 |
| DOUBLE LACKING |
Well,
well, well we meet again. I take it that two Jean-Claude Van Dammes wasn’t too
much for you. After all he does happen to speak with an accent…if you haven’t
noticed. This can be confusing for some… apparently. All aboard the Action
Movie Time Machine!
The year
is 1992. Yeah, we’re back in the early 90s… again. Not much has changed since
that last time we visited. TWA declares bankruptcy. Mike Tyson plays his own
game of Punch-Out with a woman he is convicted of raping, and there were plenty
of toy related movies to watch. Ironically enough, both “Toys” starring Robin
Williams is released as well as the direct to video “Demonic Toys”, for those
of you who thought “Toys“ wasn‘t creepy enough. All this and Jackie Chan
discovers that he has a long lost twin brother in “Twin Dragons“.
THE
SKINNY
The film
begins in black and white during the mid-60s. A woman has just given birth to a
pair of beautiful baby boys. Meanwhile, police are wheeling in a wounded man
who made an attempt to escape capture. However, this man still has some fight
left in him. He regains consciousness, swipes a cops gun and starts to shoot
his way out of the hospital. He is cut off from the exit and makes his way to
the very same room the mother is in with her sons. Using one of the boys as a
human shield, he leaps through a window and makes his escape. The human shield
is soon discarded and later discovered by a drunken slut.
Now
modern day, we learn that one brother, John, has been raised by his loving
parents and at a young age became a piano prodigy. As an adult John is a world
renowned conductor. On the other side of the coin we have Boomer, who
practically raised himself and is now a hard fucking, shit talking stock car
racer/mechanic.
This
story gets interesting when we see John travel to Hong Kong for a piano
concert, and during this concert, Boomer, who happens to be repairing a car,
suddenly can’t control the movements of his fingers. The twins are somehow
psychically connected when they are near each other.
Soon we
see Boomer and his friend Tyson, another racer, making their escape. As it
turns out the duo owe a local mob boss a considerable amount of money. Boomer
and Tyson hustled them into a race, thinking they could win…they didn’t. Now
the mob wants them to pay up.
A boat
chase ensues that lands Tyson in a body cast. The hospital Tyson is staying in
happens to pay protection money to the mob, so for the time being he belongs to
the mob and is their prisoner. To guarantee Tyson’s safety, Boomer gets roped
into taking care of the mob’s dirty work. Driving mostly. In fact there is a
plot to sprint another, higher ranking mob boss.
This gets
complicated when John arrives in Hong Kong to conduct a concert. Soon the two
are thrust into a constantly evolving case of mistaken identity that involves
the mob, an angry Iron Maiden fan, kung-fu conducting and the love interests of
both men which results in fast paced slapstick fight scenes. At one point, both
brothers share a bath with one of the women -- one brother pretending to be a
mirror so they don’t get found out like it was some sort of Marx Brothers gag.
As far as
their love interests are concerned, each brother has a female acquaintance who
the other brother falls for. This is an obvious set up for hijinx that will
later result in some sticky situations, a romantic ending and even an
opportunity for them to be taken hostage. The later never happens. I guess the
mob figures that Tyson is good enough.
Anyhow,
once John and Boomer have understood that they are twins, they decide that they
are in this together and hatch a plan to rescue Tyson.
The
brothers head to the mob’s hideout near the docks. The next twenty minutes of
the film are one big fight sequence that moves form the docks and into a
Mitsubishi car factory. First the showroom, then the crash test area and later
the assembly line.
For a
brief time Boomer is trapped in some sort of cage and John, a man who know
music not fighting, must defend himself. With his wonder twin powers, Boomer
throws punches and kicks that force John’s arms and legs to move. Boomer
controls his brother this way. Lol He moves him like a puppet and ends up
saving his life.
The
brothers rescue Tyson and send the mob boss, Boss Wind, rocketing into a wall
inside one of the crash test cars.
The film
ends with the two brothers marrying their women in a twin wedding. I told you
there would be romance in the end.
THE
VERDICT
Much like
“Double Impact“, this action film stands out from others
because it features twin brothers. Unlike “Double Impact”, this film features
the fast paced and often humorous fight choreography that is often found in
Jackie Chan films. “Twin Dragons” also tries to build upon the supposed
supernatural connection that twins are said to possess. If you hadn’t thought
of it yet yourself, “Twin Dragons” has a lot like in common with Cheech &
Chong’s “Corsican Brothers”. Of course in that film each brother feels the
physical pain of the other and in this film the brother’s physical movements
are caused by the other when they are in close quarters.
While the
action in this film is pretty good, my only complaints focus on the plot and
how it unfolds. I feel that too much of the film focuses on the humorous hijinx
the brothers experience during their travels, which is entertaining, but this
makes the story seem watered down and even vacant in parts. The mob boss doesn’t
even have a clear criminal plot. They have Tyson as a hostage and that’s about
it. I wish there was a plot mechanism that forced both brothers to work
together to fight the mob. Instead they decide to work together because… they
look alike? Maybe because they are together each time the mob assigns them to
the next task, i.e. deliver a brief case, drive a getaway car, ect…
The thing
that’s strange about this “separated at birth” story is that the two brothers
never discover that they are brothers. Not until the very end anyhow. This
whole movie they think it’s strange that
they are doppelgangers and even say that they would make good brothers.
I think
some of this poor story telling has to do with the English dub. While it sounds
good and doesn’t come off as odd as many dubs do. I feel like something has
been lost in translation. The character names for instance are John, Boomer and
Tyson, but according to IMDB the original names were Ma Yau, Die Hard and
Tarzan. Weird and wild stuff.
In the
end “Twin Dragons” isn’t the best twin related action movie. It isn’t even that
great of a regular action movie as it feels more like a comedy. But it will
hold your attention and might be worth checking out if you are a fan of Jackie
Chan.
I’m Cory
Carr and this concludes our ride on the “Action Movie Time Machine”. Until next
time, Semper Fi!
For more
from Cory, check out his website slaughterfilm.com, where
he and his good friend Forest Taylor record weekly podcasts, reviewing the
films that are legendary, even in Hell!
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