Gripping story with well-crafted characters

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

A fun Jackie Chan movie for the fans, not quite as good as his best work but certainly superior to most as well as most of his recent output. This is fairly typical of the kind of movies he made during the early half of the '90s : lots and lots of cheesy, Chinese-style humour which is probably off-putting to Western audiences, a few cool fight sequences interspersed, and a typically inane and nonsensical plot. To make matters worse, the print released on DVD in the UK is the Dimension films American version which stupidly dubs the actors, changes the soundtrack, and cuts eleven minutes out of the movie! This is basically the "twins" movie for Chan, just like Van Damme, Li, and Schwarzenegger have made their own twin movies. The special effects range from split screen to back/forward projection, but there are also some decent (if a little wobbly) digital insertions which make up in ambition what they lack in technical perfection.The plot is straightforward, light-hearted fare: there are two Chans who keep getting mistaken for each other. Maggie Cheung and Nina Li Chi are the lovers who keep getting confused, although Cheung is underused and Li Chi seems to be there just to take her clothes off a lot. Chan is as good as ever, mugging his way through joke after joke, although it's a shame only one of the brothers can fight. The action is more limited here but what we do get is great: a running series of kung fu battles, gun showdowns, and a fantastic bus chase with some superb stunts. Most of the physical stuff is saved for the finale in the car warehouse, which doesn't disappoint. Although most of the comedy is silly, Jackie remains an endearing screen presence and this is still amusing, old-fashioned fun, innocent and designed to please the audience at all points. As such I recommend it.NB. I've recently had the chance to watch the 'uncut' Cantonese version and it's a much superior film; the undubbed jokes are funnier and less stupid and there's no denying the power of the constant energy and motion.

Martial artist Jackie Chan plays twins Ma Yau and Wan Ming, who were separated at birth. One is a street smart mechanic and the other is a classical musician. When the course of events bring the twins together in one city, their lives become entangled with one another, with them assuming the opposite roles of each other.The plot device for this movie is clever, but the execution was a messy tour de force of goofy humor, poor dubbing and lack of suspense. The first part of the movie was actually pretty boring - the so-called fight at the karaoke scene was a drawn out element. The more exciting part doesn't come until the twins crosses paths with each other, and then they inadvertently take the others' lady friends out (played by Maggie Cheung and Nina Li Chi). Wan Ming trying to conduct the orchestra without knowing a lick about music was mildly amusing, while Ma Yau trying to rescue Wan Ming's friend (Teddy Robin Kwan) from the mob is somewhat entertaining.Maggie Cheung and Nina Li Chi look beautiful in the movie, but there wasn't a lot of character development on them. There is also cameo appearances from many familiar actors in Hong Kong cinema, but they were underused and most were not dubbed with their own voices (Hong Kong filmmakers used to film movies without audio and then have the characters' voices dubbed in during post-production). However, I do especially like the musical number where Jackie Chan is playing on the piano while Maggie Cheung is singing to Shirley Kwan's song called "Ancient Times." Cheung looked very classy and glamorous in that scene. There is much action toward the end, but much of the movie is consumed from a plain plot and overboard goofiness. Overall, a less exciting film starring Jackie Chan.Grade C-

