MAXIMUM RISK (1996) A "Turkey of the Week" film review by Justin Felix. Copyright 1998 Justin Felix.
Rating: *** (out of five)
Written by Larry Ferguson. Directed by Ringo Lam. Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Natasha Henstridge. Rated R (contains violence, nudity, and profanity) 101 mins.
Synopsis: Alain, a cop from "south of France," encounters the corpse of his unknown twin brother, assumes his identity, travels to the USA, and meets an annoying cabbie, the Russian mafia, crooked FBI agents, and his brother's former lover, Alex. After surviving car chases, street fights, and near-deaths due to fires, Alain becomes nervous when he must introduce Alex to his mother.
Comments: MAXIMUM RISK's opening informs the audience that the scene takes place "south of France." The scene actually takes place in France, the audience finds out, and I'd imagine the filmmakers probably meant "southern France." Why mention this? Because I wanted to point out that one can't apply logic to MAXIMUM RISK and expect it to work. In fact, logic immediately falls apart in this movie. In order to enjoy it, ome must throw logic out the window. This movie, like so many other action movies, is dumb. Mindlessly dumb. It competently delivers, however, a lot of action in a slick manner; therefore, it manages to achieve what the filmmakers set out to achieve.
In order to somehow justify one elaborate action sequence after another, an action movie's plot must usually be contrived and contain many competing factions. Such is the case with MAXIMUM RISK, which is populated by crooked FBI agents allied with the Russian mob, an alluring seductress, a cop who has crossed the line, a cabbie who doesn't know better than to stay away from dangerous people, and twins separated at birth, just to name a few. And, I haven't even mentioned the plot elements: fires, car chases, chases through crowded streets with screaming pedestrians, lots of guns, a chainsaw, and the obligatory sex scene (don't forget, Natasha Henstridge, the femme fatale from SPECIES, stars in this film), amongst others. Somehow, with a considerable suspension of disbelief, Larry Ferguson's script manages to make most of these disparate elements work (occasionally, something is so ridiculously implausible that you have to groan).
MAXIMUM RISK basically serves as a vehicle for martial arts star Jean-Claude Van Damme, even though Natasha Henstridge prominently appears on the poster and video box along with him. Natasha Henstridge, a very capable model-turned-actress, has surprisingly little to work with in this movie. She appears much later in the film than one would expect and basically plays the damsel-in-distress who Van Damme must frequently save from the bad guys. Her role here comes as a surprise considering the other movies she's been in to date. (She played a tough cop in the awful ADRENALIN: FEAR THE RUSH and a tougher, dangerous seductress in SPECIES.) Those who are familiar with her "revealing" SPECIES character, though, won't be surprised to find that she strips off clothing left and right in MAXIMUM RISK as well. She looks like nice in a beret too! The main star, however, is indeed Van Damme, and this movie features Van Damme fighting, kicking, punching, and bleeding like he does in every other movie he's been in.
The fights and the stuntwork are the true stars of the movie, of course, and they're delivered frequently and entertainingly. Occasionally, the violence is slightly uncomfortable (in one scene, Alain slowly twists a bad guy's hand which snaps when it breaks) and thus resembles Steven Seagal's oftentimes disturbingly violent sequences. For the most part, however, the action is cartoonish enough to seem too unreal to be sensitive to.
Even if one were to excuse a number of faults due to its being an action movie, MAXIMUM RISK still isn't perfect. For one thing, at 101 minutes, it plays too long for an action movie of this nature. About 10 or so minutes of scenes containing unnecessary plot details could have been shaved from the running time. Also, Larry Ferguson, for some reason, tried to inject blatant humor, unsuccessfully, into the mix by introducing an annoying cabbie with aspirations to be a novelist. This character's lines aren't cute or humorous (even Alain tells him to "shut up"), and the audience is left feeling relieved rather than angry when he is killed by the bad guys.
Despite these criticisms, MAXIMUM RISK still delivers. If you're in the mood for a dumb action movie, you'd be better off risking this film than a number of other turkeys out there in this genre.
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