User reviews

My understanding was that Twins Effect 2 was changed from a proper sequel to the Twins' vampire-busting film to a period film because the (mainland) Chinese authorities wouldn't allow a film to be released that featured "supernatural" elements, such as vampires. I am a bit puzzled now though, because Twins Effect 2 features plenty of supernatural things - no monsters, but lots of magic powers and what-not (and prophecies of destiny etc). It's slightly reminiscent of The Stormriders, but less epic and vastly more juvenile smile.gif

Gillian & Charlene play "Dumbbell Traders" - women who trade in male slaves, in a land ruled by an evil queen where all men are slaves and love is outlawed. Jackie Chan's son and some gawky teenager play two such dumbbells, who come across an artefact that implies one of them might be the true king of the land - thus begins a quest, of sorts, and a love story. Aw, how sweet?

Charlene is in full on sassy mode again, whilst Gillian has the quieter, more serious role (again). The film makes it clear just how much Ah Gil has outgrown Ah Sa in every way - her acting and her appearance are much more mature, and I think the time for the Twins phenomenon must be running out. I think this is the debut film for Jackie Chan's son, and I'm sure nobody is at their best when they're thrust into a leading role for their first performance, but I have to say he comes off especially badly - he has zero acting ability or charisma, and he's sadly inherited his father's looks (but without the talent to compensate). Daniel Wu gives a fairly good performance, and Donnie Yen has presence as a character called "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", but the only really great performance in the film is a hilarious cameo from Leung Ka Fai.

The film does have high production values, with some great sets and costumes, but they're kind of wasted on the juvenile story and direction. There was potentially a great film in here, but not with this cast and crew.

The film does have quite a few fight scenes, choreographed by Donnie Yen I would assume, since they rely heavily on over the top wirework and his personal favourite, digital stuntmen. There are some very innovative wire sequences, but the quality of the computer graphics is very poor, and the digital scenes are very unconvincing and unimpressive. The special effects in this film are actually worse than those in Stormriders. The action scenes also suffer from some major plagiarism - there are lots of moves and shots lifted from any number of Yuen Wo Ping films, which is to be expected from Donnie, but there are also a couple of shots ripped off blatantly from Ryuhei Kitamura's AZUMI. Does he really need to resort to that? Worse still, the highly anticipated Jackie vs Donnie fight is almost a remake of the Donnie vs Jet fight in HERO. How short does he think people's memories are?

All in all, Twins Effect 2 is not a good film - but it has moments that are enjoyable, especially if you think of it as a kid's film, which I guess you have to expect with a vehicle for Twins. Given the time and budget they had for making the film, it's somewhat unforgivable that they didn't do a better job though.

Like in many of their previous movies twins again failed at their latest attempt to portray themselves as serious actors.

Like many of their past movies only true twins fans can really enjoy this movie that lacks a decent plot line. Jaycee Chan (son of Jackie Chan) makes his first and only appearance to date in a film and after seeing his poor performance I recommend that he stick with music.

The only bright part to this poorly made movie is the small appearance of Jackie Chan to add some flavour to this movie.

To all the twins fans out their you would probably enjoy this but to all the other serious movie goers I would not really recommend it.

In the mythical land of Huadu, Charcoal Head, a humble boy born to rule an empire must undertake his journey to claim his throne. It is an epic action adventure combining romance, fantasy, comedy and cutting edge Hong Kong style martial artistry.

While this film had some good humor, a decent plot and some very odd twists and turns (and a running gag about mustaches)... it just fell short for me for one big reason: the special effects. The effects are very well done, much better than the flotsam SyFy pumps out, but it still takes away from the idea of a martial arts movie.

Case in point: Donnie Yen is an amazing martial arts master (as seen in the "Ip Man" films, among others) and in one scene he fights Jackie Chan. Why did this need special effects? Instead of having glorious natural movements, you have to add in cheesy computer graphics and aspects that clearly were not there? Chan and Yen do not require this -- they are (or at least should be) a selling point all their own.

That aside, it was pretty decent. I am unclear about the character "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"... this film seems to borrow from the film of that name (what with the silly flying). But is this an homage? A cheap ripoff? Why use that name within a film that clearly is not connected to the classic, or even on the same level?

