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Double Impact (1991)

Rate: 6
Viewed: 8/12, 12/21

DoubleI
8/12: I remember Double Impact when it came out and how cool it was to see Jean-Claude Van Damme twice on the same screen.

But now, it's annoying because of the obvious horrible white shadow around one of them. I'm sure the editors put the two overlapping reels together and played them as one. Well, the movie is boring due to the running length which is thirty minutes too long.

Once again, Van Damme teams up with Bolo Yeung for the second time, and Bolo plays a villain for the hundredth time, doing the same routine (always using some sign language/gestures during the fight) for the thousandth time, and losing/dying for the millionth time. Hey, I like him, but...enough is enough.

There isn't much of a story which contains the same mindless Van Damme stuff I've seen many times before. The funniest scene has to be Alex getting drunk while having an overactive imagination. Corinna Everson, who stars as the henchwoman with lots of muscles, is indeed a six-time Miss Olympia champion.

All in all, Double Impact is a typical kung fu Van Damme picture, allowing him to flex his muscles frequently.

12/21: I remember how cool it was to see Jean-Claude Van Damme twice in Double Impact.

What they did with him was revolutionary although Dead Ringers came first and I wasn't aware of it back then (the movie didn't do well at the box office anyway). I had a hard time finding the trick in many scenes although there were a few that used superimposition. No matter what, I was sold. Today, the novelty holds up well. Van Damme still does a good job, and it's a credit to his acting range.

However, Double Impact deserves a weak rating of '6' which is better than '4' based on the last time I saw it. The main issue is that there's too much action. The movie runs for 110 minutes which is overlong in my book for a low-budget martial action film. Make it twenty minutes shorter, and we might have a winner. Then again, it's average in many ways although the story isn't bad.

The funniest scene is Alex's overactive imagination of what Chad would do to his girlfriend, causing him to be drunk in the process. But it's still the same guy she's screwing! I'm sure the alternative is a lot worse: doing it with somebody who doesn't look like him. Seeing Bolo Yeung again as the villain is tiresome. I suppose it's the only way he could find steady acting work.

All in all, too much Jean-Claude Van Damme isn't the problem in Double Impact, but the constant mundane action is.