Twin Dragons (1992)

AKA: Double Dragons; Brother vs. Brother; When Dragons Collide; Duel of Dragons

Director: Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam Ling-Tung

Producer: Teddy Robin Kwan

Cast: Jackie Chan (Sing Lung), Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk, Teddy Robin Kwan, Nina Li Chi, David Chiang (Keung Dai-Wai), Anthony Chan Yau, Alfred Cheung Kin-Ting, Wang Lung-Wei Cameo Appearance: Wu Ma, Eric Tsang Chi-Wai, Phillip Chan Yun-Kin, Lowell Lo Koon-Ting, Tsui Hark, Sylvia Chang, John Woo (Ng Yu-Sam), Liu Chia-Liang (Lau Ka-Leung), Ringo Lam Ling-Tung, Wong Jing, Chor Yuen, Jacob Cheung Chi-Leung, Ng See Yuen, Kirk Wong Chi-Keung

Running Time: 105 min.

Plot: Jackie plays twin brothers who were separated at birth; one raised by an upper middle-class family to become an accomplished concert pianist, and the other, raised by a working-class mother, who becomes an accomplished street fighter and works in an auto plant. The pianist can't fight or handle himself in Triad affairs, and the auto worker can't play a note, so naturally the meet up, as adults, and find themselves having to switch places and "wing it" in the others shoes.

NUMSKULL'S REVIEW: One thing you have to admit about Jackie Chan, whether you like him or not, is that he's not afraid to admit it when one of his movies is a disappointment. Besides the Lo Wei years (his own personal dark ages), he has gone on record and criticized several of the films in which he has starred, including Thunderbolt and Rush Hour ("Too much talk, not enough action." My God! Somebody else noticed!!!). Some people have accused him of playing favorites and crediting only those films directed by himself and sometimes Sammo Hung and Stanley Tong as his "best." Well, look at it this way: which double bill would you rather watch, Project A and Police Story or City Hunter and The Big Brawl?

I rest my case.

Twin Dragons...not one of Jackie's favorites and certainly not one of mine...is substandard but still moderately enjoyable Chan fare, with an ungodly amount of lame mistaken identity humor and a huge cast of characters (many played by HK cinema notables) who never stop to think that maybe, just MAYBE, there is somebody out there somewhere who looks like this guy they've been talking to or beating up or whatever...instead, they chalk up "his" tendency to seemingly travel from one side of a room to the other, change clothes, change hair style, and get "his" ear pierced all in the blink of an eye to "blurry vision."

The way the Jackies swap female companions reeks of American Saturday morning cartoon show. The "mannered" Jackie seems to have no qualms whatsoever about letting Maggie Cheung into his car and...well, uh, okay, I guess that's not a very good point. Still...lame.

Action is somewhat lacking here, but what's there is generally pretty good. The final battle in the vehicle testing facility brings back fond memories of the days when Jackie would fight a bunch of people at the end of one of his movies, rather than running amok in a monster truck or hovercraft or whatever. The beaten-to-death mistaken identity aspect rears its ugly head here, too, but doesn't detract too heavily from the ass-kicking.

All in all, a lesser latter-day Hong Kong effort from the esteemed Mr. Chan, but preferable to anything with Brett Ratner's name on it. To get a good sense of how annoying the obligatory twin humor can be, read this review twice.

NUMSKULL'S RATING: 6/10

SIFU'S REVIEW: Twin Dragons is the most funniest Jackie Chan movie so far. Jackie stars as twin brothers (Boomer and John Ma) who were separated at birth. One became a street punk who can fight, while the other is a composer who couldn't. They both have different personalities and characteristics so it is pretty easy to identify who's who. Since they are twins, not only do they have a mental bond to each other, they have a physical bond. For example, John Ma would be playing the piano and Boomer would start wiggling his fingers unconsciously. In my opinion, they could do without it but it adds to the humor. John Ma's girlfriend is the beautiful Nina Li Chi (the bathtub scene was hilarious) and Boomer is accompanied by another beautiful actress, Maggie Cheung . My favorite scene of the movie and probably the most corniest was when Barbara (Maggie Cheung) imagine she was singing to an audience. Of course what would a Jackie Chan film be without the action. There aren't that much action at the beginning of the movie, but wait until the end to see the action. This movie has cameos of some of Hong Kong's finest: Lau Kar Leung, Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark, and John Woo. Even the bad guy from Police Story was there.

