One of the most demanding roles of Jean-Claude Van Damme occurred early in his career. “Demanding” in that particular case didn’t relate to his martial arts or physical skills as much as his attempt to prove himself as an actor who, despite lack of conventional training, could play serious roles. This experiment resulted in Double Impact, 1991 action film directed by Sheldon Lettich.
The plot begins in 1966 Hong Kong where businessman Paul Wagner (played by Andy Armstrong) gets assassinated with his wife Katherine (played by Sarah-Jane Varley) shortly after finishing lucrative construction project. Wagner’s bodyguard Frank Avery (played by Geoffrey Lewis) arrives at the scene too late to save the couple, but prevents assassins from killing their infant twin sons. Boys, however, get separated and twenty five years later one of them, Chad (played by Jean-Claude Van Damme) is martial arts instructor in posh Los Angeles dojo co-owned by Frank; the other, Alex (also played by Jean-Claude Van Damme) has grown up on the streets of Hong Kong and now earns his living as petty smuggler. Frank has managed to track down Alex and brings Chad to Hong Kong not only to reunite the brother but also help them avenge their parents’ deaths and claim their family’s inheritance. In their way stay Nigel Griffith (played by Alan Scarfe), British businessman who has taken over Wagner’s project together with his silent partner, Triad boss Raymond Zhang (played by Philip Chan). Things can get complicated when Alex’s girlfriend Danielle Wilde (played by Alonna Shaw), an employee in Griffith’s company, mistakenly takes Chad for Alex, making the other brother instantly jealous.
The project had origins and planned adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic story The Corsican Brothers, but it ultimately got off ground when Jean-Claude Van Damme, who would co-write script with Lettich, saw it as an opportunity to show his developing acting skills by playing two different characters in the film, many times in the same scene. Technical challenge was met well by Lettich who provided illusion without help of fancy CGI technology that is used nowadays in similar scenes; instead he relied on clever editing, body doubles and old school but effective use of split screens. Unfortunately, their script wasn’t as inventive as it could have been – characters of Chad and Alex were reduced to stereotypes (one brother is “soft”, “classy” and relies on martial arts; the other is “hard”, “raw” and relies on guns). Lettich and Van Damme also couldn’t have resisted temptation to have a scene when two brother fight each other and because of that they had to develop instant sibling rivalry based on farcical misunderstanding and jealousy that appears in the most inopportune moment. However, that means little to Van Damme’s fans who would probably enjoy that and many other good fight scenes. Lettich had decent budget at his disposal and also have put Hong Kong locations and local talents at good use. Van Damme, despite problems with script, delivers decent acting job and the rest of cast is also mostly good. That includes veteran character actor Geoffrey Lewis, as well as Allan Scarfe and highly respected Hong Kong actor Phillip Chan as villain. Allona Shaw, on the other hand, is reduced to eye candy and has further humiliation in appearing in laughable sex fantasy scene that features some gratuitous nudity. Cast hired for their martial arts skills fares much better, including legendary Bollo Yeung who played one of the memorable villains in Enter the Dragon who plays one of the most formidable of Zhang’s henchmen. Good impression is also left by female bodybuilder Cory Everson in the role of Griffith’s henchwoman, especially in the scenes when she intimidates hapless Danielle in sexual way, adding just enough “trashy” quality for Double Impact to serve as guilty pleasure. Although it failed in convincing critics of Van Damme’s acting abilities, this film had more than decent results at box office and even more impressive results at home video, helping him become major action star of 1990s. Despite its shortcoming, it is well-made piece of entertainment that can be recommended not only to Van Damme’s fans but also to other action film enthusiasts who don’t expect too much.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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