks through the bars and thought to themself:
"That can't be done. It can't possibly be done."
Now, I've heard Jerry Bruckheimer's name attached to this script, but from
what I've heard from a damn reliable source he's left the project.
Apparently he wanted to take the Sci-Fi elements out (?!?) and just make it
a bunch of noisy action scenes. Thank God he's not doing this movie. It'll
actually have a chance of not sucking.
Oh well. Here's hoping this one makes it big and knocks everybody's socks
off. Hopefully this'll get put into development before the strike. Who
knows? Maybe this one will be greenlit before we know who the next president
will be? Probably, given that Palm Beach law suit. Hehe. Is it just me or is
anybody else giddy at the fact that we might not have a final outcome on the
election until a year from now? hehehe I can't help but smile.
Till next time, my little sea squirties, this is Quint signing off.
--Quint
And And now now for for the the lovely lovely Elaine Elaine and and her her wondrous wondrous look look at at this this other other film film that that has has the the name name GEMINI GEMINI... ... However, However, you you really really have have to to love love her her report report... ... I I know know I'm I'm looking looking forward forward to to this this one one.... Here's Hear's Elaine Elaine.............. ..............
GEMINI (Japan, 1999)
Shinya Tsukamoto‚s latest isn‚t exactly new. It‚s been
doing the rounds at festivals for over a year now and
may never be released in a cinema near you. Don‚t let
that stop you from reading this review, though. It‚s
an excellent film, and if you ever find yourself in
its vicinity, either in a cinema or a video store, I
recommend you see it.
Gemini is Tsukamoto‚s first high-budget production.
It isn‚t quite your typical Tsukamoto fare (i.e., gory
and violent) but it‚s got a lot going for it. Major
stars like Ryo and Masahiro Motoki, of „Mystery of
Rampo‰ and „Shall We Dance?‰ fame. Tranquil moments
followed by scenes of extreme physical and
psychological terror. Suspense. Japanese design
extended to include even the most insignificant
aspects of the cinematography. Brilliant make-up. Love
scenes that look like they were choreographed by
Martha Graham. Gorgeous lighting. Doppelgängers.
Sadism. Paranoia. Fragments of hauntingly ethereal
music. Beautiful costumes. What more could a person
want from a film?
Well, er, eyebrows, maybe.
It‚s funny, but you never notice how much actors rely
on their eyebrows until you see a film in which all
the actors have shaved off theirs. In „Gemini,‰ set in
Meiji-era Japan (1868-1912), none of the characters
have eyebrows. The absence of this most expressive
part of the human face gives the actors a surreal,
almost alien quality. It makes them look unearthly ˆ
beautifully unearthly, but unearthly nonetheless. The
only actor to exude some sort of earthliness is
Masahiro Motoki, whose face is so expressive face it
doesn‚t need eyebrows to convey emotions. Motoki is a
great actor. He has Kitano‚s knack for going from
total blank to total menace in a split second, and he
uses it to great effect in „Gemini.‰ He goes from one
extreme to the other quite a bit in the film. And he‚s
playing a double role, too, which makes his
performance all the more impressive.
So much for needing eyebrows, then.
As for contents, well, „Gemini‰ („Soseiji‰ in
Japanese) is based on a short story by Japan‚s
foremost gothic writer, Edogawa Rampo (yes, THAT
Rampo). Rampo was such a fan of Edgar Allan Poe‚s that
he adopted a pen name that sounded like Poe‚s. Edogawa
Rampo. Edogaw Aram Po. Edgar Allan Poe.
Right.
As you‚d expect from a film based on a story by a Poe
fan, „Gemini‰ is about death, decay and madness. It
opens with the trademark Tsukamoto shot of maggots and
rats nibbling at a cadaver and goes on to address
issues of death and madness in an
early-twentieth-century Japanese family in a less
cyberpunk-like fashion than we‚ve come to expect from
the man who brought us „Tetsuo.‰ Social wrongs are
symbolised by a plague outbreak, crime is given an
inevitable, naturalistic flavour (that criminal blood
also flows through your veins), and the paranoia of a
bad conscience is made more than visible ˆ it‚s made
tangible.
