Double Impact
Double Impact
R | 10 August 1991 (USA)
Double Impact Trailers

Jean Claude Van Damme plays a dual role as Alex and Chad, twins separated at the death of their parents. Chad is raised by a family retainer in Paris, Alex becomes a petty crook in Hong Kong. Seeing a picture of Alex, Chad rejoins him and convinces him that his rival in Hong Kong is also the man who killed their parents. Alex is suspicious of Chad, especially when it comes to his girlfriend.

Reviews
BootDigest

Such a frustrating disappointment

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Stometer

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

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ThrillMessage

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

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Kaelan Mccaffrey

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

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Sam smith (sam_smithreview)

This could be argued to be one of Van Damme's best film. Not only for his amazing fight scenes, but also for his acting ability along side himself. Not writing here as biased fan, but seeing this film, I shockingly had to admit that Van Damme was far better actor then what people gave him credit for. Story of the film is very cliché of most 90's films. twins get separated at birth and one becomes a criminal while the other one becomes a goody boy. They both have to team up together to protect their family money and name. Which one or both didn't really care for before.Acting in the film, was fairly good, with few exceptions. But people going to see this film, knew that this wasn't going to be the competition for Dances with a wolf or Jeremy Irons performance in Reversal of Fortune. The expectations was that this was going to be enjoyable film with tons of action and the possibility of having Van Damme fight Van Damme in an amazing fight scene. Which the film succeeded in. Van Damme was very clear as two different brothers, who are completely different in all traits. Van Damme managed to create and contain certain ticks, tricks and mannerisms for each one, clear sign of a good actor. Not to mention all of the really cool fight scenes we got to see was a benefit too!!so if you are bored at home and have nothing to do, feel free to give this film a go, if you like 80's and 90's action type of movies, you will love this.

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Fluke_Skywalker

Believe it or not, there was a time when two Jean Claude Van Dammes were thought to be better than one. JCVD actually does a nice job here playing twins who are total opposites, managing to make each one distinct so that pretty soon you view them as two separate characters and not just JCVD and JCVD with slicked back hair. The rest of the cast fall in around JCVD well enough. Geoffrey Lewis classes things up as the mentor, and Bolo Yeung re-teams with Van Damme to create another menacing baddie.Logic and common sense are in short supply, but there's plenty of high kicking hijinks to ensure you don't notice, or at least don't care.

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BA_Harrison

Twin baby brothers Alex and Chad (Jean-Claude Van Damme) are separated after their parents are killed by hit men acting on the orders of greedy businessman Nigel Griffith (Alan Scarfe) and local triad boss Raymond Zhang (Philip Chan). Alex is raised in a local orphanage by French nuns while Chad is taken abroad by loyal friend of the family Frank Avery (Geoffrey Lewis). 25 years later, Frank—now the owner of an LA dojo where Chad is an instructor (and where pastel coloured gis are mandatory!)—tracks down Alex, reunites the brothers in Hong Kong and helps them to avenge the murder of their parents.Some might argue that Jean Claude Van Damme struggles to play one character convincingly, and that having him play two is not exactly the greatest idea in the world. Those people are wrong. Double the 'Muscles from Brussels' kicking ass, including his own, is actually one of the greatest things to happen in a 90s action movie. That's double the explosive action, double the corny one-liners, double the gun-play (with double the ammo), double the fight scenes and, ultimately, double the fun.Despite its silly set-up, Double Impact is a genuinely tough film, with very little comedy ala Jackie Chan's Twin Dragons; the colourful Hong Kong location not only allows for plenty of authentic flavour, but also enables the use of local stunt-men for whom a hard whack in the head is all part of a day's work. The action comes thick and fast, feet and fists regularly meeting face, making for some really convincing karate smack-downs. On top of all the martial arts mayhem, viewers are also treated to lots of brutal ballistic action, each bullet hit resulting in a delightfully bloody squib eruption.Star Van Damme might not be the greatest thespian to ever grace the silver screen, but he does surprisingly well in his dual roles, convincingly creating two distinctly different characters; he is aided in his task by some well executed special effects and the careful use of body doubles. The rest of the main cast are also very impressive: Lewis is as marvellous as always (the guy is a legend in my eyes just for giving the world Juliette), busty blonde Alonna Shaw gives the film sex appeal as Alex's plucky girlfriend Danielle, Chan and Scarfe ooze malevolence, and Bolo Yeung and female bodybuilder Cory Everson make for superb hench-people (does anyone play an utterly ruthless killing machine as convincingly as Bolo?).

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jonathanruano

"Double Impact" is the story about two babies Alex and Chad who are separated after their parents are murdered by business partners Raymond Zhange (Philip Chan) and Nigel Griffith (Alan Scarfe). Twenty-five years later, the twin babies become two sexy martial arts sensations with strong Belgian accents (both played by Jean Claude Van Damme) who vow to avenge the death of their parents.For the first thirty-five minutes, I really enjoyed "Double Impact." Jean-Claude Van Damme has this cool, confident and sometimes cocky persona that is often entertaining. Some of his martial arts sequences are fun to watch as well. Then the onslaught of shoot outs with machine guns and automatic guns and explosions came along and the movie tanked. I have not had any personal experiences where, armed with only two handguns, I had to kill several people who were firing automatic machine guns at me. But if I was in that situation, I suspect I would at the very least sustain several injuries, even if I was an action star. Yet there are several scenes in "Double Impact" where Jean-Claude Van Damme successfully takes on three Chinese criminals, armed with machine guns, and emerges unscathed. When the hero does that well in several gun fights, it sucks the excitement out of the movie. We no longer have any reason to be concerned for his safety, because we know he is invincible. As a result, the shootouts -- which presumably are meant to generate the most excitement -- are tedious and boring.The other problem with the movie are the explosions. When I saw my first explosion in an action movie at age ten, I admit I was impressed. But since then, I have grown tired of them. Watching explosions in movies, like "Double Impact," is like eating doughnuts, potato chips and drinking pop drinks all day long. At the end, I get this sick feeling inside. The problem with "Double Impact" is that there are so many explosions and so much property damage that it smothers the plot and the dialogue. I had so much more fun watching Jean-Claude Van Damme showcasing remnants of both his characters, Alex and Chad. Then the explosions, shooting and full sound came along and ruined it all. I was also hopeful in the beginning that this movie would have some kind of plot. But "Double Impact" has no plot after 30 minutes. Danielle Wilde (who is played by the stunning blonde model Alonna Shaw) has a bit part as Alex's girlfriend and secretary to Mr. Griffiths and she spends most of her on screen time rummaging through Griffiths' files to see if he was responsible for killing Alex's parents. Danielle's role, as far as I can tell, is to generate interest in a plot bereft of ideas (not even Alfred Hitchcock would pull this stunt). Danielle's investigative work is inconsequential because Alex and Chad have already made up their minds to wipe out Griffiths, Zhang and the Triads. The same has to be said for the female villain Kara (Corinna Everson) who combines violence with sexually assaulting Danielle. Kara's purpose, as a lesbian stereotype, is to help the producers of this film hedge their bets by adding some cheap thrills in a film that has run out of good ideas. A third source of cheap thrills is the sex scene involving Danielle and one of the Jean-Claude Van Damme characters, which really shows how low the producers were willing to go to sell this movie. Overall Double Impact was a big disappointment. 3.5/10

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