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.
A whole bunch more
screen captures from the DVD
Brian's Short Review
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