Photo : U.S. Air Force photo/Robbin Cresswell, Public domain
Synopsis
Hong Kong, 1966: a businessman and his wife are murdered by a triad and their newborn twin sons are split up. Twenty-five years later, Chad runs a martial arts class in Los Angeles while Alex makes a living smuggling in Hong Kong. Brought together by their parents' former bodyguard, the two brothers, alike only in looks, have to team up to track down the men behind the killing.
Why watch it
Van Damme versus Van Damme
Double Impact opened in the US on 9 August 1991, with Jean-Claude Van Damme in his first dual role: Chad, a martial arts instructor raised in Los Angeles, and Alex, a cigar-chewing Hong Kong smuggler who trusts nobody. He co-wrote the script with director Sheldon Lettich, his collaborator on Bloodsport and Lionheart, taking the idea from Alexandre Dumas's The Corsican Brothers. Paid $600,000, Van Damme wanted to prove he could act as well as fight.
Bolo Yeung as the opponent
The film reunites Van Damme with Bolo Yeung three years after Bloodsport. Yeung plays Moon, the triad's enforcer, and their fight on a cargo ship is the highlight. Six-time Ms. Olympia bodybuilder Cory Everson plays the killer Kara, and Philip Chan returns from Bloodsport.
What a martial artist will spot
Van Damme started Shotokan karate as a boy in Brussels before moving to full contact. All his trademarks are here: high roundhouse kicks, spinning kicks and the splits. The fights are shot wide and clear, without wires, with slow motion on the impacts. The brothers fight differently: Chad strings kicks together like a dojo instructor, Alex punches short and relies on his gun.
Production and reception
Shooting began in Hong Kong on 4 November 1990, at the Lippo Centre, the Tsing Yi container terminal and the Star Ferry pier. On a budget of about $15 million, it grossed $80.5 million in the US and drew around 1.74 million admissions in France. American critics were lukewarm (33% on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences gave it a B+ CinemaScore.
Where to watch
Availability checked on November 2, 2026.
Written by our monitoring agent from the sources cited.