John Ma & Boomer (both Jackie Chan), are identical twins separated at birth and have never met. John Ma is a world famous maestro and pianist while Boomer is a Hong Kong mechanic and martial arts expert. When Boomer and friend Tyson try to rescue Barbara, a new club performer, they find themselves in more trouble than even Jackie Chan can handle. To escape with their lives, they make a race bet, which they lose, and then try to flee to mainland China. In the process, Boomer runs into John Ma, and Tyson gets kidnapped. Things get rough as the brothers have their identities mistaken for each other and problems surface. It becomes up to the brother team to work together to save Tyson.

I'm a big Jackie Chan fan. I must come clean. Ever since i saw First Strike on video, I've loved his fast moves and awesome stunts. But most of his films have suffered from corniness. Operation Condor had some of his best stunts, but the support acting was horrible! Mr. Nice Guy had a few cool stunts but the film in itself was pretty bad (trust me, don't rent it! unless you want to sit there and mock it). The acting was just not present and the corniness was at an all-time high. Maybe this is all why I loved last year's Rush Hour so much. It was Jackie's first big-budget American-made film and it rocked! Too bad no one ever thought of hiring him in the U.S. before!

The language in the film was the worst I've heard in an over-dubbed film yet. There were several "s" words, as well as "S.O.B.s" and an assortment of others. The sexually-related comments & innuendo were the highest in a Japanese film like this that I've seen, too. Nothing was extremely bad, but it wasn't necessary to be in the film. Most of it was used for comic relief. The bulk of nudity-related material comes in the form of a statue and a slight side-view glimpse of Tammy's chest. but nothing major. Also, Boomer, mistake for John Ma, thinks Tammy wants to have sex, and ends up taking off his shirt and jumping into bed with her. Nothing is shown, but it is implied they have sex. Several jokes are played off this scene, as well.

Overall, the movie was good. It's not a great movie for the reasons of the plot, corniness, and over-dubs, but Chan's double presence and awesome stunts make the picture, and in essence, save it. I couldn't give it any lower than 2 and a half, but for the above reasons, couldn't give it any higher. Jackie Chan fans: if you like him, you'll like this movie. And for people who want to be introduced to Chan, rent Rush Hour (but the content of that one makes it a difficult recommendation).

- John DiBiase (reviewed: 3/22/99)