Original Name	千機變
Release Date	Sep 05, 2003
Starring	Ekin Cheng Yee-Kin, Charlene Choi Cheuk-Yin, Gillian Chung, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang
Screen Format	Letter Box
Video Format	NTSC - DVD
Audio	Stereo
Language	Cantonese, Mandarin
Subtitles	English, Chinese
Year	2003
Genre	Sci-Fi
Version	Hong Kong
PAX-Code	PAX0000319209
Catalog No.	VCD4106
Item Code	4895024943343

Play-Asia.com says:  Highly enjoyable and entertaining martial arts-science fiction-comedy, despite all the fluff.

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Ace vampire slayer Reeve (Ekin Cheng: ANNA IN KUNGFU-LAND, HEROIC DUO) tracks down his arch enemy, The Duke Dekotes (Mickey Hardt) to Hong Kong. The Duke is hunting for Kazaf (Edison Chen) the fifth prince of the vampire nation. With Kazaf’s blood and the ancient vampire bible, the Duke will bring a new age of darkness. On arrival, Reeve learns he has a new partner, a feisty but inexperienced young beauty named Gypsy (Gillian Chung: THE DEATH CURSE, HAPPY GO LUCKY). Matters are further complicated when Reeve’s innocent younger sister, Helen (Charlene Choi: THE DEATH CURSE, MY WIFE IS 18), develops a romantic relationship with Kazaf.

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It’s little surprise that THE TWINS EFFECT was the highest grossing film of the year in Hong Kong at the time of its release. Not only does it star the highly popular Cantonese pop act The Twins (Charlene Choi & Gillian Chung), who are very cute and charismatic by the way, it also stars two of Hong Kong’s most popular heart throbs with Ekin Cheng and Edison Chen, and if that wasn’t enough it also has 3 glorified cameos by some of the most famous Hong Kong movie stars, Karen Mok (SO CLOSE), Anthony Wong (HOUSE OF FURY), and international super star Jackie Chan (NEW POLICE STORY).

Thankfully THE TWINS EFFECT has reason to be popular, because it is a very entertaining film with some very creative martial arts choreography by Donnie Yen.
The dual between Reeve’s new partner and little sister is especially entertaining with the girls’ personality clashes forcing them to take their anger out on each other.

The story progression is very uneven in places with some scenes feeling like they’ve been tacked on just to add padding to the films running time, particularly with Jackie Chan and Karen Mok’s introductory scene. While the scene itself is very hilarious and enjoyable, it doesn’t have too much to do with the story besides setting up a humorous action scene with Jackie later in the film.
It the scenes like this, along with some of the romantic fluff between Helen and Kazaf that drag the pace down a bit.

Likened more to BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER then BLADE, THE TWINS EFFECT is much more light hearted with emphasis on kicking butt in a stylish and comedic way. This approach seems to bring down the final scenes in the movie a little, because it makes it harder to take the darker scenes seriously.

In any case, THE TWINS EFFECT is very enjoyable and a perfect Saturday night popcorn flick to watch with your friends. It has cute girls, comedy, romance, science fiction, and martial arts and it has something that is sure to please everyone. Oh, and keep an ear out for the catchy Canto-pop song in the credits sung by Jackie Chan and the Twins.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

-Adam Kitano

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