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Ghost Canyon

'Double Impact: Special Collector's Edition'
(Jean-Claude Van Damme, Geoffrey Lewis, Bolo Yeung, Alonna Shaw, Corinna Everson, et al / Blu-ray / R / (1991) 2019 / Arrow Films UK)

Overview: Van Damme leaps into the dual roles of Chad and Alex Wagner, twin brothers who were separated after their parents' brutal murder.

Years later, the two couldn't be more different: Chad is a slick Beverly Hills fitness instructor, while Alex is a rough and tumble smuggler on the gritty streets of Hong Kong. But when fate throws them together again, Chad and Alex discover that there's one thing they have in common: they're both fighting machines!

Determined to enact revenge on their parents' killers, the martial-arts experts kick, chop and shoot all the way to an electrifying final showdown aboard a gargantuan freighter in Hong Kong harbor.

Written and Directed by Sheldon Lettich (Lionheart, Bloodsport, Max) and Co-Produced by Michael Douglas (Wall Street, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest), this is the first time ever that it's been made available as a Special Edition Blu-ray with tons of bonus features!

Blu-ray Verdict: What could be better than Jean-Claude Van Damme ('Lionheart') in an explosively entertaining action extravaganza?

Two of him, of course!

So now there's twice the excitement, twice the mayhem and twice the fun in this turbo-charged adventure that pushes the thrills into overdrive!

As mere babies, twins Alex and Chad are separated when their parent's are brutally murdered by Triads who had no further use for the twin's parents.

One child is rescued by their nanny, the other by the family's bodyguard Frank Avery. Alex grows up rough in the orphanage where his nanny leaves him and becomes a criminal in the underworld, while Chad becomes a ladies man and karate teacher under the guidance of Frank.

After several decades, Frank finds Alex and reunites the two brothers in time to battle the same triads who are still in business.

The plot to this film opens with such violence in front of children that it alters the paths their lives were going to take. Surely this film shows the effects that young children witnessing violence can have - in this case, the children are so badly affected that they both grow up to become Jean-Claude Van Damme!

Aside from this terrible event they come together decades later just as those that murdered their parents are doing a big deal.

Of course, the whole plot is silly and the whole idea behind the plot is to present two Van Damme's as some sort of major selling point - and I suppose for some it is.

Ignoring a silly and rather irritating plot the film does have plenty of trademark action from it's star and it is just about enjoyable on that level; even if there are plenty of better action films available to watch on a Saturday night in with beer!

Attempts to inject drama into the film with sibling conflict and love interests are wasted and just further bog down an already limp script.

Of course, part of the blame for the lack of dramatic involvement must lie with Van Damme whose delivery is as reliable as ever - and this is not a compliment!

His characters are given very different hairstyle because we can't rely on Van Damme's performance to be able to tell them apart! However, I will be fair to him and say that he has moves and delivers two very enjoyable scenes towards the end (one in shadows, the other with a drum).

Shaw makes for an annoying love interest - in the time honored manner all she does is scream and Lewis is a well known face, but cannot lift this to be anything more than it is.

Oh, but wait a minute for Van Damme's performance is dwarfed by a laughably bad turn from Alan Scarfe as the main villain - so hammy it should have been between bread!

A great pace throughout the film, great popcorn movie to watch at home and study the high 360 degree kicks in the final fight to the face of Bolo Yeung.

Oh, and Bolo Yeung is always a great villain in any film and it's great to see six time Miss Olympia Cory Everson as a villain here, too!

Overall though, 'Double Impact' is not that bad of a film, but did you really expect it to be something Oscar worthy to begin with?

As for a couple of the Special Features included - of which there are a massive amount, so all you JVD will be very happy - the ones that stood out to me were the two 'The Making of Double Impact' episodes.

Totaling nearly two hours of an in depth storytelling about the making of the film, it features interviews with star and co-writer himself Jean-Claude Van Damme, director and co-writer Sheldon Lettich, producer Ashok Amritraj, co-star Cory Everson-Donia, co-star and fight coordinator Peter Malota and "Chad" and "Alex" photo doubles Jeff Rector & Jerry Rector.

I mean, come on now, this alone is well worth the price of admission as when JVD speaks, well, you listen! His memories of the shot are seemingly still spot on and honed in and the way he explains the aches and pains of the fight scenes you would think he had just filmed them!

This is a Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs via a brand new Blu-ray (1080p) HD presentation and comes with the Special Features of:

High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the main feature in 1.85:1 aspect ratio
English Surround DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0
English, Spanish, French Subtitles
The Making of Double Impact: Part 1 (HD, 53 mins) + The Making of Double Impact: Part 2 (59 mins) [A two part feature length retrospective documentary about the making of the film featuring interviews with star and co-writer Jean-Claude Van Damme, director and co-writer Sheldon Lettich, producer Ashok Amritraj, co-star Cory Everson-Donia, co-star and fight coordinator Peter Malota and "Chad" and "Alex" photo doubles Jeff Rector & Jerry Rector]
Double Impact: Deleted / Extended Scenes (SD, 54 mins)
Double Impact: Anatomy of a Scene (with Director Sheldon Lettich) (HD, 8 mins)
Original Theatrical Trailer (SD)
Collectible Mini-Poster

Official Trailer

www.ArrowFilms.com





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