The Twins Effect II (2004)

Excellent but underrated film

Absolutely Fantastic

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

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

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.

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.