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Maximum Risk (1996)
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Synopsis: After making several violent Hong Kong action films in the style that's come to be known as heroic bloodshed, Ringo Lam came to Hollywood to make his first American film with Belgian martial arts star Jean-Claude Van Damme. MAXIMUM RISK, like Van Damme's previous DOUBLE IMPACT, is the story of... After making several violent Hong Kong action films in the style that's come to be known as heroic bloodshed, Ringo Lam came to Hollywood to make his first American film with Belgian martial arts star Jean-Claude Van Damme. MAXIMUM RISK, like Van Damme's previous DOUBLE IMPACT, is the story of twin brothers. Unlike the earlier film--in which he played brothers with contrasting characters--here he's a French policeman, Alain Moreau, who takes on the identity of his dead brother, Mikhail. They were separated at birth when their mother, Chantal, played by veteran French film actress Stephane Audran, gave one up for adoption to a Russian diplomat. He grew up to become a member of the new Russian Mafia operating out of the Little Odessa section of New York City. When Mikhail is murdered in France after a wild chase through the streets, Alain goes to New York, where he's assumed to be Mikhail by everyone from the local Russian crime boss to his brother's beautiful girlfriend, Alex (Natasha Henstridge). Working with a seemingly unlimited budget for car crashes, Lam stages the action scenes with a kinetic flair and smartly knits them together with the help of sharp editing by Bill Pankow. [More]
Genre: Action/Adventure
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Natasha Henstridge, Frank Van Keeken, Zach Grenier
DVD Info
Release:
Dec 8, 2008
Blu-ray Disc Features:
- Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40
Audio:
- Dolby Digital TrueHD 5.1 - English
- Subtitles - French, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai
Reviews
Zesty chases and Van Damme's always exciting fights scenes fit well within a story that carries more intrigue than the average kick-and-crash extravaganzas.
There are so many car crashes in Maximum Risk that Van Damme ends up playing second fiddle to an ever-expanding salvage operation.
Lam not only handles the bravura action set pieces with ease but also a capable international cast as colorful and varied as the film's many locales.
Jean-Claude does little Van Dammage to his lukewarm reputation with this standard actioner.
Maximum Risk equals minimum impact -- even by Van Damme standards.
The generic nature of the plot and action sequences, not to mention the presence of Jean-Claude Van Damme, made everything seem all-too-familiar.


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