Twin Dragons

April 17, 1999

Cheech and Chong did it better.

Another rehash of the Corsican Brothers, Twin Dragons has Jackie Chan playing twins separated at birth. The one who stays with the biological parents becomes a famous concert pianist and conductor, while the lost twin is raised by the alcoholic partygirl who found him. They meet when the conductor comes to China to conduct something. All of a sudden, they begin to feel what the other one is doing. It sounds better writing it than actually seeing it.

Don’t get me wrong – I love Jackie Chan. I even liked Operation Condor, which most people thought sucked. My boyfriend, the Kung Fu Master, said that Twin Dragons made Double Impact (similar twin film with the always effervescent Jean Claude Damme) look good in comparison. I think that something must have gotten lost in the translation – maybe a subtitled version would have made more sense. Maybe if I knew chinese, it would make more sense. Twin Dragons was lacking in plot, lacking in fight scenes (there were only four) and definitely lacking in special effects. I admit I have been spoiled by the great special effects that are standard in America, but The Patty Duke Show had better special effects than Twin Dragons.

The film isn’t all bad. The few fight scenes are great, as usual. The first scene in the film is almost a homage to John Woo’s hospital fight scene in Hardboiled. And even though the film is lame, it has pretty funny parts. I plan to rent Twin Dragons in a subtitled DVD version to see if it is the American dubbing that sucks, so hopefully this review will improve after that.