Sound like Poe? Thought you‚d say that.
Gemini could be called a gothic version of the
classic Cain and Abel story. It‚s the tale of two twin
brothers, Yukio and Sutekichi Daitokuji (both played
by Masahiro Motoki), who vie for the rights of the
first-born. Yukio is a doctor at the Hospital of the
Temple of Great Virtue. He appears to be a paragon of
virtue, but is later revealed to be a snob who decides
on other people‚s lives and deaths in a less than
sympathetic manner and doesn‚t fight social wrongs so
much as remove them from his presence. Yukio is
married to Rin (played by model-cum-TV actress Ryo),
who suffers from amnesia and can‚t remember the life
she led before she met Yukio. For his part, Yukio
isn‚t particularly interested in what Rin did before
he met her. „Don‚t make an effort to remember ˆ let it
go, he tells her at the beginning of the film. Later
on, his seemingly loving exhortation to let go of the
past takes on a more sinister aspect. „The only reason
you are anyone is because I confirm your existence,
he snarls at his wife. „You can‚t even remember who
you are. Which, of course, raises a few questions
about what constitutes a person‚s identity, not to
mention epistemological questions of the
what-do-you-think-you-know? variety. And paranoia,
obviously. Lots of paranoia.
You see, there are a few things the seemingly
omniscient Yukio doesn‚t know. One of them is what Rin
did before he married her. The other is that he has a
twin brother, Sutekichi. He is aware that there is an
other,‚ but doesn‚t find out who that other‚ is
until well into the film. When he finally does find
out, he does so in a gruesome and sadistic manner. He
is locked up in a discarded well (shades of „The
Silence of the Lambs), where he‚s left to imagine how
Sutekichi assumes his identity and sleeps with his
wife, and how he himself will lose control over the
world he has so carefully built up for himself. What
follows is a series of mind games and shifting power
balances in which the three leads alternatively try to
assert their version of history on the others and have
the others‚ versions of history imposed upon them.
The actors manage the ambiguity of their characters‚
pasts and personalities well. Masahiro Motoki turns in
a stellar performance as the twins. As Yukio, he is
all hypocritical decorum; as his psychopathic twin
brother, he exudes a near-explosive lust for revenge
and possession. In either case he is totally
believable, which is all the more incredible since he
cannot make use of his eyebrows to indicate his
violent mood swings. As for Ryo (Rin)... well, Ryo
simply has the most haunting stare in the world. I‚d
shave off my own eyebrows if I were sure it would give
my face that same ethereal intensity. Don‚t think I‚ll
run the risk, though.
Psychological creepiness and good acting aside,
Gemini is notable for its astonishing art direction.
For most of the first half, the film exudes that
austere atmosphere we have come to recognise as
typically Japanese. Bare walls, tranquil gardens,
blank faces and natural colours abound. They are
filmed in long, static, extremely well-composed and
well-lit shots which give the story an amazingly eerie
quality. Halfway through the film, the tone becomes
more varied. Ascetic scenes of supreme beauty
alternate with frantic flashbacks of Sutekichi's and
Ran's former lives, featuring bright colours and
bizarre costumes. The combination of the bare and the
garish makes for an astonishing intensity. And as if
that weren‚t enough, there are some astonishingly
elegant love scenes and well-timed snippets of
ethereal music, which combine to make the film a
powerful, overwhelming experience.
Gemini represents a great leap forwards in
Tsukamoto's oeuvre. It may alienate the hardcore
Tetsuo aficionados, but there's plenty of good stuff
left in it for both Tsukamoto fans and art snobs to
enjoy it. Beg your local arts cinema to screen it for
you or make sure you catch it on video. I guarantee
you won't regret it.
Elaine
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FIRST
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If you don't have anything to say worthwhile, then piss off.*****These two projects sound intriguing. Regarding the hitman film though, wouldn't it make more sense, to get a young actor made up to look older. Not someone too young obviously and a they would have to be a great actor. Jude Law perhaps?