SIFU'S RATING: 10/10 (Did anyone notice that the music sounded like the James Bond theme?)

RO'S REVIEW: Jackie plays twins, separated at birth. One is a mechanic (Boomer), who can fight; and the other is a world class conductor (John), who can't. Some gang boss wants Boomer to participate in a car race and of course they keep trying to kidnap the wrong guy. The twins wander around Hong Kong for a while before they discover each other. The plot's pretty silly and some of the mixed identity stuff drags on too long, but most of it's funny and on the whole, the movie's still a lot of fun.

The scene at the end in the car testing facility is wonderful! We all know that Jackie never gets in a car normally, but in this scene he shoots out of the window and kicks somebody in mid air! Wow!! Jackie overdoes the low- class Boomer, but he gets to show off his acting muscles in playing the laid back, sophisticated John perfectly! Who says he just 'mugs for the camera'? Another plus - this film includes the best love scene in a Jackie Chan movie (that I've seen so far) - the incredibly sweet kiss shared by John and Barbara at the piano. One negative, Jackie doesn't dub his own voice and the one they used is perfectly awful!

RO'S RATING: 6.5/10

MASTER OF THE STICK'S REVIEW: I'd heard good things about this movie, so I was pretty excited to find it on the bargain shelf at my local Borders bookstore. However, when I got home to watch it, I found that I had been duped! "Original Subtitles," my ass! The sound also faded in and out, and the screen was filled with lines of white snow - the tracking did nothing. It's a damn shame buying Jackie Chan films is such a gamble. Anyway, before I went back to Borders and gave the clerks hell, I figured I'd watch the whole thing. (After all, a poorly dubbed, muffled sounding, extremely fuzzy Jackie Chan movie is still a Jackie Chan movie.) Well, it was worth watching, but I'm not about to go buy another copy. The fight scenes were cool, though few and far between, and there were some decent action sequences. Unfortunately, the weird attempts at humour just weren't very funny, and the whole twin thing was stupid. It's a pretty unoriginal concept, and it wasn't done very well in my opinion. Maybe it's the the fact that I got gypped, but I really didn't like this movie very much. Master of the Stick's Rating: 5/10 (7/10 if you've got a good copy)

MASTER OF THE STICK'S REVIEW: 5/10 (7/10 if you've got a good copy)

HENDRI LIATO'S REVIEW: I saw this on a badly recorded tape (Edde Entertainment) recently. TWIN DRAGONS is a surprisingly enjoyable Jackie Chan's vehicle. This is supposedly about Jackie's real life identty crisis, a subject he returns to in the not-so-bad but still underwhelming WHO AM I? But here he throws away all pretense and makes a wild and often silly (there are some surrealistic and cartoonish slapstick here) comedy directed by two big names in Hong Kong cinema, Tsui Hark (ZU, ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA series) and Ringo Lam (CITY ON FIRE). There are two sides of Chan you can see here. One is a rougish, womanising, physical guy; the other is a cultured, poised, sweet rich boy who is also a well-known pianist. I like the former, it's rare to see Jackie play a bad-ass jerk with no socially redeeming value whatsoever. And I bet he relished the experience ("Aaah, the hell with the Japanese fans!"). Anyway, the plot is quite perfunctory and only serves to provide for some nice Marx Brothers style comedy. Maggie Cheung and Nina LiCi are added bonus as the two girls who are attracted to the respective Jackie's personalities. I haven't seen Cheung in as radiant in a JC movie as she is here although the role is kinda beneath her. Nina LiChi, in the bombshell role, is game for some bathroom jokes. There are three major setpieces and the midsection's boat chase (this is great never-seen-before boat stunts) is reminiscent of the one in John Woo's FACE/OFF (check out three identical camera setups in these 2 movies) and the climactic brawl inside a vehicle testing site (similar lighting and setting as Woo's HARD BOILED and TWIN DRAGONS was released earlier --hmmm...) is another spectacular winner! Chan's impossibly fluid movements and intricate choreography are quite a sight. Watch him slide into a car's side window, open the door, and delievrs a high kick. Watch him flip backwards to a wall as a speeding car crashes into it. Watch him roll beneath a propped car as the baddies release the lever. Give the man a hand!

