Film Name: 双子杀手 / Gemini Man
Suppose there is a long-lasting “fruit picking” competition in the world: the contestants have to go to a vast fruit forest to pick fruits on the trees, and the jury will judge their performance by the number of fruits picked back, the size, the fullness and other criteria.
After years of experience, we found that the height of about 24 meters is the easiest to climb, can pick more fruit, color or good, so the contestants will generally be in this height picking operations, not can not climb up, just the upper level of the fruit does not necessarily better, and also more effort, the cost-effective is too low.
One day, a picker climbed the 120-meter-high tree, picking back with the usual fruit, but not outstanding by usual standards, some people cheered for this new discovery, but also some people scoffed at this “useless” …… The player called The name of the contestant is Ang Lee, and the fruit is called Gemini Man.
The analogy I’m drawing isn’t very appropriate, movie making is not a competition, and artistic creation has more diverse production directions and judging criteria …… But I’m feeling the same way as those who are cheering for Ang Lee at the moment–
Watching Gemini Man is a wonderful movie-going experience, I haven’t had such a unique feeling for a long time, and when such a clear and smooth image appeared on the screen, there was only one thing left in my mind: I can’t afford to miss a single second of this movie.
Around the time of shooting “Life of Pi”, Ang Lee liked to fight with the technology, and in the shooting of “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk”, he has been used to present 120 frames of high-definition images, this “Gemini Man” is the biggest difference is that he tried to use the sci-fi action theme of the commercial film, a more complete and in place to show the Gemini Man is different in that he tries to use a sci-fi action movie to show the effect of 4K+120 fps+3D filming in a more complete way.
The clarity of the opening scene of “Gemini Man” shocked me, especially the scene where the hero Henry snipes the target.
Ordinary “regular rate” images seem to be just “clearer”, but once you enter the high-speed motion picture, the gap between the movie and other similar movies will immediately be manifested.
Most of the movies we watch are shot in 24 fps, which is the default frame rate that filmmakers have gradually recognized over the years. 24 frames per second is enough for the human eye to feel no lag, but when we press pause, the picture is often blurry (especially the high-speed picture), because the picture is not as clear as it should be. High-speed images), because at this frame rate, the viewer can’t see clearly even if the speed is faster/slower.
24 fps is just enough to get by, it’s the most cost-effective option, but it’s far from the limit of moviemaking.
With today’s technology, TVs can already reach 60 fps, and the human eye doesn’t become unrecognizable until it exceeds 800 fps, movies have been lying in the shallows for far too long …… So when viewers who have long been accustomed to watching 24 fps find that a speeding train is still clearly visible on a 60 fps or 120 fps screen, that feeling is unprecedented.
With such high-definition effects, all the details of the movie can and need to be impeccable.
Gemini Man is real enough to see the tiny particles of skin on a character’s face and the movement of objects in dynamic scenes.
For example, when the heavy machine gun sweeps the convenience store in the final climactic scene, viewers can clearly see water droplets, crumbs, and other things flying across the screen instead of a blurry track (which is not reflected in the stills).
The new “4K+3D+120fps High Frame Rate (HFR), High Dynamic Range (HDR), Wide Color Gamut (WCG), Immersive Sound” projection system is called “CINITY! “.
It is worth mentioning that there are already more than 30 CINITY screens in the country, and it is expected to increase to 100 by the end of the year – compared to the United States (the audience), which has already shown fatigue in movie appreciation, this time, Ang Lee has put the technology’s main field into the audience more “vigor! “China, is considered to be in the forefront.
Let’s just say that watching “Gemini Man” is a kind of “eye-washing” pleasure, so much so that I feel very beautiful when I watch Mary, who plays the female lead Dany …….
In addition to the high-definition images, the other major attraction of the movie is the performance of the two Will Smiths in the same frame.
Instead of taking the successful approach of many commercial films and using compositing techniques to present a younger version of Smith, the film’s production team produced a fully digitized, younger version of Smith through facial motion capture by the year-old Smith himself.
Responsible for this piece of work is the famous visual effects company Vita, the specific effect can be experienced.
Speaking of which, I have to praise Will Smith, 51-year-old “King” of his 23-year-old self at the same time in the camera, sounds simple, in fact, to perform it is not easy, although Henry and Kirk on the kind of “careful, cautious, self-disciplined, tenacious, athletic body “Although the characteristics of Henry and Kirk are the same, the characters themselves have very different personalities and temperaments.
Henry more to highlight the calm, reflection, for today’s Shi Huang, to show this “sense of precipitation” is also suitable for some, but Xiao Ke body that kind of impetus, confusion, but completely need him to “play” out.
In the interpretation of Kirk, Ang Lee does not need Will Smith has too much “experience”, but the freshness of the fledgling – Shi Huang of course, can not really throw away years of experience, can only say that he masked, put in place very ideally, with their own acting skills! It’s only fair to say that he disguises and reins it in ideally, using his acting skills to ensure that the technique comes through.
Some viewers may ask: what’s the use of having a clear and smooth movie with advanced and unique technology, but a bad plot and a clichéd story?
I might as well ask: How long has it been since you were amazed by a movie’s plot? Do you find it harder and harder to find stories that are fresh and deep? Movies have been out for more than 100 years, and Ang Lee has said, “A lot of things have been acted out for more than 100 years, and in fact a lot of things have become ossified and standardized ……”
Over the years, there have been countless filmmakers expanding the breadth of the art of cinema (story, drama, acting, ideas, etc.), compared to far fewer expanding the heights (technique, effects, presentation, etc.) – not to mention that I don’t think the story of Gemini Man is bad, it’s just simpler, more traditional, and in today’s context appears to be “Retro”.
Cinema itself is a form of artistic expression that goes by technology, and any kind of pioneering, innovation and progress deserves to be saluted.
People of my generation have never experienced the historic moments of technological revolutions such as from silent to sound, from black and white to color, from 2D to 3D, and so on, which is why I treasure every opportunity of tiny progress. Films like Avatar, Gravity, Alita: Battle Angel, etc. always bring out some extra emotions in me, and this time for Gemini Man” is no exception.
Technology is art.
In this situation, I can’t help but think of a quote from Chapter Beihai in Three Bodies 2 – The Dark Forest:
“Genghis Khan’s cavalry, with an attack speed comparable to that of a twentieth-century armored unit; the bed crossbow of the Northern Song Dynasty, with a range of fifteen hundred meters, is about the same as a twentieth-century sniper rifle; but these are still nothing more than ancient cavalry and bows, and it is impossible for them to contend with the modern forces……. You, however, are blinded by the the low-level technology of the return of the light and blindfolded. You are lying in the hotbed of modern civilization, contentedly enjoying yourselves, and are completely unprepared mentally for the coming ultimate battle that will determine the fate of mankind.”
That’s a bit of an understatement – after all, a 120 fps movie isn’t exactly a disruptive, revolutionary breakthrough – but the spiritual concept of constantly pursuing the possibilities of the future is the same.
Maybe Ang Lee’s experimental work is not good enough, and maybe 60 fps and 120 fps movies will never become mainstream …… But I believe that one day the future will change, and history will leave the name of Ang Lee as a “pioneering explorer of cinema”.
A 65 year old director is still experimenting, but will the audience, many of whom are younger than him, get caught up in the “story” and start to conform?
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