Double Impact (1991)

I remember this one like it was yesterday; one of the earliest Van Damme vehicles that actually involved something approaching a modest budget (well, they total two Mercedes in one scene) and a script!

What this film did right was the inclusion of multiple villains, necessary not only because there are two Van Dammes, but because all of the classic martial arts films involved many enemies as well. Recurring VD villains include Peter Malota (the Spanish fighter in later film "The Quest"), whose blue-lit kickboxing scene with Jean-Claude is one of the best in recent memory, and famed "Enter The Dragon" baddie (and longtime martial arts staple) Bolo Yeung.

It helps that Van Damme also has veteran character actor Geoffrey Lewis on board; that kind of gruff, Sam Elliott presence makes up for a lot of acting acumen that is lacking in the rest of the cast. Peter Scarfe stars as the embodiment of evil, and Alonna Shaw as the embodiment.

The pacing is good; the script has some howlers, and the shooting locations are to die for. Look for a very early cameo by Julie Strain!

Double Impact is one of Van Damme's finest moments on the action film-arena. It delivers what it must to succeed, namely tons of great fighting scenes, which is what Van-Damme-movies are all about (well, almost). If you want to rent an old action flick, this is one of them you should get.

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While I realize it may be hard for most people to stomach Jean-Claude Van Damme, in this movie you get two of him. Granted it's JCVD playing two different characters in the vein of Parent Trap or Multiplicity, but he somehow manages to play two different characters well enough to make me suspend my disbelief. The movie looks like it is from the 80's even though it was made in 1991, it has odd hair styles and costume design that was prominent in 1980's cinema. As expected, there are lots of hand to hand combat scenes which are well shot, as is most of the movie. This movie was primarily shot on location in Hong Kong and at times this movie looks brilliant. Some of the acting is cheese but the main actors do a solid job, particularly Geoffrey Lewis who plays out one of his best performances to date. This movie has an awesome sex scene with female nudity, great action with hand to hand combat and gun shoot outs, as well as a foot chase (something most films don't do enough of anymore) and really stands out as an amazing 1990's B grade action film. I realize this isn't classic cinema or art, but this movie is at the other end of the spectrum of film and is as equally important, it's pure escapism and entertainment. Seeing a naked hot chick, dudes get scissor kicked in the chest, and people shot in the face by TWO Jean-Claude Van Dammes in Hong Kong, is a great way to spend two hours forgetting about how much real life is a disappointment. On Blu-Ray this movie looks better than its previous iterations on VHS and DVD. Film grain is kept and the transfer is otherwise pretty clean. There are some muddy and soft edges here and there, but the detail is great and sharp and this is probably the best this film will ever look as I don't see Criterion adding this to their catalog or anyone re-mastering restoring the original negative at any point in time.

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The Jean Claude Van Damme Review Matrix (JCVD-RM)

1.Who is he? He's two guys! Identical twins separated at birth by the Chinese mafia, one, Chad, is a silk underwear-wearing pretty boy from Los Angeles, and the other, Alex, is a criminal from Hong Kong. Amazingly, they both grew up to be martial arts experts.

2.Which family member/friend must be avenged? Their parents are murdered by the same Chinese mafia

3.Does he take his shirt off? Bolo Yeung rips Chad's shirt off during a fight sequence

4.Does he have sex with a C-List actress? Yes. Actually, his sex scene with the beautiful Alonna Shaw is worthy of late-night skinemax fame.

5.Is there a tournament? Sadly, no.

6.Is training needed for this tournament? Perhaps some firearms training should have taken place, but aside from that, no.

7.Does he do the splits in training or in the tournament? When teaching/training a class for aerobics, or something, he dons some spandex and displays the goods for the ladies. He tells them that the splits are easy because of his big legs and karate.

8.Does he punch someone in the balls? Yes, Chad jab-kicked Bolo Yeung in the jewels during the final fight which was clearly revenge for the nut-chop Bolo delivered to Chad's family jewels earlier in the movie.

9.Does he do a series of flying or 360 kicks? Let's just say that he can use the marks on Bolo Yeung's jawline for his next boot fitting

10.Is his enemy unbeatable? It's Peter Malota and Bolo Yeung. Plus, Bolo has a glass eye, and a career record of 0-1 previous to this movie. So, challenging? Yes. Unbeatable? Probably not.

11.Does he overcome an injury or other hindrance? Not only does he have to battle Peter Malota, Bolo Yeung, Cory Everson, and poor night-vision, but during one fight scene Donkey Kong apparently begins to throw barrels at Chad.

12.Does he win? Without the help of electricity, I have no doubt Bolo Yeung would have won. However, JCVDx2 manages to avenge their parents and claim their stole inheritance by taking down the entire Chinese syndicate.

So, this one goes slightly outside the typical JCVD flick, but the overall impression is positive. In spite of himself, he actually portrays a bad guy or a hardened criminal fairly well. I especially appreciated perhaps the best snot-rocket scene in cinema history the lighting is stupendous. Ignoring the whole JCVD angle, this one is actually a decent movie with some rather funny dialogue with several gratuitous F-bombs.

Want Double Impact (1991) Discount?

Jean-Claude Van Damme was making the best of his films in the beginning to the middle of the 90's.Death Warrant started out his action hero character and after that hit box offices Van Damme went full throttle in a number of other great action adventures.So we come to Double Impact,a film directed by Van Dammes long time buddy Sheldon Lettich.Two Van Dammes are always better than one,but now in 2003 if an action star duplicates himself,it's just downright stupid,action audiences have seen that combination way to much in recent years.But Double Impact was one of the first to do it,and to this day Double Impact is one of the best downright action films.Van Dammes acting is good and his cheorographed fight scenes are clever and original.This film deserves it's props and I'm here to give Van Damme his due,way to go!

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