Twin Dragons (1992)

Movie Info

It is hard being Jackie

John Ma (Jackie Chan) and Boomer (also Jackie Chan) are twins accidentally separated at birth.  Raised in America, John Ma becomes a classic pianist and famed conductor while Boomer becomes a conman in the slums of Hong Kong.  When Boomer and John discover each other’s existence on a trip to Hong Kong by John, they find themselves caught up in each other’s lives.  When Boomer’s friend is kidnapped by gangster, Boomer and John must team-up to rescue him…and the con is on!

Directed by Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark, Twin Dragons was originally called 雙龍會 or Shuang long hui or Brother vs. Brother when released.  Retitled, the movie received US release in 1999.  It has been collected in multiple collection packs.

Jackie Chan’s about to get a little kinky

Twin Dragons is a typical Jackie Chan movie.  The film is a mix of Jackie Chan’s signature action, humor, and martial arts.  With the “two Jackie Chan” theme it does feel like a bit of a throwback to the classic ‘60s and ‘70s comedies of hijinks.  It’s The Parent Trap…with martial arts!

The story is pretty ridiculous, but it is intentional.  You can’t take a movie seriously when it has a baby taken, falling out a window, and being found by a lady in a park in the opening sequence.  It is forced, but since it is knowingly forced, you can kind of ride with it.  The problem with Twin Dragons is that the main story isn’t as original as this goofy opening.  It instead had both Jackie Chan’s controlling the other one…and one Jackie Chan who doesn’t know any form of martial arts.  If it had been more of a fighting team-up film it might have been more fun.

Things are about to heat up!

Jackie Chan (like in all of his films) is the star and the driving force of the movie.  The supporting cast is almost incidental.  Here Jackie Chan chews up more scenery by playing two roles, but he doesn’t do much to make the characters different enough.  Now, he just needs to do a movie where he plays all the roles.

The visuals are, as you expect, pretty poor for a movie like this.  Despite being made in 1992 most of the effects are classical side-by-side split screen and over the shoulder face-to-face conversations with a stand-in.  There are a few special effects shots but even those are pretty weak (and you could even see some of the digitized effect).

Twin Dragons is one of those “you get what you expect” type of movies.  You know you are going to get a Jackie Chan movie, you know it is going to be short, fast, and fun.  The movie is really little more than that.  If you like Jackie Chan, you probably will like it, but if you don’t like Jackie Chan, it is rather harmless (and pointless) action.

[easyazon-block align=”center” asin=”B004TP55XY” locale=”us”]