DOUBLE IMPACT (1991)
There was a time when you couldn’t escape the movie making machine that is Jean-Claude Van Damme. But honestly, who wanted to? Come on, the man has it all—a great body, pretty boy good looks, badass fighting moves and to top it all off a charming personality. Fans, including me, could never get enough of him. So of course, one of our favorites would be a movie where he plays identical twins so we get twice as much of him.
In DOUBLE IMPACT, Van Damme plays Chad and Alex Wagner, twins separated as babies when their parents were murdered. Chad is saved by the family’s bodyguard, Frank (Geoffrey Lewis), while the maid escapes with Alex and drops him off at a Hong Kong orphanage. 25 years later, Frank tracks down Alex and drags Chad along with him to Hong Kong. He tells them how their father’s business partner, Nigel Griffith (Alan Scarfe), used Triad money to finance the Victoria Harbour Tunnel they opened together and then set up the hit on him.
He wants them to work together to take down Griffith and claim the royalties owed to their family. While Frank tries to make it seem like he’s looking out for the twins and that they’re doing the “right” thing, it seems more like this is a personal vendetta and he’s out for revenge. Guilt can be a damn good motivator, and with the shitty job he did of being a bodyguard, he’s got plenty of it. Not only did he let the twins' parents die, he pretty much abandoned Alex. Did he even try to find him when he was still a baby? How did it take 25 years to find him? Plus, he doesn’t have much of a plan and no way to prove anything. His comeback when asked for proof by Alex’s girlfriend is “I was there.” Yeah, I’m sure that will hold up in court.
In a not so surprising twist, the girlfriend, Danielle (Alonna Shaw), works for Nigel so the responsibility and risk of finding proof falls on her. The movie follows a pretty standard formula, it’s not exactly groundbreaking. It starts with the whole identical twin/mistaken identity situations. When the two finally meet they are so different they can barely get along, it’s going to be impossible for them to work together. But of course, they’ll eventually put aside their differences to save the day.
No, not exactly unique, but still entertaining. Van Damme does a good job of really embodying the two different men. Chad is pretty much what you expect of a Chad. He's a privileged pretty boy that’s lived an easy life and he’s kind of goofy. While Alex, having to fend for himself his whole life is a serious tough guy. While Chad has a very colorful Miami Vice kind of look, Alex is always decked out in black. The standout quirk is Alex’s constant cigar smoking. However, clothing and quirks aside they definitely feel like two distinct characters.
It’s always kind of weird revisiting films from the ‘90s. I was still just a kid and, while I remember watching them, I really can’t trust my memory. Usually there are things I’d totally forgotten about or things I remembered that weren’t exactly right. I’ve found that a lot of times different movies ended up blending together in my head, especially when you have a major star like Van Damme that dominated specific genres.
For example, I was honestly shocked by lack of splits in this movie. In my head that was a major feature of every single one of JCVD’s films. Thankfully there was at least one obligatory split, which is kind of a really glorious one. It’s a shot from behind with him in spandex and he even does a suggestive little rocking motion. (Yes, I’m totally objectifying him and I don’t care.) But I have to say it was a bit disappointing, I was really looking forward to including a split count.
The one thing I can always count on forgetting is how bad some of the special effects were. Thankfully, this movie didn’t have many major effects, except for the side-by-side shots of the twins. That's were both men appear to pop out with like glowing halo around them. For the time it wasn’t bad, but being so used to modern tech that makes everything appear seamless, the older stuff just seems so laughable. It actually doesn’t look bad, but it stands out.
The other thing about revisiting ‘90s movies is the odd trends, stereotypes, and tropes of the era. Of course, the fashion choices are always questionable. I could be wrong, but I also remember there being a streak of movies featuring a female henchman, but not like a sexy femme fatale. They were always like the head enforcer and were kind of masculine. Then of course there’s the kind of problematic racial stereotypes and generally shitty narratives reflected on communities of color.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that they are very obvious feature of this movie. Kind of like how they managed to make a movie set in China, yet the story revolves completely around a cast of white characters. Or better yet, how the only Chinese characters are the members of the Triad gang. Yeah, sure one of the big bads is a rich white guy. In some ways that kind of makes it worse because he’s not portrayed as a gangster or a thug. He has the appearance of a legit businessman while behind the scenes he’s the one who pulls all the strings and uses the Chinese gang to do his dirty work. But then again that speaks to some real truths.
In the end, I try not to focus on the negative aspects or take it too seriously. Nobody is looking for a deep socially conscious story when they decide to watch an action movie. Overall, DOUBLE IMPACT is a fun movie to watch. It’s got double the Van Damme, plenty of fighting, some explosions, a sexy moment or two, and a decent story. You really can’t—and shouldn’t—ask for much more.
