Will Smith has been a fresh prince, a match maker, a DCU assassin and now this week he will perform binary fission so that he can do a twins movie. Twin movies have a funny way of happening. Sometimes they are long lost twins, sometimes they are identical and sometimes they look nothing alike. Check out the top ten twins movie to see all the ways a twin movie can come to life.
The product of a genetic experiment, Julius—played by Arnold Schwarzenegger—finds out he’s not alone and in fact has a twin brother in Vincent—played by Danny DeVito. This unlikely duo struck comedy gold in 1988. Twins—directed by the Ivan Reitman—proved that Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t just a one-note action guy, but a guy who had great comedic timing and chemistry with Danny DeVito. Twins is hilarious, sincere, but, above all else shows just how special a bond between brothers, mothers, and sons can be. Twins makes a great triple-feature with Kindergarten Cop and Junior. (Ben Davis)
Eddie Murphy has played multiple members of the same family before, but nothing like this. In Bowfinger, Murphy plays twins Kit and Jiff Ramsey—two characters that are complete opposites from one another. Most actors would live in the broad differences of the two; but Eddie Murphy dives into each character and defines them to hilarious perfection. Kit is the brazen and brash superstar on the verge of a mental breakdown. While Jiff is looking to move up in the world by being able to run errands for people. Steve Martin Co-Stars, acting against both versions of Murphy. This is a hilarious must-see! (Dexter Hansen)
When I was around 11 years old, my uncle sat me down and treated me to the hilarious antics of one Bruce Campbell. The film that introduced me to Campbell’s unorthodox heroics was none other than Army of Darkness (1992). This was also the first Sam Raimi Film that I had ever viewed and it made quite an impression on me. With a terrific balance of action and comedy, the film packs a ton of quotable lines as well as rewatchability. Bruce Campbell is so charismatic in this film and really plays the everyman to sheer perfection. The character that Campbell plays is a reprisal of his famous role as Ash. At the time I didn’t know this was part of a trilogy of films and that this was the 3rd time that Campbell has played the character. Ash is a very fake it until you make it, fly by the seat of his pants kind of guy that is always in over his head. There is something very relatable to a guy that isn’t always the most courageous or altruistic person, but does his best to make lemonade out of lemons. After losing his arm and nearly his life, Ash is accidentally transported to the Middle Ages and must combat the Army of the Dead. One of the aspects of the film that is incredibly entertaining is when Ash is attacked by pint size versions of himself and forced to ingest them. After this strange encounter Ash splits into two and his darker half becomes the leader of the Deadites. Campbell does a great job hamming it up and playing off of his evil counterpart. It is quite a sight to see him perform as both characters and truly make it believable through the later half of the film. The appearance and make-up effects for Evil Ash looks great, especially the parts of the face that have been blown to pieces by buckshot. When Bad Ash attempts to pronounce certain words and his jaw just comes loose, it always gets a big laugh from me. Ash and the Evil Dead series of films are fond memories of my adolescence. The shotgun wielding, trash talking and deadite killing Ash is a one of a kind character that can never be duplicated. Hail to the king baby. (Joseph Vargas)
To say this movie had its controversy is putting it mildly. It could arguably be considered the most polarising film in recent history – so much so that there was a petition created to re-fund and re-film it to be in line with what some considered to be ‘the correct story’. I fall very much on the ‘loved it’ side of the fence. The battle scenes, the drama, the story reveals all played exactly on pitch to what I was hoping for. I exclaimed, laughed, cried and left the cinema thoroughly satisfied with what I had witnessed. Part of the reason for my reaction is, in great part, due to the stellar turns by the late-great Carrie Fisher and the renewed Mark Hamill as Leia and Luke Skywalker respectively. I think it’s often forgotten that they’re twins, not just siblings, but twins – a fact that makes their connection all the stronger, alluded to throughout these films. They are almost one and the same in their potential for power, both in a character and a use of the force sense, which makes their reunion all the more powerful. They are very much the centre of this series – not Rey, not Kylo Ren, not Han Solo, but the Skywalker twins. It’s their legend which has spurred forth such a rebellion, and their active part of it could help bring it to a fascinating end in December. We shall have to see… (Alice-Ginevra Micheli)
Denis Villeneuve’s thriller, Prisoners, was one of my favorite movies of 2013, so just imagine my excitement during one of my trips to the movies six months later to see a poster advertising his next film, which was set to come out soon. While he gave us a deep, labyrinthine story with Prisoners, Villeneuve took it to a whole other level with his psychological-thriller, Enemy, which tells us the story of Adam Bell (Jake Gyllenhaal, who co-starred in Prisoners), a history professor. One day, he rents a movie and sees a brief appearance from an actor who looks just like him, whose name is Anthony Claire. This discovery soon leads him on a search to unravel the mystery behind his doppelgänger. Gyllenhaal delivers a strong performance where he displays the obsessiveness with which Adam uses to find his twin, drawing us into his journey as he tries to figure out what’s going on. This movie is unsettling as a whole, and seeing it alone in a theater heightened the impact of the film’s disquieting nature. Enemy is one of those movies that begs to be deconstructed once it’s over, and your mind will be spinning from trying to figure out this near-inscrutable enigma. From its puzzling opening to it’s even more puzzling ending, Enemy will have you lost in a mystery that’s the movie equivalent of being stuck in a fog where you can’t see two feet in front of you. (Vincent Abbatecola)
