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Twinsanity (titled The Adventures of Axolotl and Lunaria in some countries) is a 2005 British-American buddy action-comedy film directed, written by and starring Alex McCufferty. It also stars Lauren "Cryptic" Lunaria, Viola Harmony, Steven Kowalski, Chico Colorado and Gary Naxota. It is the third installment in the Operation Goose media series, and a spin-off of the 2003 American TV show of the same name.
Development on the movie began in 2003, after the launch of Operation Goose's first season. Showrunner Alex McCufferty wanted to make a new spin-off involving more serious missions compared to the camp-ish nature of the original show and was inspired by other famous duos such as Bonnie and Clyde, Sam and Max and so on. Originally, the working title was called "Operation Goose - Regularian Fighters" but it was later scrapped in favor of "Twinsanity" as Alex believed it "sounded much cooler".
Twinsanity premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 20, 2005, and was released in the United Kingdom and United States on June 16th, 2005 by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Upon release, Twinsanity received critical acclaim, and was praised for its humor, chemistry between Axolotl and Lunaria, action sequences and Alex's direction. It was also commercially successful, grossing $100 million at the box office against a budget of $39 million and the film's enormous success in both theatrical and home entertainment sales prompted two sequels to be made: Twinsanity 2 in 2009 and Twinsanity 3: Steve's Vendetta in 2016, along with comics, merchandise, radio dramas and a video game adaptation from Ubisoft.
Cast[]
- Alex McCufferty as Axolotl ("Ax" for short), a Northern Irish ITF Recruit who is just getting started into his duties as an Operative.
- Lauren "Cryptic" Lunaria as Lunaria ("Lu" for short), an English ITF Operative who acts as Ax's partner during his mission.
- Viola Harmony as Herself ("Vi" for short), Axolotl's trainer and mentor during his very first days inside the force.
- Steven Kowalski as Stevonsky ("Steve" for short), an American informer who acts as an undercover spy for the ITF.
- Chico Colorado as Jinco, A helicopter pilot.
- Gary Naxota as Ginx, A recon officer.
- Arnold Schwarznegger as Hans von Gutterman, a German mercenary behind the bioweapon's development and the mastermind behind the facility. He is the main antagonist of the film.
- Sharlto Copley as the shadowy figure in the post-credits scene
Plot[]
Axolotl is a new recruit who went through weeks of vigorous training by his mentor, Viola. Recovering from the brutal methods used by her, Axolotl goes to his quarters where he goes to sleep while recalling memories from his past life.
When he wakes up, he is called to the briefing room by his superiors and is told that there is a highly dangerous bioweapon being created at a plant in Tyne and Wear, England and that he must take precautions there. Ax is assigned his combat fatigues and boots and heads into the deployment bay, There, he is assigned with a partner, a young Regulus with an English accent called "Lunaria". Ax is often a bit shy as this is someone he hasn't met before, but Lunaria greets Ax and introduces herself to him.
The duo are deployed to Newcastle upon Tyne to find an informer there. They find a mysterious shopkeeper named "Stevonsky". He tells them that the plant is run by a former mercenary named "Hans van Gutterman" and that it is swarming with guards inside and around the compound, pointing out a secret entry point inside the building and that they must destroy the bioweapon at any cost. The duo are given their pistols (Mk-23 SOCOM for Ax, FN Five Seven for Lu) and other gadgets for infiltration and intel-gathering throughout their mission and before they are deployed, both Ax and Lu would perform a teamwork gesture.
The duo infiltrates the plant through an air duct on the side of the building. Ax complains about the stench but goes inside anyway. While in the vent, they find a meeting room where Hans is discussing his plans for "worldwide contamination", making the pair act in disgust. They infiltrate inside the compound and attach silencers to their pistols when they drop, shooting anyone on their way from Floor 2 to Floor 9.
While coming up to the bioweapon containment on Floor 9. The duo are ambushed by Gutterman's goons and captured in an interrogation room. Ax and Lu are handcuffed to each other and are questioned for their involvement inside the facility. Recon officer, Ginx, tracks down their signal and deploys Viola and Stevonsky to the plant. When Gutterman asks them a very sensitive question ("Who do you work for?"), the former approaches the guards and does a lethal takedown together on the guards and knocks out Gutterman. They free the captured duo and tell them to continue with their mission and that their hope is not yet lost.