Oh well. Still a good movie. Not the best martial arts film, and certainly not the best from Well Go, but worth seeing. It is too bad that American audiences had to wait eight years for this to finally be released... we need more Donnie Yen and Bingbing Fan.

Twins Effect II is about a war between males and females. Nothing to do with vampires so why is it called a sequel? A strong cast of pretty boys and cute girls, this movie has a flawed storyline and badly done CG effects. Considering it is a 2004 movie, the special effects are unacceptable. Even Stormraiders and A Man Called Hero look better than this movie.

Only watch this movie if you are interested to see the poor virgin acting skills of 23 year old lead character, son of Jackie Chan. I wonder if the director was paid to cast him in the movie instead of the other way.

Mao points: 5/10

When I saw the trailer of "Fa Dou Daai Jin", I found it very attractive, with many special effects, wonderful landscapes and a nice cast and I decided to watch this movie on video. Unfortunately the screenplay is very silly and confused, never working as a comedy or an action movie. The acting is awful, especially Charlene Choi and her constant smile and Jaycee Chan. The name of Jackie Chan in the credits is only to attract his fans and sell the movie, since he has a very short participation of a few minutes. In the end, I found this boring movie a complete mess and waste of time. Directors Patrick Leung and Corey Yuen should know that a great budget and special effects alone do not make a good movie. My vote is two.

Title (Brazil): "A Dinastia da Espada" ("The Dynasty of the Sword")

I am a pretty big martial arts fan. Unfortunately I usually don't buy any movies without seeing them or doing a little research on them. I'm embarrassed to say that I bought it based on the cool box....I saw Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan on the cool cover so I thought there was no loosing with this DVD. Boy was I wrong. This must be the lamest and most boring movie I have seen in the past years. The plot sucks, the action sucks, the scenery sucks...its just SUCKS! If you see this movie thinking that you're going to see Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan you're mistaken...they have minimal roles in this film. About 5 minutes combined.....4 for Donnie and 1 for Jackie. BUUUUUUUUUUU

Over the years, I've come to accept that an intelligent plot isn't always high on the priority list for many martial arts films, but rarely have I seen such a humongous pile of random claptrap as Blade of Kings. About two minutes into the film and I was completely lost, dumbfounded by the rapid succession of seemingly unconnected elements thrown at the viewer with little or no concern for narrative cohesion or logic.

Amazonians who all look Chinese, the fabled sword Excalibur, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, the Star of Rex, the Lord of Armoury, The Haunted City, cave people with fake fangs, women with moustaches, men who turn into women, a mystical stone plaque, a really bad CGI hawk: just some of the nonsensical garbage that goes to make up what is easily the worst film to feature either Donnie Yen or Jackie Chan. Hell, I'm willing to bet that this must also be one of the lamest movies to star 'The Twins', Charlene Choi and Gillian Chung.

Yen's fight against Chan (who plays a living statue) is, unsurprisingly, the highlight of the whole film, but when the rest of the kung fu is so lame, all enhanced by wires and crappy computer effects, that really isn't saying much. I'm not a quitter when it comes to bad films, but half an hour into this incomprehensible dreck and I have never been so sorely tempted to hit the stop button. 1/10

Okay, so it wasn't the best thing ever saved to celluloid, but it is not so terrible as some reviewers may claim. I was interested in seeing this film for two reasons: 1) Jaycee made his acting debut and I was quite curious as to what he could do and 2) Donnie Yen vs. Jackie Chan. Now, Jaycee has a ways to go yet, certainly... he had, I think, all of one expression for most of the movie, but he's riding in on dad's coattails (he's Jackie Chan's son) and it's his debut. I think he may have potential, he just needs some refining. There were also some problems within the set itself, i.e., Jackie nearly bowed out because his son starred in the film and he didn't want to cast any shadows on his boy's beginning. I'm glad that didn't happen, personally, but I do admit the anxiously awaited Yen vs. Chan fight was a bit of a disappointment; it had no real relevance to the movie at all and looks like the moral struggle Jackie faced (the 'should I even be in this movie?' problem) reflected here. Jaycee and Jackie are not in the same scenes and the guest appearance by Jackie ends up seeming more like a hand out than anything.

