Double Impact (1991)

I can't believe I have to work with this guy.

Jean-Claude Van Damme x2!  What more could you possibly want?  A story and acting lessons couldn’t hurt but let’s not get into that.  He plays Alex and Chad Wagner who are twin brothers whose parents were murdered in Hong Kong quite viciously by the triads.  Alex is the tougher brother who grew up in Hong Kong while Chad is the gentler brother.  They team up to take revenge on their parent’s brutal deaths.

                Let me start with, “It wasn’t actually that bad.”  My very words see it’s in quotes.  Van Damme’s acting was more acceptable this time possibly because he was able to see himself from a different angle.  I hope you get that one, ha-ha!  One aspect that I don’t comprehend is that the brothers lack accents from their respective place of being raised.  The main focus is on Alex who spent his entire life in Hong Kong.  Would he even speak English?  If so wouldn’t it be with a Chinese accent?  Now that would be hysterical, to hear Van Damme speak with a Chinese accent!  Chad did grow up in France I believe but there is no accent there as well, possibly because he went to America.  In a movie like this is no big deal but it sure is funny to think about.

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                The beginning of the story is a bit difficult to warm up to but it becomes more interesting as Alex is introduced.  He is the twin who shows more aggressive behavior and attitude.  Also I crack up whenever he calls his brother Chad a faggot.  To see Van Damme call himself a faggot is hilarious considering Chad does wear those tight gymnastic types of cloths.  Overall Alex is a better character in the story.  It is unfortunate that the first scene of Chad we see is from a camera angle directly behind his butt as he does his patented splits.  It’s in his contract to showboat he is man enough to do that.

                Moving on, Alex is unwilling to believe Frank (family bodyguard and fake uncle) and Chad’s idea that the brothers are heirs to a tunnel built in Hong Kong to connect the city more properly together.  The plot revolves around the triads trying to kill the brothers to gain control of the tunnel and the profits therein, I think.  It wasn’t particularly clear or steadfast in the main storyline.  Big surprise right, the director knew that two Van Damme’s would cloud up the story well enough to hide that it really sucks.  You have the bad guys Nigel Griffith and Raymond Zhang teaming up to finish off the family.  Griffith was originally the partner to the twin’s father until he turned evil and had them taken out.  Zhang is a crime boss and basically gets involved in shady doings naturally.   

The only movie I was ever in.

                The brother’s feud with each other as Alex at one point believes Chad is trying to make some moves on his girlfriend.  He even fantasizes about his girlfriend making love to his brother, so it’s like a fantasy about him making love to his girlfriend right?  I’m so confused.  That leads to some nifty scenes of Alex being piss drunk and letting his anger take him over.  Van Damme pretending to be upset while drunk is good stuff.  Chad and Alex do fight, and then as these things so often happen they make up and go after the men who killed their parents.  Its like, “Oh, right I knew we were supposed to be doing something.”  The girlfriend and Frank get captured that leads to the twin’s finally teaming up to end this masterpiece. 

                The fight scenes themselves were a bit brutal and shorter which was good, if any longer you would become uneasy while hoping for the ending credits to begin.  The final boss battles were decent and by no means dragged on and on.  I absolutely hate when that happens!  It was rather enjoyable to see the twins beat the crap out of obviously weaker old guys.  Alex did have to take on old Bolo again and I’ll add it was solid.

Alex

                It’s not winning any awards, duh, but as far as any other films I’ve seen Van Damme in, it is an upward step.  The fight scenes were the focal point which took away from any type of interesting story to follow.  But let’s face it the story never mattered so the fight scenes might as well took center stage.  It’s a watchable movie and has many scenes where you laugh when it’s not intended so that’s a bonus.

                Alex: I hear all sorts of bullshit every day, pal. You want some advice? Take your fancy clothes and your black silk underwear and go back to Disneyland.

                Rating: 6 of 10


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