If narrative sophistication and decent dialogue were prerequisites for a good movie, Twin Dragons wouldn't have a hope in hell of passing the test - its simplistic action scenarios are so straightforward they could have been lifted from a Captain Marvel comic, and the dialogue is diligently studious in its avoidance of anything even faintly intellectually taxing (sample line: "Run! Get him").

The trick is to switch off your brain completely for a couple of hours, and just roll along with it. The entire raison d'être of Jackie Chan's movies is to let the guy loose in a variety of perilous situations, and then throw in a humungous quota of stunts, fights and chases, which Jackie executes (as always) with the winning combination of grace, agility and humour which have established him as one of the genuine cinematic greats of his generation.

Taken purely on its own terms, Dragons doesn't quite measure up to Chan's last English-language outing (the magnificent Rumble In The Bronx), with perhaps a shade too many Charlie Chaplin-type slapstick episodes for comfort - but then, it was made seven years ago for a Hong Kong audience, without being tailored to a Hollywood-friendly formula. What we're left with is a thoroughly daft, atrociously scripted, and irresistibly good-natured piece of work, so hilariously inept in its dialogue that it could plant a smile on the face of a statue.

Chan plays a pair of twin brothers (one a mechanic, the other a concert pianist) who are capable of tuning into one another's sensations, and over the course of the movie, they get mixed up time and again, falling for the same girls and running into the same villains, none of whom stand a hope in hell against Chan's martial mastery.

The slapstick physical-comedy scenes will only prove hilarious to those under the age of ten, while the rudimentary dialogue could have been written by any intelligent five-year-old, but anyone who complains about such trivial matters is missing the point. Chan's delivery of English is pure flied lice and much of his acting in general is dreadfully wooden, but the guy's physical escapades more than make up for it - this, after all, is what action cinema is supposed to be about.

Short of playing a game of Snap, Twin Dragons provides the most fun it's possible to have with your brain switched off.