Director: Dante Lam

Starring: Charlene Choi, Gillian Chung, Edison Chen, Anthony Wong, Mickey Hardt

Featuring: Ekin Cheng, Josie Ho, Jackie Chan, Karen Mok

The Twins Effect is much more than just a starring vehicle for Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi of the perky pop singing duo, Twins, as it is also a rip-roaring good time and an adrenalin boost powerful enough to rupture arteries and induce massive heart failure among people of ailing health.

This film is basically pure entertainment in every sense of the word, and not only does it start off with one of the most wickedly cool opening sequences in recent cinema history, where Ekin Cheng and Josie Ho go head to head with two dozen vampires at a Hong Kong train station, but it also gives you an even more wickedly cool showdown come time for the grand finale, where these two girls take on the big bad like you’ve never seen it done before. There is also a great deal of hilarity and excitement to enjoy in-between these two tent-pole events, and all though the film does take a slight detour into a romantically tinged subplot near the end of the first act, it still manages to keep things fun and fresh and is right back on track before you know it.

The film also features a handful of familiar faces in bit parts, including the one and only Jackie Chan, and all though Jackie’s first appearance during a wedding reception feels a bit superfluous and strained, it is still good for a few laughs and is ultimately made unmissable by the high jinks of a very heavily intoxicated Karen Mok. His second appearance, though, as the unlucky ambulance driver that suddenly finds himself in the middle of a vampire street brawl, is a hoot and a half and is yet another example of what an incredible performer he is. In the main roles, Ekin Cheng delivers a solid performance as Reeve, the veteran vampire hunter and sister of one of the girls, and so does Edison Chen as Kasaf, the vampire prince that’s on the run from The Duke of Dekotes. The ones that make the biggest impression upon The Twins Effect, though, are not surprisingly Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi, and of the two, Gillian Chung is probably the biggest standout, as she moves with the grace of water and the force of a hurricane during the fight sequences, and is very natural and just plainly likable during the more dramatic exchanges.

Bootmaster Donnie Yen is credited as both action choreographer and co-director of The Twins Effect, and it shows, as this film possesses a style, grace and energy that very few other martial artists and filmmakers out there could possibly bring to a project of this kind. The director, Dante Lam, is also deserving of praise, of course, as there are plenty of scenes that bear evidence of his hard work, as well. The cinematography of Man Po Cheung is another area in which the film shines, and when you add that to the editing of Ki-Hop Chan, the production designs of Bill Liu, the fantastic make-up and visual effects, and the highly bombastic score that kicks in whenever the action heats up, then odds are you’ll be leafing through volumes upon volumes of dictionaries in search of an adequate expression of praise, and that you’ll be wanting to superglue your eyelids to your forehead before watching the whole thing again, just to make sure you didn’t miss anything the first time around.

The Twins Effect is most definitely a guilty pleasure, as it is not a cinematic masterpiece nor a raving success among critics, but who the heck gives a damn, cause despite what flaws there may be, it is still an immensely funny, exciting and cool movie that, in all honesty, won me over completely.

Film Review by: Daniel Messer

You can buy this DVD now at: www.hongkong-store.com