Ax and Lu go into the bioweapon's containment area and destroy the bioweapon sample with an EMP gadget that disrupts enemy systems. However, what they didn't know was that the self-destruct sequence was triggered in the plant, so they evacuate the building while it goes up in flames, leaving many enemies behind in the flames, but Gutterman stops them at gunpoint, blaming them for destroying his legacy and honor. Stevonsky tackles Gutterman and bites him in the neck, killing him instantly. He then tells the duo to exit immediately, but a huge explosion occurs before he can finish his speech.
While in the rubble, a heavily bruised Ax is trapped inside, but Lunaria frees him from the collapsed building's remains and carries him to the helicopter. Jinco congratulates the duo and Ax later wakes up. Unsure about where he is, Lunaria tells him that he's alive, saying that she was a field medic before joining the ITF. Ax cries tears of joy and hugs her, saying that she saved his life while the helicopter drifts away into the sunset.
In a post-credits scene, a shadowy figure is angered over the mess caused by the duo. Speaking a command in Afrikaans, he leaves a small pin of the South African Prinsenvlag on the ground.
Reception[]
Box Office[]
Opening in 4,032 theatres in the United States and United Kingdom. Twinsanity grossed $32,943,942 in the United States and $35,493,293 in the United Kingdom at the box office, making it the 5th largest opening ever to that point. It made $20,403,943 million on its opening day and stayed in the Top 10. Eventually ending it's run at $100 million all together in all countries it debut at. Making it the 52nd highest grossing movie of 2005.
Critical reception[]
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 92% based on 120 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The site's critical consensus says: "Funny, sleek and brilliantly acted. Twinsanity excels everyone's pet peeves with a great summer flick for all action fans."
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a three out of four stars, calling it: "An absolute masterpiece of storytelling and lightheartedness". Andrew of Goob Central praised McCufferty and Lunaria's performances, saying: "Ax and Lu have such great chemistry together that it's just too hard to resist!". Simon of 24News, also praised the movie, calling it "Hilarious". and saying "it made me fall out of my seat at a few moments".
Music[]
The film's soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams was released on September 23, 2005 by Varése Sarabande and Universal Music Group. It also features the opening song: "I Hear You Now" by Jon & Vangelis, along with the ending credits song, which is an instrumental remix of "Souvenir" by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark as bonus tracks on the album.
Release[]
Twinsanity had it's world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 20, 2005. An IMAX re-release premiered on April 4th, 2008 in both digital and 70mm releases which had an increased sound mix and a more clearer picture.
TV broadcast[]
Twinsanity had it's television debut in the United Kingdom on ITV 1 and Channel 4 on November 30th, 2009 at 9:15 pm GMT. It had it's US debut on December 10th, 2009 on Fox at 5pm ET. It also aired on Film4 and Sky 1 in the UK and Comedy Central, HBO and FX in the USA.
Home media[]
Main article: Twinsanity (2005 Film)/Home media
Twinsanity was released on November 15th, 2005 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (US & UK) and Fox Pathé Europa (France) on DVD and VHS. A THX-Certified "2-Disc Special Edition" DVD was also released on December 10th, 2005, including an "Extended Cut" with 15 minutes of additional content, 2 featurettes, an Introduction by Alex McCufferty and other miscellaneous special features. A Blu-ray release followed on May 20th, 2008 with a DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 sound mix, 1080p image resolution and BD-Live compatibility. On March 20th, 2013. to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Operation Goose franchise, a limited edition "Operative Edition" was released in a briefcase-like container, containing the movie on DVD and Blu-ray, the movie's soundtrack, a booklet with concept art and storyboards, an ITF badge and a figurine of Axolotl and Lunaria in their battle stances. A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray was also released in October 18th, 2017 with a new Dolby Atmos mix and an increase in image quality.
Gallery[]
Main article: Twinsanity (2005 Film)/Gallery