Neither bad dubbing nor shoddy split-screen special effects can sabotage the inspired antics in "Twin Dragons," a nimbly done action farce featuring martial arts sensation Jackie Chan as identical twin brothers separated at birth but reunited year later when evil Triad mobsters try to murder one of them. Originally released as "Shuang Long Hui" in Hong Kong in 1992, "Twin Dragons" cost about $1.3 million, but this chopsocky slapstick earned megabucks at the Asian box office. Along with acclaimed action co-directors Ringo Lam of "Maximum Risk" and Tsui Hark of "Double Team" and "Knock Off" at the helm, Chan starred in the movie to raise funds for the fledging Hong Kong Directors Guild. Although seven years has elapsed since "Shuang Long Hui" opened, with VHS copies of it available under a number of titles, Dimension Films not only dusted off "Twin Dragons" but also has plastered it on screens across America.<br /><br />Look-a-like brothers has been a favorite theme for novelists and filmmakers long before "Twin Dragons" appeared. Mark Twain relied on same siblings as a staple plot device in his celebrated fiction. Like the 1991 Jean-Claude Van Damme thriller "Double Impact," "Twin Dragons" casts Jackie Chan as heroic twins rather than as dramatic adversaries. Anybody remember Leonardo DiCaprio in "The Man in the Iron Mask?" "Twin Dragons" starts with a grim but vigorous black & white shoot-out at a hospital. A wounded but dangerous felon escapes from a police escort. Handcuffed to a cart, the villain swipes a detective's gun, shoots him as him, blows off the handcuffs and seizes one of the twin brothers. Wielding the baby as a shield, the henchman shoots another cop and steals an ambulance. An intrepid cop grabs the bumper and is dragged along the street until he puts a bullet in a rear tire. As the vehicle lurches to a halt, the child is hurled into a public grove. A drunken prostitute finds the child and raises him as her own son. <br /><br />Meanwhile, the grief-stricken parents migrate to New York City with their surviving son. Spared nothing by his indulgent parents, John Ma (Jackie Chan of "Rush hour") grows up to be a world famous concert pianist/conductor. By comparison, scraping by on bits and pieces, the other twinBoomerdevelops incredible skills as a street fighter when he isn't fixing cars. John Ma leaves the Big Apple to make his Hong Kong debut when the Asian gangsters mistake him for Boomer. Boomer and hi troublesome buddy Tyson (Teddy Robin Kwan) owe the mob a hefty $300-thousand in HK funds, and they are out to collect when Ma shows up.<br /><br />Scenarists Barry Wong, Tsui Hark, Cheung Tung Jo and Wong Yik have added a fillip a la Cheech & Chong's "The Corsican Brothers" to the twin brother hysterics by endowing them with a telekinetic link. When John plays piano, Boomer watches while his fingers wriggle to a mysterious rhythm. Only near the end of the action do the filmmakers exploit this psychic power for its full potential. Separated from John by a fenced-in cage, Boomer acts out the kung-fu fight moves, and John inadvertently delivers those stunning blows to flatten his foes. Meanwhile, the scenarists have more fun with the familiar mistaken identities gag that dominates the first two-thirds of the film. Fate and destiny play an immutable part in the proceedings.<br /><br />In the tradition of Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors," Boomer and John Ma confuse themselves as well as their girlfriends. Inevitably, they wind up with the wrong girls, and the comic predicaments that emerge are entertaining. The fights and the chases are fast-paced and hilariously staged, but then look at the helmersLam and Hark. The fight scene in the Mitsubishi testing facility is a triumphant of comedy and choreography. If you can ignore the inferior dubbing and the obvious special effects, "Twin Dragons" is a rewarding riot of hilarity. Hardcore Jackie Chan fans should be able to spot how Chan has modified many of the stunts over the years and used them for full effect in his "Rush Hour" movies.