One of a million films Jackie Chan released in Hong Kong in the eighties and early nineties, The Twin Dragons stands out from his normal fare due to its bizarre premise (copied it appears from Jean Claude Van Damme's dire Double Impact), special effects and emphasis more on the comedy and dialogue than on action. In all Chan films it's possible to remember a truly stand out fight scene (the massage parlour scrap in Rush Hour 2 for instance) but in this it's hard to remember any at all.
The special effects are almost unheard of in Hong Kong cinema, and are necessary due to the need for two Chan's to appear onscreen at once. While you can see many basic flaws in the CGI, the two Chan's often overlap and there is a clear border surrounding the cut-out-and-pasted Chan, the film is nearly 10 years old and the technology only in its infancy at that stage. It's not just used once either, in fact stand-in lookalikes, the staple of less-monied TV series, are barely used as every chance to show the two brothers onscreen at once is employed. Clearly directors Lam and Tsui wanted to make a film which, if not much different from the hundreds of other Hong Kung-fu, at least had something that audiences would go away remembering.
The film centres on two twin brothers, seperated at birth by a criminal event at the Hong Kong hospital where American parents Mr and Mrs Ma were recovering. The one who remains with his parents goes on to a good education and becomes a world famous conductor. The one lost from the hospital is found by a drunken hooker and taken under her wing, becoming a mechanic more used to fighting than conducting. Their lives couldn't be any more different but as the opening scenes show, there's some connection between them that cannot be broken.
The bad guys take the form of a powerful criminal gang who Boomer, the lost brother, and his best friend Tyson (the incredibly annoying Teddy Robin Kwan) piss right off after crashing their karaoke and beating the crap out of half of them. Let off for some reason they survive another day but once again find themselves in trouble. The film at this point loses the plot a little but as soon as the other brother, John Ma, arrives in Hong Kong and gets mixed up with Boomer it gets right back on track.
As per usual it's an excuse to stage elaborate, but hardly original, fight scenes enlivened only by the fact that Ma cannot fight. Given an excuse to use comedy instead of fisticuffs for once Chan is superb and the film is far funnier than your average chopsocky movie. I'd be tempted to call it a comedy first and foremost but then that's not really why you watch these sort of movies is it? Maggie Cheung (she of Police Story and In the Mood For Love fame) and Nina Li Chi (Jet Li's wife and uber-babe) add much needed glamour and for once aren't asked to fall down stairs, get beaten up or get pushed off a motorbike. My over-riding memory of the film though is co-director Hark Tsui's cameo as a card playing security guard. As all hell breaks loose around the gambling table all the competitors steadfastly keep looking at each others cards, it's a moment of comic genius and Tsui's face is a picture of innocence all the way through. Hilarious. |
