The Twins Effect
Reviewed by YTSL
Although I am one of those who has not been
completely immune to the charms of da Twins (especially Ah Gil), an ability
to be (convincing) action actresses is not one that I’d automatically assume
that this pair of cute gals possess or can even come by with the aid of
CGI and/or after training by such as Donnie Yen. Consequently, this
(re)viewer was among those who weren’t necessarily that much convinced
that a vampire busting movie with them as the lead females would be a great
idea. Nevertheless, post the announcement back in May 2002 of the
planned production of a summer 2003 blockbuster with precisely these stars
and theme, I could not help but be drawn to check out that which turned
out to also be graced by the likes of Ekin Cheng, Edison Chen, Jackie Chan,
and -- most assuringly, as far as I was concerned -- an Anthony Wong who,
with his three 2002 HKFA Best Supporting Actor nominations (for his work
in “Infernal Affairs”, “Just One Look” and “Princess D”), has shown that
he’s back in top form.
Judging from its being the year’s current top
grosser -- besting Hollywood hits like “The Matrix Reloaded” and “Lord
of the Rings: The Two Towers” along with other local efforts -- in HKSAR
cinemas (as of mid July 2003), many other Hong Kong film fans have felt
the same about THE TWINS EFFECT. For their sakes, it is hoped that
their reactions to this Dante Lam helmed offering are more positive than
those who have damned it as a “Buffy-wannabe [that] sucks” (Ho Ai Li of
the “Singapore Straits Times”) and “has everything but personality and
heart” (“The South China Morning Post”’s Paul Fonoroff). For my part,
I have to thank these professional and other negative critics for their
role in getting me to go into a viewing of this work with the sort of low(ered)
expectations that could only have helped me to enjoy watching this fun
plus entertaining movie as much as I ended up doing.
In any event, and not for the first time, I’d
like to beg to differ with Mr. Fonoroff and counter-suggest that THE TWINS
EFFECT does in fact contain plenty of “personality and heart”. Indeed,
I’d go so far as to opine that these attributes not being in short supply
is what makes a good proportion of this fight-filled effort’s nonetheless
considerable non-action moments able to be more character developing and
less “pure fluff or filler” feeling than they might otherwise have come
across. Similarly, my sense is that these salient twin factors are
what allowed a spirited spat over a cuddly teddy bear (that erupts between
the individuals essayed by the Twins) to be as enthralling as the more
extravagant scenes of combat between vampires and humans that break out
in other parts of this generally well action choreographed production --
and, at the risk of sounding blasphemous(!), even the multi-weapon grudge
match between Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”
characters.
Although they did not feature in THE TWINS EFFECT’s
pretty intense as well as fairly lengthy opening action sequence (that
claimed one notable casualty in Josie Ho’s Lila character, and which Ho
Ai Li actually did recognize to be “impressive”), there should be little
doubt that Charlene Choi (playing Helen, the gregarious sister of Ekin
Cheng’s Reeve character) and the charismatic Gillian Chung (whose Gypsy
character is -- as befits her being a replacement vampire busting assistant
whose immediate predecessor in the position got killed rather than voluntarily
retired -- comparatively more serious, even if just as prone to be romantic
plus idealistic) are the movie’s main suppliers of these elements.
Still, this is not to suggest that others of this multi-star effort’s cast
members were content to stand around and let the titular duo carry that
which might well be characterized as a supernatural action-romantic comedy-drama.
While Ekin Cheng and Edison Chen do have their
share of detractors, my feeling is that they did fine in their THE TWINS
EFFECT roles (of a suitably heroic top vampire buster named Reeve, and
an endearing royal vampire who refuses to suck blood out of people -- and,
instead, only drinks that which has been bottled like wine or is to be
found in blood banks! -- who answers to Kazaf, respectively). At
the risk of over-defending this pair of Cantopop Idols cum actors, I’d
also like to make a case here for their characters not existing in this
picture only as the love interest of the lead females. Instead, Reeve
also has a salient part in establishing and providing personal as well
as professional connections between more than one pair of individuals,
and Prince Kazaf (who is explicably Chinese looking in light of his European
familial origins) turns out to be the main reason why a bunch of Western
vampires (led by Mickey Hardt’s nefarious Duke Dekotes) came to be hanging
about in Hong Kong.
In contrast, the roles accorded Anthony Wong,
Jackie Chan and Karen Mok in THE TWINS EFFECT are ones that might be said,
at least as conceived on paper, to be largely throwaway parts. But
it says much about this trio -- and those who cast plus directed them in
this often playful plus sweet natured fantasy movie -- that they managed
to make their roles more substantial (or, at least, memorable). Thus
it was that: Anthony Wong’s droll Prada character proved to be an interesting,
even if stereotypically faithful, servant of Prince Kazaf; Jackie Chan’s
Jackie Fong character was as amusing as he was as both a harried groom
and even more put upon ambulance driver; and Karen Mok could sparkle in
her cameo performance as a comically inebriated as well as feisty bride
at a wedding which Helen led Kazaf into gate-crashing -- in broad daylight,
with unexpected consequences -- on what was effectively their first date.
My rating for the film: 8.
(Pictures obtained from the Official
Twins Effect website)
A whole bunch of
screen captures from the DVD
I have to admit that I had been looking forward
to this film more than any other Hong Kong film this year - The Twins take
on and kick vampire ass - who could want anything more! To some degree
it met my expectations - The Twins are cuter than blueberry pancakes and
I get a fair amount of pleasure simply wallowing in their cuteness. This
is a strange hybrid of a film though - part action film, part teen idol
film - and it's the second part that has a very hard time keeping up with
the first. Parts of this film are very enjoyable - a large number of action
set pieces that are rollicking fun - but these set pieces are surrounded
by some truly awful film making and poor acting - almost painful to witness
at times.
Whenever something is not moving quickly on
the screen, it is close to a comotose state - watching the romance between
Charlene and Edison develop is akin to having my fingernails pulled out
in slow motion - the same goes for the mild flirtation between Gillian
and Ekin. Much of the comedy is so low key that I wanted to turn up the
volume on my TV - Edison has the pizzazz of a brown bag caught in the rain
- please would someone keep him away from a camera. But these torpid moments
don't really last long - they just feel like it - before some action streaks
across the screen again like a naked man looking for an exit. It begins
with a lengthy sequence as Josie Ho and Ekin take on a den of vampires
in a train station - and it ends with a terrific fight in a church as The
Twins finally team up to take on the gwielo vampires. In between there
are numerous other shorter action scenes - including the enjoyable one
with Jackie Chan. It all adds up to a reasonable amount of entertainment
- but one can't help wishing that the director had brought a bit more oomph
to his in between action scenes. Interestingly - over the end credits a
few scenes play that don't show up in the film - too bad as they look rather
fun - a brother/sister fight and Anthony Wong trying to take a bite out
of his prospective meal!
My rating for this film: 6.5