| Paul Wagner, 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 and his crony, mob boss Raymond Zhang. Both their
sons escape, and one of them is taken to a French convent
by their nanny, and the other is taken first to France and
then to America by Frank Avery, 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, 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.
Double
Impact does a creditable job of creating the illusion of
twins. 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
fighting in this movie is terrific, and Van Damme deserves
his exalted reputation as a karate ace cum kickboxer.
Double Impact is a perfectly adequate piece of work. |
