Rating: 

The Info

Directed by: Ringo Lam, Hark Tsui
Written by: Barry Wong, Hark Tsui, Cheung Tung Jo, Yik Wong
Starring: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Nina Li Chi
Produced by: Teddy Robin Kwan

The Nutshell

Twin brothers separated at birth discover each other in Hong Kong.

The Review

    Whenever any actor makes it big in North America, a plethora of cheaply made, never released films from their past usually arrive at your local video store as quickly as possible. Felicity's Keri Russell is a perfect example. Two films that she made way before becoming one of television's most popular actresses, Eight Days A Week and The Curve have recently arrived in rental outlets across America. The films are poorly made and critically laughable, and likely would never have even made it to Blockbuster if it weren't for her recognizable face.

    Jackie Chan has been a popular martial arts film star in Japan for years, but only crossed over into the North American market recently with the hit Rush Hour. Thanks to that film's popularity, several of his earlier works, such as Supercop, have been dubbed and released in North America. Unfortunately, where most Chan films are enjoyable distractions, and Rush Hour was genuinely hilarious in places, Twin Dragons, or Shuang Long Hui as it was originally titled, is a bore. It contains fewer action sequences than Chan fans are used to seeing, and those few fight scenes it does contain are dull and forced. I can remember watching Rumble In The Bronx and being amazed at this man's versatility and fluidity. Watching Twin Dragons, I had to fight to stay awake.

    It doesn't help that the story is pathetic as well. Let's face it, the tale of twin brothers separated at birth has been done to death. This story's popularity is due to the fun of playing two different characters back to back. Chan plays two twin brothers who were violently separated at birth; one is a rough martial arts master trying to stay away from a group of inept bad guys, while the other is a master pianist scheduled to conduct an orchestra in Hong Kong (why this master pianist is conducting is never explained). The brothers meet, wind up with each other's girlfriends, and unintentionally get each other into various forms of trouble. By the end, one brother will kick every bad guy's ass, while the other will have found his brother. Yawn.

    Only absolute die-hard fans of Jackie Chan will enjoy this film; the vast majority of us will find this film to be a complete waste of time and money, and I strongly urge you to avoid it.

Copyright - Tim Chandler

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