The Twins Effect 2 (2004)

This movie was filled with pretty people who for the most part couldn't act. It had the obvious Chosen One story line. Lots of garishly bright colors filled the screen. Of course, there was an evil queen who was evil because a loved one betrayed her causing her to take it out on the people, especially men. To call it trite would give trite a bad name.

Honestly, this movie annoyed me so much it's hard to write a review. I may never get Charlene Choi's screaming out of my head.

The basic plot is that an evil queen ruled the land with an iron fist. It's fantasy kung fu land where people can shape shift and use special powers. Donnie Yen showed up in a small role to find The Chosen One and also to find Excalibur so that the rightful male king could kill the queen and rule as was proper. He didn't have much to do with the exception of one big CGI enhanced fight with Jackie Chan in an even smaller role. What was the name of the character Donnie play? Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Again with the complete lack of originality.

One of the main leads was Jackie's son, Jaycee Chan, who was as interesting to watch as a wet blanket. Wilson Chen played his buddy, Blockhead. Don't laugh, Jaycee's character's name was Charcoal Head. One of these two doofuses was future royalty, if I'd been Donnie I would have had to reevaluate how bad the queen really was. Jillian Chung played the cold Blue Bird, it would only take a man to warm her heart. The aforementioned Charlene Choi played the Dumbell/male slave seller out to make money. The women were supposed to be skilled in martial arts, but at the first sign of trouble screamed and hid behind the men. A feminist's dream this movie was not, ultimately if any good came out of a situation it was because a man handled the problem.

The four main characters simply could not carry this movie due to the actors' limited skills. It reminded me of cheaply made fantasy television show where all the actors had to do was look pretty and wait for the stuntmen/stuntwomen to jump in and do the heavy lifting for the fight scenes. The scenery and sets were beautiful and you could tell the producers had sunk some cash into them. CGI and wire work were used extensively in the fight scenes with mixed results. In 2004 the CGI should have been better.

I'm sure I wasn't in the age demographic this movie was aimed at which may explain why it was so irritating to me. Your experience may vary depending on how many Chosen One stories you've seen and whether you find the leads attractive or likeable. For me the only scene that I found remotely entertaining was the fight between Donnie and Jackie and five minutes out of 105 hardly made it worth it.

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