Jean-Claude Van Damme - Double Impact

The movie opens twenty-five years ago in Hong Kong. The parents of

two twin babies, Alex and Chad, had borrowed money from Raymond Zhang and

Nigel Griffith, two lead smugglers. They needed the money in order to

build a tunnel between Hong Kong and the mainland. After the tunnel was

built and the money collected, Nigel Griffith and Raymond Zhang had a gang

of hit men massacre Alex and Chad's family. Frank Avery, a friend of the

family, races into the scene and finds the parents already dead. The two

babies are in the back seat with a maid. She takes Alex and flees the

scene. Frank sees Chad left behind and takes him and runs.

Twenty-five years after these events we find Frank Avery, who is

played by Geoffrey Lewis, has raised Chad as his own kid. They own a gym

in Los Angelos. Frank has been trying to locate the other brother for the

past twenty-five years and has finally found his whereabouts in Hong Kong,

working for Raymond Zhang, played by Philip Chan Yan Kin, and Nigel

Griffith, played by Alan Scarfe. Frank and Chad go to Hong Kong and meet

his brother. Interesting events take place when they arrive since Alex's

girlfriend Danielle Wilde, played by Alonna Shaw, thinks that Chad is Alex.

Alex arrives and head butts Chad. When Chad revives from being knock

unconscious, Frank convinces the two brothers to help avenge the deaths of

their parents.

The setting for this movie is very appropriate. They are in Hong Kong

where the laws are not up to par with the American Style. This allows the

corrupt trades of Zhang, Griffith, and Alex to go on hardly disturbed by

the Hong Kong police.

The dominant theme in Double Impact is vengeance and it is seen quite

readily once the action gets rolling. Alex and Chad are out to kill Zhang

and Griffith for the massacre of their parents. As the movie rolls on, Alex

becomes suspicious of Chad because he thinks that he is playing around with

his girlfriend Danielle. We see Alex's thoughts of Chad with Danielle as

he becomes drunker and his mind imagines that they are having sex together.

These thoughts enrage Alex and he fights his own brother.

The whole movie was directed and acted very well considering Chad and

Alex are both played by the same person, Jean-Claude Van Damme, which

justifies the movie's name, Double Impact. The main character Jean-Claude

Van Damme plays more roles than just casting. He is also the fight

choreographer and one of the producers. His talent of kickboxing has come

through in his first great achievement