In 1991 Jean Claude Van-Damme played separated twins in "Double Impact." The two were from different worlds and different countries, the only real difference between "Double Impact" and "Twin Dragons" is that in "Double Impact" both twins could fight.
In "Twin Dragons" a set of twins get separated as babies. One baby was taken to the U.S. to be raised where he became a world reknown pianist and orchestra conductor. The other baby stayed in Hong Kong where he learned to fight and was always running afoul of the law.
The two came together in Hong Kong when Ma Yau (the American raised twin) had a performance in Hong Kong. With the two in the same place at the same time all kinds of comedic mix-ups occurred.
"Twin Dragons" could've been better had the plot been a little less convoluted and the subtitles slower. These were the fastest subtitles I've ever seen. The movie wasn't quite as acrobatic or creative as the last Jackie Chan movie I'd seen titled, "Operation Condor." That one was directed by Jackie and he had a big hand in the fight choreography as well. "Twin Dragons" is not bad, just not up to level I began to expect from Jackie by the 90's.
Plot summary
Twins, separated at birth, end up as a Hong Kong gangster and a New York concert pianist. When the pianist travels to Hong Kong for a concert, the two inevitably get mistaken for each other.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
July 05, 2016 at 11:00 AM
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Unremarkable but Decent
Twin Dragons sees Jackie playing two characters, one a classical composer and the other a mechanic/thug who meet up after years of being separated. Each gets mistaken for the other, plunging them into his brother's relationships and problems.
As a comedy Twin Dragons is occasionally funny but never made me laugh too hard. It's the kind of wacky antics I enjoyed from my Jackie Chan movies when I was an early teenager, but has worn out as I got older. Technically it has some really good action scenes, especially the last one, though none are too memorable in the grand scheme of things.
For me, this is a mildly amusing Chan movie. Nothing new here, just more of the same kind of antics you'd expect from Jackie.
A wild, goofy tour de force.
Martial artist Jackie Chan plays twins Ma Yau and Wan Ming, who were separated at birth. One is a street smart mechanic and the other is a classical musician. When the course of events bring the twins together in one city, their lives become entangled with one another, with them assuming the opposite roles of each other.
The plot device for this movie is clever, but the execution was a messy tour de force of goofy humor, poor dubbing and lack of suspense. The first part of the movie was actually pretty boring - the so-called fight at the karaoke scene was a drawn out element. The more exciting part doesn't come until the twins crosses paths with each other, and then they inadvertently take the others' lady friends out (played by Maggie Cheung and Nina Li Chi). Wan Ming trying to conduct the orchestra without knowing a lick about music was mildly amusing, while Ma Yau trying to rescue Wan Ming's friend (Teddy Robin Kwan) from the mob is somewhat entertaining.
Maggie Cheung and Nina Li Chi look beautiful in the movie, but there wasn't a lot of character development on them. There is also cameo appearances from many familiar actors in Hong Kong cinema, but they were underused and most were not dubbed with their own voices (Hong Kong filmmakers used to film movies without audio and then have the characters' voices dubbed in during post-production). However, I do especially like the musical number where Jackie Chan is playing on the piano while Maggie Cheung is singing to Shirley Kwan's song called "Ancient Times." Cheung looked very classy and glamorous in that scene.
There is much action toward the end, but much of the movie is consumed from a plain plot and overboard goofiness. Overall, a less exciting film starring Jackie Chan.
Grade C-