TWIN DRAGONS

Dir.: Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark

Cast: Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung, Nina Li Chi, Teddy Robin Kwan, David Chiang

Year: 1992


I hate Jackie Chan.

Just thought I would throw my penny in since I have a serious discomfort with the guy. Sorry. Deal with it. Anyways, besides that Jet's wife is in this movie so we can give somewhat of a honest review of this film.

It's the Comedy of Errors Hong Kong style as Jackie Chump does his take on Van Damme's Double Impact. Chump plays both Boomer and John Ma, twins seprarated at birth. The former is a streetwise HK race car driver, the latter a classical pianist and conductor. Boomer is in trouble with Boss Wing's triad. If he doesn't do them a favor they'll off his diminuitive friend Tyson. John has returned to Hong Kong for the first time to conduct a symphony. Can you see where this one is going? At first they aren't aware each other even exist, which causes no end of confusion, especially amongst prospective girlfriends Barbara (Maggie Cheung) and Tammy (Jet's wife, Nina Li Chi). Even after they find out the truth things don't get any better. In a somwhat funny scene Boomer ends up having to conduct the symphony while John gets stuck driving in a plan to spring Boss Wing's boss from police custody. The two finally manage to get it together and go to deal with the bad guys in typical Chan-esque fashion, this time in a non- spectacular battle in a car testing plant.

As you might expect, Chan sucks and that's it. Ok, for real, Twin Dragons is full of mistaken identity gags of every stripe. What's more, this film also drags out the "Corsican Brothers" cliche, where John feels what Boomer experiences and vice versa. What might surprise you is that it's actually funny, sometimes. Sure, it's Jackie Chan, but we've seen this a hundred times before. Nevertheless Chan pulls it off with the humor and style we've come to expect, not to mention the fight scenes and yes, his incredible stunts. Even the split screen is pulled off well enough that you forget (almost) that it's only one man playing two parts. You can find this everywhere and I found my copy for only 7 bucks at blockbuster. That is how much it is worth to me too but not being biast here I will say that if you are the Jackie Chan fan then you won't be disappionted. I rated it 6 stars out of 10.

I still hate Jackie Chump.

Email: aziantre@aol.com