Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam prove that one Jackie Chan is probably enough, in this mediocre action comedy.
In the late 80s and early 90s, Jackie Chan was at the height of his game. Fresh off starring in some of the biggest action comedies in Hong Kong – Police Story, Project A and Wheels on Meals – the world couldn’t get enough of Jackie. And so, the only logical step forward for him was to not just star in a movie, but star in it twice.
So we get Twin Dragons, a movie where Jackie plays twins separated at birth. Ma is a pianist and hot shot orchestra conductor preparing a major concert in Hong Kong. Bok Min is a street racer and martial artist who gets mixed up with gangsters, along with his friend Tarzan (Teddy Robin). There are hijinks when both twins get close to each other, where they discover they have a psychic link that forces one twin to move when the other does. But only when it’s funny, obviously.
Both have love interests: Tong Sum (Nina Li Chi) and Barbara (Maggie Cheung), who are largely there to have misunderstandings and get angry. The gangsters mistake one twin for the other, and of course Bok Min has to conduct a symphony at some point. Whatever basic cookie-cutter plot you’re imagining it’s this. And … yeah, it’s fine.
Twin Dragons should have worked really well. It’s astounding that it’s as thoroughly boring as it turned out. Behind the camera were Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark, who were also on a hot streak with a decade of action movie history behind them each. But the issue with making a story about a concert pianist Jackie Chan is that it’s a character who doesn’t really do a lot of fighting, and isn’t interested in doing any fighting either.
Ma is an astonishingly uninteresting character, with basically no personality. And considering he can’t fight, there isn’t really a lot he contributes to the story other than being the foil to Bok Min. So, rather than being a film with two Jackie Chans, the film suffers by having one Jackie Chan and one simpering dipshit whose only contribution is looking like someone else. At least his characters are supported well by both love interests and an absolute cacophony of Hong Kong comedy cameos.
The action is fine, with a highlight being the finale set in a car factory. But there is so much more that could have been done with the twins’ ability to mimic each other’s movements. It comes out once, when Bok Min is trapped in a cage and has to puppet Ma into fighting. It’s not half bad, and Jackie manages to convincingly act like he’s being moved against his will. But otherwise, the psychic link is there mostly so other characters can act inappropriately at inopportune times.
At the end of the day, Twin Dragons feels like a herald of things to come. Entirely bolstered by his own popularity, this is an era where Jackie is trying more experimental projects, and eventually to his forays into Hollywood. When they worked, they were great, but from time to time, he’d get an absolute flop. At least in this one, he’s got a second Jackie on which to blame it all.
Verdict: Distinctly lacking in good action, laughs, and cohesion, Twin Dragons is very bottom of the barrel in an era of top-quality Jackie Chan comedies.
Twin Dragons (1992)
Also known as: Brother vs. Brother, Duel of Dragons, When Dragons Collide, Double Dragon
Cantonese
Directors: Tsui Hark. Ringo Lam
Writers: Barry Wong, Tsui Hark, Joe Cheung, Wong Yik, Teddy Robin
CAST
Jackie Chan – Bok Min, Ma Yau
Maggie Cheung – Barbara
Nina Li Chi – Tong Sum
Teddy Robin – Tarzan
Alfred Cheung as Boss Wing
Kirk Wong – Crazy Kung
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