Will Smith films are hit and miss, and this movie was pretty derivative. (I swear I remember this title from Sci Fi in my youth). But I wanted to see HFR (High Frame Rate) escapism, and there was a big reviewer/viewer spread (26/84) that's usually a sign that it'll be interesting/good, so we went and saw it. I was on the viewers side, it was pretty good.
The basics are in the teasers, retiring hit man Will Smith has to fight young cloned Will Smith who has been sent to kill him. It was all kinda of predictable, but while the reviewers bitched that the High Frame Rate made it look like a soap opera, and that it was all about the tech and not the plot. But while it wasn't deep, the plot was quite reasonable and believable, most of the way through. I liked it better than the Borne Identity or most of the Mission Impossible's... which might not be a high bar on plot, but the point is for an action film, it wasn't bad. And the HFR looked hyper-realistic sharp with 3D. My wife doesn't like 3D because it gives her a headache or makes her dizzy (this is more common with Women than Men), but the HFR seemed to ameliorate 3D for her and she liked it. So not we can do 3D films, as long as they are HFR.
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| Almost more interesting to me was the teasers. Because Will Smith is sort of black, even though this was in a snooty part of town, the teasers were all "Black Films". There was "Black and Blue, Nigerian Prince, American Son, Queen and Slim... they seemed to have this bad cops, bad system (America Bad), Blacks are noble victims thing going for them. It's like Hollywood think the way to appeal to blacks is to contribute to racial divisions, and replay the same fictionalized story in 43 different ways.
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Reviewers panned it 26%, while viewers gave it a strong 84%, a 58 point spread. Reviewers usually reserve that kind of hate for something with good morals, something that triggers snowflakes, or the movie didn't play a conservative as the villain -- this didn't really have any of that. The 117 minutes went by quickly and I left feeling that while it wasn't great, it was definitely one of the better films in what wasn't an impressive year.
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Conclusion
You're not going to leave thinking this was the movie of the year or in contention for an Oscar or anything, but it was watchable action, somewhat interesting, Will Smith and the other characters were interesting (if a little shallow). Some of the fight scenes were extremely interesting choreography, and the action/effects were nice but didn't really get in the way of the film, like in a Michael Bay film or anything. I left feeling I got my money's worth, and I'd paid extra for 3D and HFR -- and it was a visually interesting experience.
