Maximum Risk

Maximum Risk is the first US feature film from acclaimed Hong Kong director Ringo Lam with Van Damme as star. He previously brought in John Woo to direct action classic Hard Target, but JCVD and John Woo didn't exactly hit it off creatively. Ringo Lam and JCVD worked well together and would continue to work together on two more films(Replicant and In Hell). Maximum Risk is much different than the movies JCVD normally works on, it is pretty dark, gritty and has less stylish action that he is known for. The film is mostly devoid of humor and is presented in a serious and more realistic manner. Ringo Lam gets Van Damme to focus more on his acting and by the time he works with JCVD next, his acting improves significantly. While the whole twin brother plot has been done to death at this point, JCVD is a cop and must investigate the circumstances of his estranged twin brother's death. Natasha Henstridge is good in this as JCVD's love interest and damsel in distress. I would regard this as more of a thriller than straight up action movie, but as a mash up of genres it does it fairly well. This is also the 1st action movie I seen that involves the Russian mob, which nowadays is common with movies like John Wick, The Equalizer, etc. As a whole this was done well and JCVD would work next with legendary Hong Kong director/producer Tsui Hark on Knock Off which is unfortunate because that movie is a giant turkey of a movie, completely terrible. But that is another story...

As a Van Damme fan when i saw this film i was instantly blown away.The only thing i didn't like was the brother storyline again.How many brothers has this guy got.But seriously this is an action movie from start to finish.There is car chases, fights, and of course a beautiful woman.What more could you ask for?.Well nothing really,this movie has it all and to think it was from the start of Van Damme's drug taking days.He must have been on drugs to make Double Team which is'nt bad film ,just bad actors (Dennis Rodman).Any way Maximum Risk is a movie that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.The fight scenes are great and well directed.And it has Natasha Henstridge who acts well and puts on a decent performance.She is also easy on the eye in more ways than one.

I guess 'Maximum Risk' kind of marks Van Damme's 'turning point' from 'A-list action star' to 'straight-to-video' action star. Prior to 'Maximum Risk,' most of his films were primarily released theatrically, however, due to lackluster Box Office returns in the U.S. this one quickly went to the small screen... and so did many of his subsequent ones.

Jean Claude Van Damme plays a cop in France who finds out he had an identical twin brother who he had been separated at birth ('Double Team' anyone?), but now died during an attempt to reunite the family. Now, he must travel to America to track down what happened to his long lost bro.

Yeah, it's an 'action' film, but there's probably not enough action to really stick in your mind. Sure, there are all the usual car chases and fights, but the decision to make Van Damme an ex army sniper means he's primarily skilled with guns rather than his trademark fists. Not only does this mean that he doesn't do as much martial arts as you might expect, but also he tends to use a pistol (and, unless it's just me, but don't army snipers use high-powered rifles?).

Natasha Henstridge plays the 'love interest' and she's in it basically to fall in love with JCVD. Her character gets about as much development as the bad guys, who are pretty much totally forgettable. Some of them are Russians and, just to add extra clichés, they contain a 'Yuri' (are there any Russian men who aren't called 'Yuri' or 'Dimitri?').

I know Van Damme's character hasn't had his mind wiped, but the script plays out like a modern day version of 'Total Recall' (or is it just me?). Either way, it's not half as much fun as Arnie's sci-fi epic. It's a kind of 'filler' film in Van Damme's catalogue. There's actually nothing I can say that's really bad about it, it's just not that memorable and certainly not half as much of a guilty pleasure as many of his earlier outings.

While not necessarily one of my favorites from his more "classic" collection (Bloodsport, Kickboxer, etc.), I give this one a lot of credit for creating an overall highly suspenseful experience, full of intense action/chase sequences, and with more of a story than many other action-oriented efforts in its class. The script by Larry Ferguson (writer of The Hunt for Red October and definitely one of the more respected people to pen a Van Damme movie) places storytelling over action setups and, in general, feels a bit smarter than the average Van Damme vehicle. There isn't any real mystery to the story, though: the revelation of Alain's brother and his affiliation with the Russian mafia is dealt with without too much buildup, and the story begins to revolve around Alain retreading his brother's unsuccessful steps to distance himself from the mob and escape from corrupt FBI agents. His relationship with his brother's old flame (Natasha Henstridge, Species) is interesting at first but is then more or less dropped into your lap. Nevertheless, the movie never loses a sense of suspense: Alain doesn't seem quite as empowered as other characters Van Damme was playing at the time, so it rarely seems impossible that he could be killed. Soundly-weighed production values by director Lam help set a good mood and the art direction is, at times, inspired.

The film features a pretty good cast, including Jean-Hugues Anglade (Betty Blue) as Alain's partner and David Hemblen (Exotica) in a limited role as the leader of the Russian mafia, but the unexpected dramatic moment of the picture belongs to Van Damme for a surprisingly adept instance of silent acting near the end of the movie wherein Alain listens to a recorded message by his late brother. Ringo Lam would continue to bring a little something extra out of Jean-Claude in the future, even directing him to his first-ever dramatic award nomination five years later, but "Maximum Risk" is probably the most palatable of all their collaborations for its all-around strengths and mainstream appeal.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

As this film opens a man is chased through the city of Nice; just as it looks as if he has escaped his pursuers he has an accident and is killed. We are then introduced to our protagonist, Alain Moreau, who looks identical to the dead man. Alain is a French policeman who was unaware that he had an identical twin who was adopted when he was still a baby. He determines to solve his brother's murder. This investigation will take him to New York where he will end up confronting the Russian Mafia, in which his brother was involved.

I really enjoyed this film; it is full of impressive action as well as a few twists. The first twist comes surprisingly early on with the death of Alain's brother... the opening chase feels as though it showing us the man destined to be the protagonist not somebody who is about to die. Having a protagonist who is a twin of the character might feel a bit cliché but it works to give him motivation and lead to others not realising they are facing Alain rather than his twin. There is a lot of impressive action; this is nicely varied with shooting, martial arts, vehicle chases and the occasional explosion. The acting is pretty good; Van Damme is on really good form as Alain, and twin Mikhail, and Natasha Henstridge is good as Mikhail's girlfriend; the rest of the cast are solid even though many are just there to be beaten up by Van Damme! Overall I wouldn't say this is a classic but I'd definitely recommend it to action fans.