Ah, the joys of head-kicking! It's hard to imagine that, until fairly recently, American mainstream cinema really didn't have any of it. Oh sure, there might be the occasional noggin-punt in a kung fu movie, but it's only with the recent popularity of such luminaries as Steven Seagal and
Jean-Claude Van Damme that cranium booting has become as big a part of popular culture as spurting blood and psychotic lesbians.
Paul Wagner (Andy Armstrong), an American entrepreneur who is the main architect of an underwater tunnel between Hong Kong and mainland China, and his wife are murdered by his corrupt partner Nigel Griffith (Alan Scarfe) and his crony, mob boss Raymond Zhang (Philip Chan Yan Kin). One of their
sons is taken to a French convent by their nanny, and the other is taken first to France and then to America by Frank Avery (Geoffrey Lewis), Wagner's buddy. Later on, when they've grown, Frank decides it's time to get the twins together and wreak revenge, and reclaim what's rightfully theirs.
Avery takes his protege, Chad (Van Damme), to Hong Kong. Chad is immediately mistaken for his twin and virtually undressed by Danielle Wilde (Alonna Shaw), girlfriend of his twin Alex (Van Damme again). After Alex knocks Chad out in a jealous rage, Frank gets the two of them to agree to work
together. While Chad has spent his life honing his skills as an aerobics and karate instructor, Alex has grown into a street fighter who makes a living smuggling cigarettes and cars into China. Raymond Zhang wants him to join him, and help him smuggle drugs, and mistakenly has his men rough up
Chad, trying to convince Alex to give in.
Alex gets Chad and Frank a fortress on an island as a hideout. Danielle, who works for Griffith, is caught looking through his files for evidence against him, and phones the island for help. Alex and Frank are out, so Chad goes to assist her. Alex misinterprets their absence and flies into a
drunken rage, and fights with Chad when they return. The next morning, Griffith and Zhang and their militaristic goons attack the island and kidnap Frank and Danielle. Chad and Alex attack their boat and, after a long battle, complete with torture and lots of explosions and, yes, head-kicking,
rescue their friends. Chad hands Danielle over to Alex, the twins now truly brothers.
It must be something about playing twins. The Academy Awards completely ignored Jeremy Irons in DEAD RINGERS, and have now followed suit with Van Damme! Okay, seriously, DOUBLE IMPACT does a creditable job of creating the illusion of twins, though Van Damme is hardly the actor to handle the
challenge. (Strangely, the Belgian martial-arts superstar always sounds like he's being dubbed from a foreign language, even though he's clearly speaking English.) The plot is full of coincidences and unbelievable situations, but it's really just there to lay a setting for the action. Much of that
is "borrowed": the torture sequence from LETHAL WEAPON, the dropping storage crate from LETHAL WEAPON 2, and the dangerous shoes from FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, for example. However, some of it really works: Kin's hand getting put through a gear mesh is especially splendid.
The rest of the acting, and the dialogue, are uniformly mediocre, and director Sheldon Lettich brings nothing new to the genre. But the fighting is terrific, and Van Damme deserves his exalted reputation as a karate ace cum kickboxer. Sadly, in order to show the grace of his art, the fighting is
often shown in slow motion and overly edited. But, in the end, if you're in the mood to watch some high-class head-kicking, DOUBLE IMPACT is a perfectly adequate piece of work. If you're not, however, there are many more productive ways to spend your time. (Extreme violence, substance abuse,
profanity, sexual situations, nudity.) leave a comment
