The Twins Effect II (2004)

Too much of everything

best movie i've ever seen.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

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

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")

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.

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.