Episode #7: Double Impact

Listen to Episode 7 of the Podcast here while you enjoy the show notes.

SUMMARY - In Double Impact, twin boys Chad and Alex are separated as babies when their parents are victims of a double-crossing businessman and are murdered by the Triad in a bloody shootout. Now, 25 years later, Chad (played by Jean-Claude Van Damme) flies from his current home in LA to meet up with Alex (also played by JCVD) in Hong Kong so they can team up and take down the bad guys.

Screenplay by Sheldon Lettich and Jean-Claude Van Damme; Directed by Sheldon Lettich and released on August 9, 1991.

FILM DISCUSSION

The movie starts out with a brutally violent gunfight scene where our protagonists' parents are killed.

Chad and Alex are completely different people. I mean, look at how they're dressed! Unfortunately, the dual roles do not share many scenes together.

They don't fight side-by-side, but at one point do fight each other, which is mostly handled by shooting at someone's back.

JCVD decided to do a lot more gun play in this movie, rather than rely on martial arts.

Of course, there are many explosions and another action scene is never too far away.

Even though it's mostly guns and bombs, we do still get at least one trademark split, but there could have been more like when he was jumping over the barrel.

The action could have been like a video game as they present many different "boss" types. There's mullet guy and an unpictured spurs guy.

Corinna Everson plays Kara and she should have been in more action stuff.

The great Bolo Yeung appears and gets his revenge for "Bloodsport."

The two main bad guys are both older, and created a very anti-climactic scenario.

And unfortunately, the brothers split off to each take care of one, rather than teaming up like the poster teases.

There are a lot of plot problems that we talk about during the episode, but mostly this is something where you need to shut your mind down to enjoy the spectacle.

We also take a moment to "Pause on the Credits" and reflect on the life and untimely death of Julie Strain, who briefly appeared in the movie as one of her first movie appearances.

Awards Talk -- JCVD was nominated at the MTV Movie Awards for Most Desirable Male, but lost to Keanu Reeves.

The movie appropriately ends in a freeze frame and the credits roll with the super-catchy original song “Feel the Impact” by Gen. It was stuck in our heads for days, and now it can be stuck in yours, too!

TRUE CRIME & POP CULTURE

We usually try to tie some true crime information into the movie or week of release. This time, Nikki didn't have much in the true crime area so we dive right into pop culture

The Top Song of the Week was:

Once again, Bryan Adams with "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You." I don't think we need to link that song again. We've all seen it enough already.

In fact, all the songs were repeats of what we've seen recently, since the release date is very close to a previous episode.

That means the TGIF lineup was the same, too. So, Nikki dives into the Saturday morning cartoon line-up for the 4 major networks and we discuss what we would have been watching.

http://www.animeexpressway.com/rugrats/1991tv.htm

We also talk about the inspiration of The Corsican Brothers and some of the similarities between the novel and the movie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Corsican_Brothers

RANKINGS & RATINGS

Nikki 1-5 star scale - 2 out of 5

Jon 0-4 star scale - 2 1/2 out of 4

Would you watch it again? - Yeah, it's not our first choice, but it would be fun to watch with friends, or it could be a good action movie to play in the background while working on other things.

If you want to watch Double Impact, as of this recording in March 2021, it’s available on Prime, Hoopla, Digital, VHS, DVD. Check your local listings

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