HENDRI LIATO'S REVIEW: 8/10

MARCIA'S REVIEW: OK, it's stupid, but you had to know that just by looking at the title and the cover art. You also had to know there were going to be the obligatory mistaken identity gags. Even the twin-A-does-and-twin-B-feels schtik is predictable, and though usually annoying, makes for a good lewd comment when the two first meet up in the hotel bathroom.

Actually, I'm surprised that the Boomer character flew at all with Jackie's audience (OK, it was the fighting that saved him), considering his ultra nice guy reputation. Maybe the smokin', drinkin', womanizin' Jackie was acceptable in context because there was the contrasting "every woman's dream guy" (so the producers hope) Jackie as well. Whatever the reason, I thought it was kind of a nice change of pace and allowed Jackie to showcase two very different sides of his public appeal (great fighter, "sweet" guy). Don't go watch this if you're looking for something even remotely serious; unless you go in expecting it to be one bad cliche after another, you'll be disappointed. Otherwise, it's surprisingly good.

MARCIA'S RATING: 7/10

SHAZBOT!'S REVIEW: The film opens up with good action and a serious tone and deviates into slapstick, almost farcical. It might be less annoying subtitled. The best element of the film is the running gag (which doubles as the plot) of mistaken identity with girls, friends and enemies. The best bit is in the apartment bathroom (The Marx brothers would've been proud). The movie ends with the greatly underrated battle in the auto plant, which is also a great comedy bit. JC plays his most arrogant and confident character here. He looks like he enjoyed it. The effects are decent, and not nearly as bad as JC pans them. It don't look fake- as least not on grainy EP VHS.

SHAZBOT!'S RATING: 7/10

EZWALK'S REVIEW: This movie was about half as good as it should have been. It could have had 2 Jackies running around beating up gangsters. Instead they made half the movie about the 2 of them having identity crisis situations. Some of them were funny, but most of them very stupid. But the end fight and some others made up for the lame scenes. The fights were pretty impressive too. That whole thing about one doing something and the other did it was pretty annoying. It was cheap attempts at humor that almost none of which worked. In closing - a lame movie with good fights.

EZWALK'S RATING: 6.5/10

BS'S REVIEW: Best 5 bucks ever spent. The cover sure deceived me though. "Original subtitles," yeah right. Anyway, I've already seen it, hoping for those beloved subtitles, and I cried. Well, almost. The humor was really funny, yet pretty dumb. It wasn't intelligent, but more like endearing, like Chan himself. So I just fast forwarded to the auto-testing scene. I never rewind too far. I just watch the auto scene over and over, and over. The beginning of it had a nice panoramic shot of the whole place, and introduced the scene well. It was so pretentious, but that's what I want to see. Showing off and doing all those impossilbe and over-dramatic fighting. It definitly satisfied, with such amazing maneuvers and dexterity. So I'll keep it at that. The rest of the movie was decent, but I'm just too impatient to wait for the last scene. And like us all, the twin feeling the other twin just made me GROAN...

BS'S RATING: 6/10 (fight scene alone 10/10)

DJNIXON'S REVIEW: Good JC film, not very much fighting though. It was funny how Jackie (both of them) got all mixed up and ended up getting the wrong girlfriend. I don't have much to say about this movie because it didn't suck but it wasn't sweet, ok JC film but only watch it if you like his films.

