Twin Dragons

Twin Dragons (also known as Shuang long hui and Brother vs. Brother)[2] is a 1992 Hong Kong action comedy film directed by Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark, and starring Jackie Chan in a double role as identical twin brothers separated at birth.

This article is about the 1992 film. For other uses, see Twin Dragon (disambiguation).

Twin Dragons
Hong Kong film poster
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese雙龍會
Simplified Chinese双龙会
Directed byRingo Lam
Tsui Hark
Written byBarry Wong
Tsui Hark
Joe Cheung
Wong Yik
Teddy Robin
Produced byTeddy Robin
Ng See-Yuen
Starring
CinematographyArthur Wong
Wong Wing-Hung
Edited byMarco Mak
Music byLowell Lo
Barrington Pheloung
Michael Wandmacher
Production
companies
Hong Kong Film Directors Guild
Distant Horizons
Distributed byGolden Harvest
Media Asia Distribution Ltd.
Release date
  • 15 January 1992 (1992-01-15)
Running time
104 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguagesCantonese
English
Box officeUS$46.9 million[1]

Plot

In 1965, a Hong Kong couple (Sylvia Chang and James Wong) are doting on their newborn identical twin boys. Meanwhile, a dangerous gang leader named Crazy Kung (Kirk Wong) is being transported as a captive in the same hospital. Crazy Kung escapes and attempts to take one of the twins hostage, and in the ensuing chaos the twins are permanently separated. One of the twins, named Ma Yau, is taken to America by his parents and grows up to be a concert pianist and conductor. The other twin, Ma Wan, is found and raised by an alcoholic woman named Tsui (Mabel Cheung), and becomes a street racer and martial artist named Bok Min. For years, neither of them is aware that he has an identical twin brother.

26 years later, the twins' (Jackie Chan) lives intersect again: Bok Min and his best friend Tarzan (Teddy Robin) get mixed up with a dangerous gang, while Ma Yau prepares to conduct a major concert in Hong Kong. In addition, the twins gain romantic interests: Bok Min meets Barbara (Maggie Cheung), a club singer Tarzan is interested in, and Yau becomes acquainted with Tong Sum (Nina Li Chi), a young woman from a respectable family who has a secret passion for fighter types. Eventually, the twins meet and discover that they share a strange connection with each other. As a result, a string of comedic mix-ups ensues when Ma Yau is accidentally enlisted by the gangsters to participate as an escape driver in the liberation of none other than Crazy Kung; Bok Min in turn is forced to conduct Yau's concert (which becomes a smash hit despite him having absolutely no musical talent); and the two of them end up with the other's girl as their respective love interest.

Eventually, things come to a head when the gangsters kidnap Tarzan to make Ma Yau surrender a briefcase meant for Crazy Kung, which Ma Yau had accidentally nabbed. The twins join up to defeat the gang that has turned their lives upside down, and in a showdown in a vehicle testing center Crazy Kung dies in a runaway crash test car. The film ends with the impending double wedding of the twins to their girls and Bok Min's introduction to his real parents; but when Bok Min gets cold feet and Ma Yau goes looking for him, a final gag falls into place when the wedding guests catch the two twins together and are unable to tell them apart.

Cast

Production

According to co-director Tsui Hark, Ringo Lam handled most of the action scenes in the film.[3] The action in the film has a larger focus on actual martial arts than on Jackie Chan's usual comedic style.[3]

Music

Ma Yau's Concert depicted in the movie is the Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture, by Mikhail Glinka.

Release

The film received an American release on 9 April 1999 in a dubbed version.[3] The American release of the film cuts 16 minutes of scenes involving Wong Jing and Lau Kar-leung in a hospital and a fantasy scene involving Maggie Cheung singing.[3]

Reception

Box office

On the film's release in Hong Kong, Twin Dragons was the ninth highest-grossing film of the year, earning HK$33,225,134 during its theatrical run.[3] In Taiwan, it was the twelfth top-grossing film of 1992, earning NT$27,972,400.[4] In Japan, the film grossed ¥545 million.[5] In South Korea, it was the third top-grossing film of 1992, selling 768,951 tickets and grossing US$3.46 million.[6]

Upon release in North America, the film grossed US$8,332,431 in the United States,[3] ending its North American run with a total of US$8,359,717 in the United States and Canada.[7] In total, the film grossed US$46,861,333 worldwide,[1] equivalent to US$86,265,362 adjusted for inflation.[8]

Critical response

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 54, based on 15 reviews.[9] The Austin Chronicle gave the film a positive review of three and a half stars out of five, noting that the film is "only for those who are fully on the bus with Jackie's approach...and who won't let a little bad (okay, execrable) English-language dubbing get in the way of their movie enjoyment."[10] The A.V. Club gave a positive review, but noted that it "probably won't make anyone forget Dragons Forever, Wheels On Meals, Project A, or any number of other excellent Chan films"[11] Some reviews critiqued the special effects, such as in Variety which noted "the camera trickery is glaringly cheesy in some shots, greatly undercutting the illusion of twin brothers in the same frame. When the two brothers first meet in a hotel lavatory, it's easy to see how two shots have been overlapped."[12] TV Guide gave the film one star out of four, noting that it "suffers from some very dicey twinning effects when the brothers are in frame together. Only die-hard and undemanding Chan fans need apply."[13] Jackie Chan was unhappy with how Twin Dragons came out to be primarily based on the special effects. Chan stated that he worked with Tsui Hark who he felt would provide the film with better special effects. Chan was so soured with the results of the special effects that he decided he would only attempt more special-effect based work in his American productions.[3][14]

Remakes

The film spawned several Indian film remakes. Hello Brother (1994) is a popular Telugu film based on Twin Dragons.[15] In turn, Hello Brother was remade into the popular Hindi film Judwaa (1997) starring Salman Khan,[16] which in turn spawned a reboot Judwaa 2 (2017). Hello Brother was also remade as the Kannada film Cheluva (1997).

See also

Notes
  1. "Shuang long hui (Twin Dragons) (1999)". JP's Box-Office (in French). Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  2. "Twin Dragons (Shuang long hui) (Brother vs. Brother) Double Dragons (1992)". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved 14 June 2014.
  3. Morton, 2009. p.186
  4. "1986 Taiwan Box Office". National Chengchi University. Archived from the original on 21 April 2001. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  5. "【ジャッキーチェン興行成績】 第12回：日本での興行収入". KungFu Tube (in Japanese). 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2018.
  6. "【ジャッキーチェン興行成績】 第10回：韓国での興行収入". KungFu Tube (in Japanese). 5 September 2010. Retrieved 7 December 2018.
  7. "Twin Dragons". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  8. "Shuang long hui (Twin Dragons) - Receipts". JP's Box-Office. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
  9. "Shuang long hui". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  10. Smith, Russell (16 April 1999). "Twin Dragons". Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  11. Phipps, Keith (29 March 2002). "Twin Dragons". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  12. Leydon, Joe (11 April 1999). "Variety Reviews - Twin Dragons". Variety. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  13. McDonagh, Maitland. "Twin Dragons Review". TV Guide. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  14. Witterstaetter. 1997.
  15. Srinivas, S. V. (2005). "7. Hong Kong Action Film and the Career of the Telugu Mass Hero". In Morris, Meaghan; Li, Siu Leung; Chan, Stephen Ching-kiu (eds.). Hong Kong Connections: Transnational Imagination in Action Cinema. Hong Kong University Press. pp. 111–124 (112). ISBN 978-1-932643-19-0.
  16. "David Dhawan's blue-eyed boys". Rediff. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 3 September 2016.

References
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