This Van Damme movie must’ve been a hot ticket upon its February 4K release because my copy just arrived. It was Van Damme’s first twin movie, the birth of his niche.
When the two Van Dammes fight each other, it is really well done in edits. They cut between shots of Van Damme on each side vs. a double with face obscured and the montage makes you believe he’s fighting himself.
Seeing Double Impact in 4K takes you back to Hong Kong in 1991, with a brief Beverly Hills intro too. We’re now seeing Hong Kong films from that era, but there’s is something to the Hollywood glamour capturing it. Van Damme was a beautiful man in 4K, too.
He does some spinning kicks in deep dark docks and warehouses. The finale against the guy with spurs on the boat looks especially elegant with 4K shadow.
This is my first time watching the 2019 extras MVD put together. Van Damme plays both twins in the interviews and he’s still charming. The behind-the-scenes story includes clips of Tia Carrere’s audition and she’s thanked, presumably for signing the release.
Nearly an hour of deleted/extended scenes includes many of the action scenes. Even an alternate take of the split shows how improvisational and flexible Van Damme was. The Bolo Yeung fights are extended and the shipyard shootout. The intercut finale with Yeung and Spurs really do go on forever.
Even the Van Damme vs Van Damme fight has more beats, and a lot more breathing room.
It’s also fun they included the whole 1991 electronic press kit. Before it was online they used to send tapes of this to TV stations. It includes clips, interviews and also raw behind-the-scenes B-roll footage.