Maximum Risk

This Jean-Claude Van Damme action vehicle gets good marks for sound, low profanity, some very good action scenes and some interesting characters that keep your attention. It loses marks for excessive violence, too much "Rambo" mentality (good guys don't get hit despite a barrage of bullets) and, yet, another modern-day film in which the FBI is corrupt.

This is also another of these action films that has TOO much action. It would be better with some more lulls. It almost gets ridiculous in spots. Nevertheless, some of the scenes such as car chases, fires and explosions are so well-done you have to admire the great stunt work in here. Man, those stunt men earn their money!

You would be hard-pressed to find two leads in any film with the bodies of Van Damme and Natasha Henstridge and neither are shy about showing them off, so you have the usual gratuitous sex scenes, but they are brief, as is the profanity. This is a loud film. If you have good speakers, be ready to have the room shake with lots of bass.

Overall, it's about 100 minutes of mindless but entertaining diversion.

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...

If you see only one Van Damme film...see Maximum Risk. It is a decent thriller, not just a martial arts flick. Unfortunately, after seeing how good Van Damme can be (yes, he can act - something we've yet to see from Stephen Seagal who he's usually compared to) it makes you sad to see how many bad films he's really made.

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.

The plot is reasonably engaging and complex for a Van Damme film, with some fast-moving action sequences.

I agree with previous post, that Van Damme's acting does seem better in this film, although he still would not win any oscars!

In the end, the climax is unfortunately uninspiring, predictable, and true to form of any other action film.

He is beginning to look old, but still has a great physique, which I am sure why the demographic votes for this film show it most popular with the over 45 ladies!! ;-)

If you are a Van Damme fan, this is worth a look.