The Twins are the Twins- what did you expect? Despite that, I find myself actually liking these girls, against my better judgment. Daniel Wu plays the most interesting and tragic character in his usual style. The premise of the movie? A woman has her heart broken because she finds her boyfriend and identical twin sister cheating on her. Of course, the man (played by Wu) had been lied to by the twin and didn't know he was cheating (think they were just caught kissing, actually), but that means nothing. The broken-hearted woman magically imprisons her sister and has the man castrated. They both end up serving her and aid her rise to power. She becomes ruler of her own city where the men are enslaved and sold as beasts of burden. Loving relationships between the sexes are outlawed and it is up to Jaycee's character to free the city and restore balance and natural relations, where all are equal and no one sex is subjugated by another. I think he was a 'Chosen One' type, who's coming had been foretold or some such.

Lots of action, and it's not BAD, just noticeably CGI, which is distracting. We're used to being 'above' that kind of amateur special effects works by now. Makes me think the budget was used up by the starring cast. The movie had its moments, it's worth a rental at least, but it's not so terrible that it needs to be avoided upon pain of death as some might have you believe. If nothing else, it's colorful and lively; just don't expect an epic blockbuster, take the movie with a grain of salt (it is supposed to be a spoof), and you'll come out all right.

This film reminded me of Halloween 3. Remember? The third film that had nothing to do with the continuing storyline of Michael Myers. Thats pretty much what this film does... takes the same title from an entertaining first film and slaps it onto a film with a completely different story.

Apparently, the Twins Effect films are not supposed to have any continuity because it's just a franchise vehicle to market these popular HK twin celebrities. Which is sad, because the first film was entertaining. This film is just strange and more so comedic. In laymens terms, women have taken over the world and an evil woman sorcerer wants to change all the remaining men in the world into women as well. I honestly found myself fast forwarding a lot in this film because I kept getting so disinterested with the plot. Which upsets me because I love HK films and rarely do that. I even bought this film based on the fact I loved the first one... but I'm sadly selling it off. It's not that much of a keeper. This film has only one good scene, the cameo fight scene with Jackie Chan. Which you can find that entire fight online somewhere without having to watch this film.

Another movie containing the world's most adorable twins -- as far as I'm concerned anyway...

Although I had expected better after seeing The Vampire Effect, The Huadu Chronicles is a fun romp, in the classic styles of old HK movies. The jokes are crude but funny.

As for fight scenes, the first action scene is horribly done. Charlene and Gillian don't put on a very good show, and it doesn't really have anything to do with the plot. The story starts to take shape however about 20 or 30 minutes in, and Charcoal Head and Block Head, are lovable characters.

Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan's fight scene doesn't work at all however. I don't know why they are even in the movie. It's drawn out, filled with either bad wire-work or bad cg effects making the characters do unrealistic flying. I don't dislike flying in other movies, but this was just done badly. It also doesn't contribute to the humor of the movie or the storyline at all.

Overall, see it when you've got a few hours to spare for some mindless fun. For the movie, I'd only give it a 6 out of 10.

As for Gillian Chung on the other hand, 10 out of 10 easy.

What a terrible film, i think Jackie Chan's sons career has ended before it even began. He's just retarded in comparison to his father, uglier, has no style, has no ability, is more sickening rather than cute... Storyline was awful. The twins although looking good, just don't make up for the poor movie, unfunny comedy scenes, strange characters for the given actors. I dunno whether the storyline was supposed to be funny or serious in that fact that the evil queen was turning men to women... a wasted all start cast in a flop of a movie. Worth watching just to see how bad it is. The movie looked fun to make, but it sure was no fun to watch.

The CGI effect and the costume and production value is certainly better than the first one thanks to the success of Vampire Effects. Though what this movie lack is some good male acting (except Daniel Wu) and the whole idea of the battle of sexes was lame. In the first movie i thought Jackie Chan cameo was hilarious in this one he was cool. The fight scene between him and Donnie Yen was awesome, i don't recall them fighting before. But wish they did. Experience actors like Ekin Cheng and Edisen Chen for sure did a whole better job than newcomer JC Chan and Wilson Chen. Those people lack emotion and very one dimensional at this point.