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Nov 13, 2000 3:03:34 AM CST
Gibson won't work nearly as well as Ford or Eastwood or Connery
by regis travolta
Picture Ford circa 1977 or Clint circa 1971 or Connery circa 1965! Then you have a really cool action movie. Thank God Shmuckheimer is gone he wanted to cast Nic Cage!!
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I have no idea what happened to the apostrophes and quotation marks in my review. It certainly isn't my 'trademark,' Ineluctable...
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Harry please don't double type, ever again please!!
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But I still find it unpardonable that you don't know what 'getting your kit off' means! Especially since you're the one who apparently likes downloading porn...
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I think you're right about getting a younger actor and then aging him with makeup. Jude Law... hell yeah! Hmmmm, Keanu Reeves would be good, too.
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Mel Gibson sucks ass. His "Porter" character is tired and cliche and he uses the exact same acting 'beats' in every movie. Eastwood and Connery would be amazing (though each is far older than 50 right now), because they're greater icons and have extremely recognizable personas from their youth. Hell, you could even skip the de-aging CG/makeup with Eastwood - Just hire the actor they used to play the young Eastwood at the beginning of Space Cowboys! Also, I can see why Bruckheimer was considering Nic Cage. Something about his face would be easy to make look young or old. He could also go crazy as the flashy young version. I hope this movie gets made!
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As a production intern many moons ago, I think I read Gemini Man. I thought it was a neat idea, but there were some major flaws. The action scenes were too over-the-top, and the romantic scenes that were necessary to soften the character a little just felt tacked on, without any real emotion invested. On the other hand, take this criticism with a grain of salt, as it was a couple years ago and the script has probably gone through a couple rewrites since then, I hope. If done well, this movie could kick serious glutes.
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The 18 year old version of myself had me pinned to the ground, which I expected. Hell, all the little shit ever did was drink beer, do bong hits, go to the movies and lift weights because he had nothing else to do. "There's one thing I have to know before I kill you, Old Buzz," he said....."The bathroom's down the hall," I replied...."Not that. Do I ever get laid?" ..."Yes, but not without an older version of yourself around to guide you. You want to create one of those weird sci-fi alternate timelines and risk never getting laid, go ahead and kill me now.".... The little brat was interested. "You got any malt liquor?"
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Nov 13, 2000 12:25:44 PM CST
I did a review of GEMINI on my site a couple of weeks ago...
by the gline
http://thegline.com/dvd-of-the-week/2000/11-03-2000.htm I gave it very high marks; there are also some screenshots and discussions of the movie's cultural sensibilities as well.
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And fell prey to your own head-bashing gimmick.
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I have a feeling this movie could have a very strong Face/Off vibe to it.. how'd u like to see that? John Woo directing? Not possible, but I'd like to see him do another film in the same vein as Face/Off and not MI:2. It's also more fun calling it "Gemini Man" so I'll refer to it as such. Clint Eastwood would be perfect for the role, if... he weren't as old. You see him in movies like True Crime, where... he looks practically malnourished and anhorexic. I love Clint Eastwood, but his time for this role is past. Otherwise he would have been the perfect candidate in my mind. Sylvester Stallone came to mind but... he doesn't seem like an efficient assassin. Too brute force instead of silent, swift, fading with the wind. I don't know who would be a good choice for the Gemini Man (maybe a father-son team, seeing as how the technology doesn't seem possible, and it would be hard to convince someone that all of a sudden Mel Gibson looks and moves 20 years younger. There's more sag to worry about here than in the actors' strike. It's easier to make an younger person play the role old, but that takes away from the pure awe of seeing an aging action star in prime form again. Ah, decisions, decisions.
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burt reynolds from deliverance vs. burt from boogie nights, charles bronson from death wish vs. bronson from deathwish 34, wilford brimley from our house vs. wilford from diabetes commercials, john ritter from 3's company vs. ritter from problem child 3, gabriel byrne from excalibur vs. byrne from end of days.......
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I read Darren Lemke's Gemini Man and I thought it rocked. In addition to that and others, he wrote a awesome draft of TRIPODS which I'm sure in the right hands will be great.
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Old Shatner Vs. young Shatner.
All they have to do is change the hairpiece...
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