Seeing double?

Introduction

JCVD stars as both Chad and Alex, twins who were separated at birth when their parents were brutally murdered by members of a Hong Kong criminal cartel. 25 years later the pair are reunited by their old family bodyguard (Geoffrey Lewis) to avenge the death of their parents.



Although polar opposites in personality, they are both high-kicking, fast-moving, fully trained martial arts experts (what are the chances of that eh?) and must do battle against the leather clad Kara (Cory Everson - Natural Born Killers) and lethal assassin Moon (martial arts veteran Bolo Yeung - Enter The Dragon) to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.

This is the second DVD outing for Double Impact...

Video + Audio

This film is from 1991 but it absolutely screams 1980s at you, from the hairstyles to the clothes and the action sequences themselves. It's far from a flawless transfer, and sadly there's only a DD2.0 stereo soundtrack, which is always a shame when it comes to the action blockbuster. We're missing out on booms and bangs...

Extra Features

Absolutely nothing at all. The featurettes that appeared on the previous release have disappeared.

Conclusion

A quick excerpt from the press release:-

"Double Impact is one of the top action movies of the nineties"

Really? Let's pick some at random:-

Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Hard Boiled
Con Air
The Rock
True Lies
The Matrix
Starship Troopers
Mission: Impossible
The Fugitive
Face/Off
Eraser
Total Recall
Goldeneye
Demolition Man
Speed

This JCVD vanity vehicle (if you need confirmation of that vanity, he worked on the screenplay) is a better action film than any of those? Can't see it myself. Yes, it's a fun piece of action nonsense but it has way more flaws than any of those films listed. I'm not saying that any of those films are flawless all time classics, but they are enjoyable 1990s action films which you can enjoy for mostly the right reasons. Double Impact can still be enjoyed, but for mostly wrong reasons.



We're all aware that action film bullets don't obey natural laws, but in Double Impact they go mad. Thousands of rounds must get fired at our heroes, and they don't get more than a few scratches or flesh wounds. They probably fire back 1-2% of that total, and manage to wipe out most of their enemies. I'm happy to suspend disbelief, but there's a difference between suspend and "hang it upside down from the top of the Burj Khalifa"...

This film is full of cliches too, such as all those 1980s outfits, outdated attitudes, cheap shot predatory lesbianism, overacting, some obvious green screen work and some obvious fake props. JCVD seems to be trying to be another Schwarzenegger in this film, trying to be a cross between Matrix (and perhaps his arch-enemy Bennett) from Commando, with a bit of John Kimble from Kindergarten Cop thrown in. Just watching him smoke cigars reminds you of Arnie every time...



Right, enough light hearted vitriol and over-reacting to one line from a press release.

This film is fun and it brought lots of smiles to my face. Yes, they weren't always for the right reasons, but this film is fun to watch even if you're not watching the classic that it claims to be. There are some enjoyable fight sequences, some nice comedy moments and it's a nice way to switch off your brain for a while. To use another cliche, it's definitely a "popcorn flick" or a "beer and pizza film". You'll enjoy it, but you'll probably still not list it as one of the top action films of the 1990s...

PS - Unfortunately, the press release also referred to JCVD as Jean Claude Van Dame, which is an amusing typo. It could have been an entirely different film...