A shameless cash in on the Hong Kong pop phenomenon the Twins lands them in Buffy territory, but this very stupid comedy has some of the best fight scenes around…
Meet Gypsy (Gillian Chung, Twin ‘A’), she’s just become new apprentice to Reeve (Ekin Cheng) - a lead vampire hunter in the Anti-Vampire League with an unfortunate habit of falling in love with his partners just before they come to an unfortunate end. His sister Helen (Charlene Choi, Twin ‘B’) isn’t much luckier in love, she’s just fallen for her brothers worse case scenario, a vampire!
This particular vamp, Kasaf (Edison Chan, another pop star) is not your usual pain in the neck - he wants to live in a church and doesn’t actually like blood sucking, preferring it bottled like fine wine. He’s still annoying though - a spoilt rich kid with teen angst who’s last in a family line that, together with a dark volume known as the ‘Day for Night’, hold the secret for a vampire to walk in the daylight. You know, the stuff they’re always after. And one real badass, Duke Dekotes (Mickey Hardt), has rolled into town to do just that. Yep, there’s gonna be one hell of a showdown…
The only problem is getting there. The Twins Effect is typical of that particular strain of very silly humour that only really seems to go down well in Hong Kong. The situations character get themselves into are often daft to the point of plain stupid. More annoyingly script writers Jack Ng and Chan Hing Kai seem to have trawled the entire rack of preteen girlie mags for inspiration. Rather cynically aiming the film at the pairs core audience - which surely this would be too violent for? Giant and even confusing leaps are made in narrative not to speed towards the action scenes, but the next ridiculous situation. Perhaps the problem is director Dante Lam’s obvious level of sophistication make us less forgiving of him.
Yet if some good ideas are trampled over, Twins is one slick production, and the fight scenes are several cuts above the likes of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and even major films like Blade. Action director Donnie Yen (Hero, Iron Monkey, In the Line of Duty) had a fleeting appearance in Blade 2, and seems to have been out to prove just how good the scenes in that film could have been. And anyway, let’s not forget that long before Buffy or Blade Lam Ching-ying was drop kicking those (hopping) blood suckers in Mr. Vampire.
The influence of Yen’s mentor, Yuen Woo Ping of The Matrix and Crouching Tiger fame, making two pop stars really look like they can kick arse. Imagine if someone did that to the Cheeky Girls? In one scene where the girls fight over a teddy bear Yen has fun with the ‘wire work’ style, as one of the characters pauses in the air for quite a significant time. He even pays tribute to Yuen’s close up, intricate style (like in Drunken Master) in a scene where Helen tries to borrow money from her brother (cut from the movie, it appears in the closing titles). This is Yen’s best work to date, far outclassing his own movies such as Ballistic Kiss.
Honestly, the Twins themselves are okay, as is Edison Chan, and they’ve no reason to give up their day job yet anyway. Anthony Wong, a favourite of Dante Lam (they worked together in Beast Cops) is as brilliant as ever playing Kasaf’s valet, though once again under utilised. Jackie Chan appears in a couple of cameos, irritatingly mugging his way through as he does in most of his Hollywood appearances. Karen Mok So Close), however, who also cameos as Jackie’s bride-to-be, is a real treat, completely smashed before she’s even put on the ring at the marriage ceremony.
Hot on the heals of So Close, Twins has a pretty sophisticated soundtrack by Chan Kwong Wing, matching elements from old fashioned Hammer Horror type score with break beats to match the fight scenes perfectly. That’s apart from an end theme which features both the Twins and Jackie Chan!
The Twins Effect is one of those films that you can tell could have been so much more. Those grating comedy scenes will never win over Western audiences, though you can’t blame Dante Lam for knowing exactly what his Hong Kong audience wants. This is still worth the price of admission for the fight scenes alone!
DVD details
Distributor: Universe (Hong Kong)
This film has been beautifully transferred with a crisp soundtrack to boot. There seems to be quite a problem where it stalls, or at least almost stalls, on most DVD players halfway through. And you've got to ask, with a 17 minute featurette, trailer and little else, was it really worth an extra disc?
