The Twins Effect

A vampire prince falls for a human girl, unaware that her brother is a famous vampire hunter. That's the underlying theme of this martial arts romp which borrows ideas from "Underworld" and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" but manages to maintain a style of its own. I was bemused by the UK and Hong Kong title "The Twins Effect" as there are no twins involved in the story. It turns out that the two main female characters are played by Hong Kong pop stars who perform as "The Twins". Don't let this put you off. These girls can act (at least well enough for this type of film) and add a lot of charm to the proceedings. Jackie Chan turns up for a couple of cameo appearances adding a dash of his own brand of slapstick mayhem to the proceedings. All in all this is great fun for those who like their vampires served up with a helping of tongue-in-cheek humour.

Fun mix of vampires and martial arts is a bit of a mess plot-wise and the acting of those who dubbed the voices is almost universally bad, but the premise is engaging, the fight scenes are fast and flashy and the movie is often quite amusing. It's a shame the story is such a wreck. There are a couple of places where I had no idea what just happened, it was almost as though five minutes had just been cut out and you were suddenly at the next scene without knowing how you'd got there. The movie is poor at explaining things and some things don't make a lot of sense, but the movie moves along breezily so its flaws barely register. Not a great movie by any means, but definitely a fun one.

In Hong Kong, Reeve (Ekin Cheng) is a vampire slayer, who belongs to a league that fights against vampires, living with his sister Helen (Charlene Choi). When his partner dies, killed by the powerful vampire Duke Dekotes (Mickey Hardt), Gypsy (Gillian Chung), who has a crush on Reeve, is assigned as a replacement to work with him. Meanwhile Helen falls in love for Kasaf (Edison Chen), a vampire that belongs to a royal family and does not attack human beings. However, the powerful Duke Dekotes is chasing Kasaf to increase his powers.

"Chin Gei Bin" is a silly, but also funny vampire adventure / comedy movie. Showing many special effects and a nice cast, the story is not so bad, following basically the idea of Buffy, being watchable and forgettable. I regret only that "Universal" cheats the Brazilian consumers with a huge picture and the name of Jackie Chan on the cover of the DVD released in Brazil. I expected to see a Jackie Chan movie, and in the end his participation is limited to two scenes to give his name to the credits, being the first one of his wedding totally ridiculous. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "A Liga Contra o Mal" ("The League Against Evil")

I rented this movie without any real knowledge of what it is about. I had no expectations about a kung-fu vampire movie, so there was pretty much no bias at all.

The very beginning is pretty cool. It has a very serious, dark, well thought out intro. It can be compared to Blade in the sense of intense action against vampires early on. There wasn't the excessive gore factor, which I believe ruins some films.

For most of the film, through the middle, it slacks off quite a bit. It is written into too much as a love story, and the jokes fall pretty flat.

At one point in the film (after the ambulance scene) I became excessively frustrated with trying to take this seriously.

The last twenty minutes or so really pick it up. The fighting is well choreographed, and the CGI was used well, not to an excess.

The beginning and end really assist the film. A rewrite of the middle could create a very strong movie that could set its place near Blade.

Still, it's better than Vampire in Brooklyn.

The first time I saw Twins Effect, I was stunned. I bought it because the case (lovingly Pirated in China) was a picture of Jackie Chan and one of my favorite pop duos Twins. I thought I had to see it. I didn't know whether to love it or hate it. The character development is slow, but quite interesting. You really have to love the personality that each of the girls brings in.

Gypsy (Ah-Jiao) Really makes her mark as a possible action or drama hero. Her acting is very skillful, and thankfully not over-done. Helen (Ah-Sa) also brings charm to the screen but more in a quite concious over-acting (Which though sometimes annoying, is also quite endearing).

The Vampires are scary, funny and different at the same time. The film pulls elements from Buffy the Vampire slayer, as well as kind of a euro-coolness for the Vamps. It is a crazy mix and doesn't exactly pull me into the film, but it pushes the plot through and, though not convincing, they are fun.

Obviously some of the draw to the movie is the great ensemble cast which includes several Hong Kong stars and starlets. Jackie Chan and Karen Mok bring some of the funniest and most endearing scenes in the movie. Karen, as a booze-loving bride steals the scene in her short cameo.

Action, Romance, Vampires, and cool stunts really make this a good all around movie. It can be a date movie, or an action flick, or just a fun mindless movie. In the beginning I said that when I saw it I didn't know whether to love it or hate it. Well, now I've seen it about 12 times and I love it more with each viewing. My recommendation is give it a chance, you may like it.

BY the way the opening song done by Jackie and Twins is really cool, if you want to hear it with the vocals look it up: The song's name is "Bian Bian Bian" It really is a good piece of HK Pop.

I give this movie an 8 out of 10