DJNIXON'S RATING: 8/10

JAMES' REVIEW: I was at Wal-Mart recently. While there, I happened on a big bin of movies on sale for $4.88. So the curious fellow I am, I looked through. To my surprise I found "Twin Dragons." Hot damn, I thought. So I quickly bought it and I was on my way. (Note: other titles in the bin were "Fearless Hyena" and "Fantasy Mission Force.") I must say there was some sort of hype to this movie, at least in my mind anyway. Having two of the biggest names in the Hong Kong film industry (Tsui Hark & Ringo Lam) directing this movie meant it was big. Despite the half-assed dubbing, I was very impressed. Jackie's acting was great, doing double time as twins. Let's also not forget Maggie Cheung putting in a great performance and looking as sexy as ever.

It has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster: action, comedy and romance. The mix of action and comedy was perfect, almost too perfect. Near the end of the film, it was as if they were laying it on a little too much. Generally, the scenes with two Jackies were hilarious as were the scenes of mistaken identity. The action is top notch: boat chases, car chases, shoot outs, and plenty of fist fights. This one's got it all. The fight at the Mitsubishi car testing area was flat out amazing. The choreography was very good as well.

Before I mentioned that there was some romance in the film. It's something that usually isn't in a Jackie film, and in this one it worked quite well. The scene with Jackie (as John) and Maggie at the piano was one of the best in the movie. "Twin Dragons" is a great piece of Jackie that everyone should see it's plenty of fun for the whole family. For $4.88, something has to be too good to be true, and to my dismay, there were no outtakes during the credits.

Note: My copy is the full 100-minute version, distributed by Front Row Entertainment. Check your local Wal-Mart now for more Jackie!

JAMES' RATING: 8/10

DEAD CHANNEL'S REVIEW: I dug this movie a lot! First of all, Maggie Cheung is in it, and then you have 2 Jackie Chans! What more can you ask for? Hah. Well, it's not one of the "greatest" by far, due to lack of dope arse fight scenes, but it has it's moments. The comedy can be a little bit overdone, especially in the fight scene in the heat-room where the "good" brother runs around the car and runs into a bad guy, and they both scream: ABOUT 50 TIMES IN A ROW. Jesus Christ the Narc (Wassup, Slug!) that was a bit out of order. Anyway, there really is a dope fight scene in the car garage towards the end. Plus another real cute asian girl in the movie. Blah. This movie isn't for everyone, but I like it so fork off if ya don't! Well, not really. Um...sorry! Plus a nice boat chase scene.

DEAD CHANNEL'S RATING: 8/10 (I still haven't seen the whole movie from beginning to end hahah!)

TIGERLILY'S REVIEW: This movie has the same feel as Operation Condor. It has insane chase scenes, wacky fighting, with plenty of wild and silly fun. This is just the mixture that I love! A good silly scene: When Boomer is stuck conducting a symphony, he doesn't have any clue how to, so he improvises. A good fight scene: Near the end (where else) where Boomer utilizes a vacuum hose, skitters across a car, and plays "the slower hands gets a bong on the noggin'"game with some tools. Jackie, if you're reading, please make more fun movies like this!

TIGERLILY'S RATING: 10/10

ALOHO'S REVIEW: AI have not seen a new Jackie Chan movie for months and so I was really excited when I got this movie. I only got it for four bucks! So if you divide it evenly, thats two bucks a Chan. The comedy in this film was good. Not really any brilliant comedic scenes, but overall funny. Most of the gags about the twins have been done before like in those dumb Olsen twin movies or Multiplicity. But other things were funny too. People say there are only two fights, but there are three actually. The first one had sloppy kicks and punches, bu a great use of props. Jackie starts with a microphone, that was kinda funny. Then he moves onto chairs and other things like that.

There was a fight in a mall type place. The thing wrong with this fight is that Chan just dodges, dodges, dodges. These two fights aren't that memorable really. Somewhat like that fights in Crime Story. The scene in the Mitsubishi test car lab was the goodness of the film. Jackie not only fights but he is weaving and sliding through obstacles and stuff like that.