This movie was boring thank largely to the twins acting and their cuteness. It was entertaining but the fight scene weren't has good has the first one (too much CGI). I have to say the first one edge out the second one in term of plot and more better actors. BTW Tony Leung Ka Fai (who particularly in half of the movies this years) did a terrific job in this movie, he's sooo funny. He need more of those roles like back in the 90s.

Last year's Twins Effect was surely one of the worst movies of the year, due to its corny dialouge, laughable action sequences and lack of plot. This year, it looks like Twins Effect 2 will have almost the same honour. Only the HK movie industry could manage to churn out nonsensical sequels one after another.

On to the plot: The leads, Twins play citizens of a kingdom in which men are slaves and women are the rulers. They help a guy fight the female emperor. End of story.

Nothing really makes any much sense in this movie, it suffers from the same faults as the first one. The saving grace is probably Jackie Chan's cameo, in which there is a brilliant fight sequence.

My recommendation: Only hardcore fans of Jacky Chan/Twins will watch this crap.

1/10

Review: I quite enjoyed this epic adventure, because of the funny characters and the, somewhat, unique storyline. During a time when men and women are not allowed to mix and the women are the superior race, a pair of brothers, Charcoal (Jaycee Chan) and Blockhead (Bo-lin Chen), work in a travelling show for Master Blackwood (Tony Ka Fai Leung) and they get handed a mysterious stone with a map engraved on it. With the help of 2 attractive girls, Blue Bird and the 13th Master, they follow the map to try and get the treasure. As females are not allowed to have relationships with men, they fight there feelings and try to keep to the task in hand but there true feelings soon start to show and there love for each other helps them through there many battles that lay ahead. They then come across a sword, which can only be touched by the true king and when Charcoal takes hold of the sword, his travelling companions realise that he is the only person who can kill the Queen and bring civilisation back to normal. Charcoal isn't very happy with his new role as king, but when his loved one is kidnapped by the evil Queen, he builds an army to help him and Blockhead on there mission. After rescuing there Blue and the 13th Master, Charcoal uses his mighty sword, which has many powers, to bring love back into his village and to kill the evil Queen. It was an unusual storyline which I did find a bit weird at first, especially when the women were selling men for money but once the mission gets going and the relationships start to blossom between the four adventurers, it's quite enjoyable. The string movements during the action scenes were ridiculous but the witty script saved the day. My expectations for the movie wasn't that high, especially when I saw that I had to read subtitles but I, surprisingly, got into there epic journey and I couldn't help rooting for the couples to get it on, even though they weren't allowed to show there true feelings for each other. The glossy scenery and chemistry between the characters, added to this well put together movie which definitely gets the thumbs up from me. Enjoyable!

Round-Up: This movie was directed by Corey Yuen who brought you No Retreat, No Surrender I & II, Above The Law, The Legend I & II with Jet Li, Red Dragon, The Defender, The Enforcer, The Transporter with Jason Statham and the Avenging Fist. It was also directed by Patrick Leung but he hasn't got any popular movies to his name. They done a great job with this film because it does have something for everyone but the action scenes really did let the film down. Jaycee Chan, 33, is the son of Jackie Chan so I wasn't surprised to see Jackie play a small role in the movie. I liked Donnie Yen's character, General Lone but you don't get to find out anything about his past. Anyway, I found a lot of the film quite amusing and I would watch it again.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/adventure/comedies starring Charlene Choi, Jaycee Chan. Bo-lin Chen, Donnie Yen, Daniel Wu and Jackie Chan. 7/10

I'm a pure martial arts movie (and Donnie Yen) fan and certainly have to admit I too, long anticipated the fight between Donnie and Jackie (since Shanghai Noon sequel Shanghai Knights). As my heading goes, that is the only reason i bought the DVD to collect. Jackie's opening appearance was kinda makes you say "What the xxxx…??!" However, once again under Donnie's coaching, Twins did an excellent performance in their martial arts action sequences (and they surely grew prettier as well), while Jaychee looked real wimpy in the movie that seriously made me wanna swear and yell "did somebody mentioned that this kid is Jackie's son?" Real disappointment for a debut. Perhaps that's supposed to be deliberate cos he wanted to prove to the world that he does not wish to follow his father's footsteps as an action star? Another character worth mentioning is Chan Pak Lum in his role as Blockhead, appeared funny and entertaining.