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Double Impact
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by Columbia Pictures
Sales Rank: 23451
Price: $4.94
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Jean-Claude Van Damme gets a kick out of himself in this clever if barely competent action thriller, in which the likable Muscles from Brussels plays twin brothers separated at birth by a murderous Hong Kong crime syndicate. While the genial Chad lives the posh life as a California aerobics instructor, his sibling Alex chews fat cigars back in China, running a mahjong parlor and making some extra bucks as a smuggler. A quarter-century after being sent to different corners of the globe, they reunite and decide to seek vengeance against the cartel that killed their parents. From there the story and action set pieces are fairly predictable, but that hardly matters since the film's real appeal is in the amusing way the two Van Dammes deal with sibling rivalry, especially where women are concerned. Van Damme, seeking his box-office breakthrough at the time, might have received more of a commercial boost had this movie simply been directed with greater professionalism. The lighting, editing, and shot selection are often ridiculously below the standard of low-budget features. But <I>Double Impact</I> does have its compensations, especially in the casting of leather-clad Cory Everson and exemplary villain Bolo Yeung as a pair of killers who cross the twins' path. <I>--Tom Keogh</I>
Viewer Reviews
The Jean Claude Van Damme Review Matrix (JCVD-RM)
1.Who is he? He's two guys! Identical twins separated at birth by the Chinese mafia, one, Chad, is a silk underwear-wearing pretty boy from Los Angeles, and the other, Alex, is a criminal from Hong Kong. Amazingly, they both grew up to be martial arts experts.
2.Which family member/friend must be avenged? Their parents are murdered by the same Chinese mafia
3.Does he take his shirt off? Bolo Yeung rips Chad's shirt off during a fight sequence
4.Does he have sex with a C-List actress? Yes. Actually, his sex scene with the beautiful Alonna Shaw is worthy of late-night skinemax fame.
5.Is there a tournament? Sadly, no.
6.Is training needed for this tournament? Perhaps some firearms training should have taken place, but aside from that, no.
7.Does he do the splits in training or in the tournament? When teaching/training a class for aerobics, or something, he dons some spandex and displays the goods for the ladies. He tells them that the splits are easy because of his big legs and karate.
8.Does he punch someone in the balls? Yes, Chad jab-kicked Bolo Yeung in the jewels during the final fight - which was clearly revenge for the nut-chop Bolo delivered to Chad's family jewels earlier in the movie.
9.Does he do a series of flying or 360 kicks? Let's just say that he can use the marks on Bolo Yeung's jawline for his next boot fitting
10.Is his enemy unbeatable? It's Peter Malota and Bolo Yeung. Plus, Bolo has a glass eye, and a career record of 0-1 previous to this movie. So, challenging? Yes. Unbeatable? Probably not.
11.Does he overcome an injury or other hindrance? Not only does he have to battle Peter Malota, Bolo Yeung, Cory Everson, and poor night-vision, but during one fight scene Donkey Kong apparently begins to throw barrels at Chad.
12.Does he win? Without the help of electricity, I have no doubt Bolo Yeung would have won. However, JCVDx2 manages to avenge their parents and claim their stole inheritance by taking down the entire Chinese syndicate.
So, this one goes slightly outside the typical JCVD flick, but the overall impression is positive. In spite of himself, he actually portrays a bad guy or a hardened criminal fairly well. I especially appreciated perhaps the best snot-rocket scene in cinema history - the lighting is stupendous. Ignoring the whole JCVD angle, this one is actually a decent movie with some rather funny dialogue with several gratuitous F-bombs.
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Double Impact
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