Those mini - stunts - that - no - one - notices - because - JC - is - doing - them - but - I - bet - you - can't - d o - anything - like - that sort of stuff happens through out the whole thing. Remember Jackie sliding through the ladder in First Strike? That could be ripped off from a scene in the finale where Chan slides through a side window. Then the great stunt I havebeen urging to talk about. Jackie Chan runs over the top of a moving car with such perfection. I liked it because it is out of the ordinary. Usually he is doing some sort of stunt where he gets from one place to another very quickly (in other words, all those famous jumps and falls of his). After that, he avoids being squished between a speeding car and a wall, like in Police Story II. Another topic bugs me.

There is NO possible way in the history and existence in mankind that one twin can throw a punch, and the other twin will. Also feeling the movements of someone on a boat when in a restaurant, it was a little funny, but give me a break. Finally, I would like to mention the beginning how the twins got separated. Would that baby survive. Yeah, the one thrown out a building, rolled down a hill, and jerked around for a couple of minutes, I think not. Anyways, this is the funniest film JC has ever made, yes, even funnier than Wheels. I am only taking a point off because of that dumb twin-imitating-the-other-twins-action crap.

ALOHO'S RATING: 9/10

CLINT'S REVIEW: This movie ranks # 7 on my all time JC movie list. This is the funniest JC movie around. Sure it has that stupid twin confusion plot that has been done over and over, but this movie just explodes with humor. Not to mention the two great fight scenes that it has. The beginning fight where JC and the annoying Teddy Robin rescue the beautiful Maggie Cheung was good, not great, but opposed to being bad, I'd say it is good. And the car test plant fight, which probably everyone who has reviewed this film has already mentioned. But I don't believe anyone mentioned that JC jumps into a car window so effortlessly, then he runs across a moving car while it is driving in the opposite direction. All I ask is that you ignore the stupid parts where one JC can feel what the other is doing. I hated that. With that being said, watch this film and enjoy it.

CLINT'S RATING: 10/10

CARLOS MARTINEZ'S REVIEW: Since you haven't been able to find this one - I just thought that I would let you know - the movie is entertaining - it is very similar to the Jean Claude Van Damme movie where he plays the part of twins. Jackie does a funnier job playing the part of twins - one a bodyguard for a small time hood and the other an orchestra conductor. The final fight scene is also done in typical Chan acrobatic style - while of course maintaining the humor he is so well known for.

CARLOS MARTINEZ'S RATING: 7/10

THE GREAT HENDU'S REVIEW: Country mouse goes to the city and city mouse goes to the country. I knew when I bought this film that I was in for a cliche and I wasn't wrong. Regardless of the obvious overkill storyline, I actually liked this movie. It's probably more of a dramatic comedy than anything else, but Jacklie showed some good acting ability in a more serious role. I laughed quite a bit during the movie, (I always love Jackie's slapstick humor), and surprisingly, the ending included an excellent fight scene. I think if there had been more action and less drama the film would have been a greater success.

THE GREAT HENDU'S RATING: 7.3/10

SEAN JOHNSON'S REVIEW: Chan plays two parts in this slapstick comedy about twin brothers seperated at birth. One is a Hong Kong mechanic (Boomer), the other is a world famous conductor from NY (John Ma). Things get wild when the two meet up with each other in Hong Kong while Boomer's having trouble with the cops, and John just wants to give a concert. Once the two find each other things get crazy and slapstick prevails. The comedy is funny to an extent, then grows tiresome. However, because of the excellent hard pounding action scene at the Mitsubishi Testing Factory (with cars racing at Jackie) the video is worth buying for about ten bucks.

SEAN JOHNSON'S RATING: 6.5/10

ANDREW'S REVIEW: This film is Jackie's take on the "Double Impact" premise that Van Damme did. Four words: Jackie did it better. There's a few good fights early on, and an awesome sequence at the end that puts the "Rumble in the Bronx" gang fight to shame. The action drags in the middle, but the confused relationships between the two Jackie Chans and their girlfriends keeps the story moving. The one problem I had with this film was with the three stooge-esqe moments thrown in gratuitously immediately after the boat chase scene. This one is a must see for anyone who enjoyed Rumble or First Strike.