This is a funny Jackie Chan film, that's great fun to watch,with some awesome stunts, and two knockout performances from Jackie Chan!. All the characters are cool, and the story is very entertaining, plus Jackie Chan is simply amazing in this!. I really liked the opening in black and white when they showed the twins as kids, and I loved the reference to Stallone and The Rocky movies with Tammy's(Nina Li Chi) boyfriend Rocky, plus it has some pretty good fights in it too. I actually found this to be more of a Comedy, but that's OK because it was highly enjoyable, and I think this should be higher then 6.0, plus the ending is absolutely hilarious!. As always Jackie does some amazing stunts, and the scene where Jackie and Tyson(Teddy Robin Kwan) escape on the boat is pretty exciting, plus while some of the humor is incredibly silly I couldn't help but laugh at it. The scene where Boomer plays at the Orchestra and does John Ma's work is a scream, plus the fight at the car wash is also hilarious! (since the brother John Ma can't fight). This is a funny Jackie Chan film, that's great fun to watch, with some awesome stunts, and two knockout performances from Jackie Chan, I highly recommend this one!. The Direction is great!. Ringo Lam and Hark Tsui do a great! job here with very good camera work, good angles and just keeping the film funny and at a very fast pace. The Acting is lots of fun!. Jackie Chan is amazing as always and is amazing here, he is hilarious, extremely likable as both Boomer and Joh Ma, had great chemistry with both Maggie Cheung and Nina Li Chi, kicked that ass, and was absolutely charming! (Jackie Rules!!!!!!!). Maggie Cheung is gorgeous and does fine as Boomer's(well technically) love interest, she was likable and did a great job I really liked her. Teddy Robin Kwan is funny as Boomer's best friend Tyson, he was likable and added a lot of laughs I dug him. Nina Li Chi is beautiful, and also did fine as John Ma's love interest (well technically), I really liked her. Alfred Cheung is good as the villain and was menacing. Rest of the cast do fine. Overall I highly recommend this one!. ***1/2 out of 5

THIS REVIEW INCLUDES MAJOR SPOILERS This is a film that most Jackie Chan fans do not like. This film is not in my top 10 Jackie Chan films, but it's also not that bad. This film is directed by two very famous directors Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark. But I felt like they were not used properly in the production. Writers who were responsible for this film were Barry Wong(Writer: Hard Boiled, Righting Wrongs, and Rosa)and Tsui Hark. So far this film has good writers and good directors. The lead actors are Jackie Chan, Maggie Cheung(Police Story 1-3, and Project A 2), Nina Li Chi(Jet Li's Wife). Even the lead actors are good. Even the cameo's feature some very good actors like Ringo Lam as a car mechanic, John Woo as a priest, Tsui Hark as a car mechanic, Mars as a thug, and Jing Wong(writer: High Risk with Jet Li, and City Hunter with Jackie Chan). So why are people not very happy with this movie? Well some people didn't like the comedy. I found this movie quite funny at times, but the comedy does get a little over board. This felt like City Hunter, because of the sence of comedy. There were not enough action scenes to keep some viewers happy. I will list them:1. Fight at a Night Club. Very good fight including multiple villain's, and Jackie Chan going against all them. Jackie Chan uses a microphone as a prop which looked like very good piece of choreography.2. Boat Chase in the Ocean. This has lots of boat stunts, but not much martial arts. But we do see Jackie jump from one motor boat to another, which was some good action.3. Fight at a Mall with a thug who can't fight. This shows that Jackie Chan can so lots of kicks, while his opponent can't do any. This is a very short fight not even worth mentioning.4. Bus Chase across a Highway. Jackie Chan was probably stunt doubled for the driving, but I might be wrong. Very short but we do see Jackie Chan jump from the drivers seat onto the road.5. Fight at the Car Test Factory. This fight is worth seeing this movie for. Jackie Chan faces against 20 or more thugs. Also Jackie Chan does things like you never seen him do before like: jumping through the passengers window, jumping out the passengers window, and doing a kick, and running over a car. Jackie Chan does some very nice kicks, and moves fast enough to make the scene stand out the most. Woo Ping Yuen(choreographer of Matrix movies), was responsible for Stunts and Action Design. But again he wasn't used very well, except the first and the last fight. Mars who appeared as a thug seemed to be the only Jackie Chan's Stunt Team Member who appeared in this film. This could be the reason why this film's action was not to the usual Jackie Chan's standard. I read that during the scene were there are two Jackie's in the bathtub with the girl, that Mars was the second Jackie. Mars doubled Jackie for that scene before they used special effects to change it to look like two Jackie's.This film deserves 7/10. But for the end fight 10/10. If you want to see some good action see this film for the end fight.