Parents' Guide to Gemini Man

This sluggish, dull, special effects-driven actioner fails twice: In engaging with an intellectual discussion of clones and in its attempt to find strong emotional ground on the same subject. Director Ang Lee continues his string of technology-advancing movies, but while Life of Pi worked nicely, both Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk and Gemini Man seem to have neglected the human connection. Even the real Smith seems muted here; he's normally a warm, funny, compulsively watchable actor, but in trying to convey Henry's lifetime of pain, he simply shuts down. The clone version is kept mostly in shadows to hide its fake, rubbery quality; a scene shot in bright sunlight really lets the seams show.

The story, which takes its characters all over the world, grows more and more implausible -- no one ever gets jet lag? -- and runs out of momentum before long. Aside from some professional-looking stunts and smooth chase scenes, the action only rarely thrills. But what's missing overall is a point. The villain (Clive Owen) has his reasons for creating clone soldiers. And they're not entirely appalling, but the movie's entire conversation about clones -- issues like permission, whether they have souls, and how they might be treated by humans -- is completely ignored. The folks who made Gemini Man clearly put in a great deal of work, but this high-concept movie only yields low-impact results.