The Twins Effect II (2004)
"Chin Kei Bin 2 - Fa Tou Tai Kam" (original title)

In the mythical land of Huadu, Charcoal Head, a humble boy born to rule an empire must undertake his journey to claim his throne. It is an epic action adventure combining romance, fantasy, comedy and cutting edge Hong Kong style martial artistry.

Directors:

Patrick Leung, Corey Yuen

Writers:

Kin Chung Chan, Suet Lam,

Stars:

Edison Chen, Donnie Yen, Charlene Choi

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Edison Chen	...	Peachy
Donnie Yen	...	General Lone
Charlene Choi	...	13th Master
Gillian Chung	...	Blue Bird
Bingbing Fan	...	Red Vulture
Sam Chan Yu-Sum	...	Slave
Xie Jing-Jing	...	Marshall Edo Bowman
Yueyun Liang	...	Slave buyer
Mou Kit	...	Slave
Nga Lee	...	Commander of palace guards
Daniel Wu	...	High Priest Wei Liao
Ying Qu	...	Empress Ya Ge
Jaycee Chan	...	Charcoal Head
Bo-lin Chen	...	Blockhead (as Wilson Chen)
Tony Leung Ka Fai	...	Master Blackwood

Storyline

A cruel empress, a place where men are subservient to women. The empress' reign is disturbed by a prophecy saying a boy will rise to become king, and restore the male regime. Char, a humble boy, is born to be emperor. He and his adopted brother, Leaf, perform in a traveling show run by their adopted father, Blackwood. Thanks to their friend, Lao, the pair receive a stone with a map engraved on it. They set out on a quest for the treasure that the map is supposed to reveal. Two lovely yet lethal female warriors, Blue and Spring, join the boys on their journey. The youngsters encounter various challenges before they meet General Lone, a master swordsman who seeks to overthrow the empire. To do so he must first duel the Lord Of Armour.

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Plot Keywords:

empress | swordsman | king | female warrior | stand alone sequel | 

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy

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Details

Official Sites:

Twins effect 2 [hk]

Country:

Hong Kong China

Language:

Cantonese

Release Date:

12 August 2004 (Hong Kong)

Also Known As:

Blade of Kings

Filming Locations:

Yunnan, China

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$1,001,044 (Hong Kong) (13 August 2004)

Gross:

$1,871,958 (Hong Kong) (27 August 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Emperor Classic Films, Emperor Motion Pictures, Shenzhen Film Studio

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film marks the acting debut of Jaycee Chan, 'Jackie Chan''s son.

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Connections

Follows Chin gei bin (2003)

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Soundtracks

"Love Invincible"
Performed by TWINS

User Reviews

Great Fun But Disappointing Due to Special Effects

In the mythical land of Huadu, Charcoal Head, a humble boy born to rule an empire must undertake his journey to claim his throne. It is an epic action adventure combining romance, fantasy, comedy and cutting edge Hong Kong style martial artistry.

While this film had some good humor, a decent plot and some very odd twists and turns (and a running gag about mustaches)... it just fell short for me for one big reason: the special effects. The effects are very well done, much better than the flotsam SyFy pumps out, but it still takes away from the idea of a martial arts movie.

Case in point: Donnie Yen is an amazing martial arts master (as seen in the "Ip Man" films, among others) and in one scene he fights Jackie Chan. Why did this need special effects? Instead of having glorious natural movements, you have to add in cheesy computer graphics and aspects that clearly were not there? Chan and Yen do not require this -- they are (or at least should be) a selling point all their own.

That aside, it was pretty decent. I am unclear about the character "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon"... this film seems to borrow from the film of that name (what with the silly flying). But is this an homage? A cheap ripoff? Why use that name within a film that clearly is not connected to the classic, or even on the same level?

Oh well. Still a good movie. Not the best martial arts film, and certainly not the best from Well Go, but worth seeing. It is too bad that American audiences had to wait eight years for this to finally be released... we need more Donnie Yen and Bingbing Fan.