Paul Wagner and his wife are killed in a Triad ambush in Hong Kong. Their infant twins Chad and Alex escape. The maid takes Alex to a local orphanage while bodyguard Frank Avery (Geoffrey Lewis) takes Chad out of the country. During the escape, Avery sees that family friend and business partner Nigel Griffith (Alan Scarfe) is working with Triad leader Raymond Zhang. Twenty five years later, Chad (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and Frank are running a martial arts gym in L.A. They return to look for Alex who had turned into a petty criminal. Together they seek revenge and get back what's owed to them.
This is actually a fascinating exercise to see the extent and the limitations of the acting skills of Van Damme. In Chad, he's playing a virginal naive dork. In Alex, he's a harden street-wise hustler. He's better at Alex than Chad. I don't buy him as Chad and it felt wrong in a cheesy way. It's a role that stretches him too far. It's also noteworthy that the two characters are so far apart. Van Damme is simply not skilled enough to make subtle differences count. Other actors have done twin roles without resorting to night and day performances.
This is actually a fascinating exercise to see the extent and the limitations of the acting skills of Van Damme. In Chad, he's playing a virginal naive dork. In Alex, he's a harden street-wise hustler. He's better at Alex than Chad. I don't buy him as Chad and it felt wrong in a cheesy way. It's a role that stretches him too far. It's also noteworthy that the two characters are so far apart. Van Damme is simply not skilled enough to make subtle differences count. Other actors have done twin roles without resorting to night and day performances.