The Parent Trap is one of those Disney movies that will go down as a classic. I mean it should since it’s been 20 years since its initial release. It was the first time seeing Lindsay Lohan (in dual roles) shine on the big screen. This is probably by far my favorite of hers, (besides Mean Girls). In this update of the 1961 film, twins Annie James and Hallie Parker are complete strangers until one fateful summer where they ended up at the same camp, reuniting the sisters for the first time since birth. The two girls decided to swap at the end of summer camp to get the time back they’ve lost with their parents. When their parents find out, they have to bring the girls back together but only to find out their father is getting married to a younger woman, Meredith Blake, who doesn’t really care much about the girls. So the hijinks begin when Hallie and Annie got on a camping trip with their father and Meredith. The film is funny, heartwarming and sweet. The only problem I have is: how do you go for 11 years of your life and NOT know you have a twin? Like why wouldn’t a parent tell their child, “hey, you have another sister but sorry can’t see her until you randomly show up to a summer camp one year.” It’s crazy, but it’s still a good film. Lohan was remarkable in her debut role as Annie and Hallie. As long as I could remember, I truly believed she was a twin. I will say my dreams were shattered when I found out she wasn’t, but it just shows the duality the girl had (I’m not sure about now). She definitely held her own with the seasoned cast and showed she could go a long way with her career, but we saw how that went. The Parent Trap is definitely one of those feel-good films you can still watch and enjoy. (Chantal Ashford)
The Shining has about as many iconic scenes, quotes, and imagery as just about any other movie. In fact, it may have the most iconic pair of twins in film history. But this movie has such a lasting impact for a reason, and that is because it is incredibly great. It shows the problems with isolation and what it can cause in a person’s mind. Jack Nicholson anchors this film so well, and it wouldn’t work without his amazing performance. His slow descent into complete madness is the driving force of the movie and it is completely gripping the entire way through. It also goes to show that an adaptation does not have to be completely faithful to the source material for it to be good, or even great, as Stephen King famously is against the way his novel was made into a movie. But all in all, this is an excellent psychological horror and is great for this Halloween season. (Robert Bouffard)
A long, long time ago, in a decade far far away (time can be measured in distance in this galaxy, see Parsecs) Star Wars was just Star Wars, and Luke and Leia were just a farm boy dreaming of one day being part of the Resistance and Leia was just an awesome fend for herself Princess with attitude. Little did we know at the time, it would be one of the biggest twists yet in cinema that they are long lost twins, fathered by the biggest twist of all, Darth Vader! [Spoiler alert] To say what an impact Star Wars has had would be cliche and obvious, but needless to say, it’s been a far-reaching influence that really has no equal and shows no sign of slowing down. The force is strong with this one, and unlike Luke and Leia, with Star Wars, there is no other. (Evan Lucken)
Do you know how you can tell that David Fincher is so amazing? First, he made a movie about the creation of Facebook an Oscar caliber film. He got Oscar worthy performances out of Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield. He made Justin Timberlake not feel super distracting whenever he popped up. And…he made a whole bunch of people believe that Armie Hammer had a twin. Armie Hammer plays the Winklevoss twins, the two young men who helped start up the idea for Facebook. Hammer delivers two strong performances as brothers that exude privilege and anger at every turn. Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg as an exaggerated and distant version of himself and it works so well. Who would have thought scenes set up as just hearings in a lawsuit could be so well crafter and intense. That is Fincher for you! An impressive tale full of twists and turns is brought to life so well in an atmospheric and engrossing way. I am thoroughly convinced that Fincher can make gold out of any premise at this point. (Shane Conto)
Is it worth saying spoiler alert for a blurb written about a film from 2006 when its placement on this particular is a spoiler itself? Spoiler alert I guess! Michael Caine begins our journey explaining the three aspects of a trick. The finale act gives this film its name and it means so much for any one of Christopher Nolan’s films. Often described as puzzle boxes, Nolan’s films usually take the audience on a roller coaster ride of twists and turns as the story turns deeper and deeper until all is revealed and all of our minds are collectively blown. The Prestige centers around the world of magic with a stacked cast including central performances from Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. The idea of twins and/or doubles is so central to the plot of The Prestige that I thought of it right away when choosing a film to write about. We have twins in plain sight that help perform some of the greatest tricks of the film. This is similar to their own existence as it is an impressive reveal when they discover who Christian Bale’s character really is. And what is an even more impressive trick? Just how Hugh Jackman’s character is able to use doubles to do his. That is all I will say as the prestige of The Prestige is worth every moment. And the thoughts you have when figuring out the tangled web that covers the film are the most important takeaway. (Shane Conto)
Honorable Mentions
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Avengers…Assemble for this 2nd outing in the Avengers series that’s formed by the entirety of the MCU. Leading up to this movie’s release, there was a lot of hype surrounding it from Marvel fans. We had just gottem Guardians of the Galaxy, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, so signs were that this should be amazing. Everything I love about the first movie is here, and it’s really fun. The cast gets more chances to evolve their chemistry with more screen time together. Bruce and Natasha are given more to do in a should they/should the not romance sub plot, Tony ends up creating problems that will impact the way the world sees iron man moving forward, two mutants are introduced (Scarlett Witch, Quicksilver), and James Spader voices (Ultron) in one of my most underrated villain performances of the last 10 years. The writing does suffer some when it comes to setting aside moments to set up phase 3 in the MCU. I think as time moves forward we’ll think more of this, and remember how much better it is than we originally thought. (Alex Henderson)
Also See:
Adaptation, The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), Legend, The Skeleton Twins, Double Impact, Us