ANDREW'S RATING: 7/10

DARRYN GOBLE'S REVIEW: Two Jackie Chans means twice the fun. This is very much a fun movie with the full range of J C humor. The movie opens with the separation of twins. They grow up, one a street smart the other a well-groomed orchestral conductor. This leads to all manner of confusion and hilarity as the brothers cross paths, swapping their problems (and girlfriends!) and getting into situations neither twin would expect. The street smart brothers seriously acrobatic conducting is a stand out! Not to worry, there is still a heap of trademark action. Jetboats, buses, nightclubs and a car testing facility get the full treatment. The action is trademark J C, slick moves with lots of acrobatics and buffoonery, and some pretty amazing car stunts. J C isn't driving the cars, they are being driven at and dropped on him! This movie is fun, and has something for all fans, and comes highly recommended.

DARRYN GOBLE'S RATING: 9/10

YUMMYSPAM'S REVIEW: Apparently Jackie made this film to help out the Hong Kong Filmaker's guild or something like that. How else can you explain Jackie Chan doing his take on . . . The Parent Trap? Jackie Plays two twins separated at birth, one can fight, one can't . . . . . . . Cliches and stereotypes are obvious everywhere, the only thing keeping me from flat-out Zero stars are some pretty good fights that pop-up occasionally. But more often then not, this movie will give you a very bored, tired feeling. That's not what Jackie Movies are about. Jackie movies are about watching cool people beat-up cool bad guys beyond humanly possible. Stay away from this movie unless desperate.

YUMMYSPAM'S RATING: 1.5/4

DANIEL'S REVIEW: It's an OK movie because it doens't have too much action in the first part but it gets real good at the car test lab. Let's just say i'd rather watch Rumble over this movie.

DANIEL'S RATING: 7/10

DUSTY'S REVIEW: Been there, done that. How many movies have been made about identical twins? I've seen at least 3 others. Yes, this movie is quite the cliche. The city street-smart boy and the prissy piano boy. They switch places and what happens is the usual. However, this IS Jackie Chan, and what he does to this otherwise bland story is pretty cool. He throws in action by land and water, and some good humor. However, there was just way too many problems with the girls and the secret of them switching spots. They drug that little sub-plot out FOREVER. Jackie makes this movie about as good as possible, and I give rating points for effort.

DUSTY'S RATING: 7/10

VICTOR NGUYEN'S REVIEW: Twin Dragons is basically a Hong Kong version of Double Impact, only 50 times better! Jackie Chan takes the roles of twin brothers seperated at birth, John Ma and Boomer. John Ma is a successful pianist from New York and Boomer is a trouble making car mechanic from Hong Kong. When John goes on tour in Hong Kong,everything goes wrong. They run into each other and because of confusion, each lives the different lifestyles that the other one has. Caught in the mess are both of their girlfriends. There are some great action sequences, but the one that stands out from the rest is the final fight scene in a Mitsubishi car testing facility. This movie was made to raise funds for the Hong Kong Directors Guild. Recommended.

VICTOR NGUYEN'S RATING: 8/10

DAN-O'S REVIEW: Liked the Mitsubishi Test Lab scene, loathed the 'Three Stooges' type schtick, LOVED the bimbo in the bubblebath! This goofball of a movie, though annoying, some might say painful, at times, is SO much more engaging than any 4 or 5 Jean Clod Van Douchebag's quote-unquote "movies". As for the characters, why the hell didn't Boomer (Jackie) just step on that little punk bastard Tyson? I would have punted that munchkin like a Wilson football. How does one befriend a wanker like that?

DAN-O'S RATING: ONE THUMB UP (GUESS WHERE THE OTHER ONE IS!!)

ADAM'S REVIEW: Two brothers are seperated at birth, and grow up in totally different atmospheres. One is an auto mechanic, and the other is a conductor of an orchestra. Many years later, they meet up, and often switch places. The movie was pretty good. It had some ok humor, but it got repetative after a while. The best part was for sure the fights. There are two, each pretty long. The first is decent, but something didn't seem right. The second one, however, was pure gold. It was fairly long, and was what people usually expect from Jackie Chan. Overall, a good movie.

ADAM'S RATING: 7/10