MAXIMUM RISK
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1996 Scott Renshaw
(Columbia) Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Natasha Henstridge, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Zach Grenier. Screenplay: Larry Ferguson. Producer: Moshe Diamont. Director: Ringo Lam. Running Time: 100 minutes. MPAA Rating: R (violence, nudity, sexual situations) Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
What is it exactly about Jean-Claude Van Damme that is so appealing to Hong Kong directors? His familiarity with the action genre in which they made their names? A common struggle with the English language? His refusal to let plot interfere in a stunt? Whatever the reason, two of the great action directors of the last decade have chosen Van Damme vehicles for their English language debuts, John Woo in 1993's HARD TARGET and now Ringo Lam (CITY ON FIRE) in MAXIMUM RISK. And what else do the two films have in common? Uninspired situations and action which is unlikely to make anyone forget the director's Hong Kong efforts.
Van Damme plays Alain Moreau, a Nice police officer who discovers, much to his amazement, that he had a twin brother who was given up at birth and raised in New York. That brother, Mikhail Suverov, turns out to have been involved with the Russian mafia, and is killed in Nice by unknown assailants for an unknown reason. Alain is determined to find out about the brother he never knew, and sets off for New York to investigate. There he discovers plenty of people who mistake him for Mikhail, most of whom are none too pleased to see him, like mid-level mafia boss Ivan (Zach Grenier) and federal agents who have their own reasons for wanting Mikhail dead. The only person Alain can trust is Mikhail's girlfriend Alex (Natasha Henstridge) as he tries to stay alive long enough to find out about the mysterious contents of a safe deposit box which everyone wants to get their hands on.
I find myself at something of a loss as I try to come up with something worth saying about MAXIMUM RISK, because it is such a resolutely mediocre film. From the screams-of-generic title (fill in your favorite dangerous-sounding adjective and noun here) to the screams-of-generic plot (they killed his brother...now he's going to make them pay) to the screams-of-circa-1986-generic villain (he may not be a Russian spy, but he's still Russian), MAXIMUM RISK is a film that takes absolutely _no_ risk. It even wastes the presence of Natasha Henstridge, who may not have proven herself to be a gifted thespian yet but still has nearly as much impressive physicality at her disposal as Van Damme, and the only use to which it is put is in a nude scene which may re-define gratuitous. The one possible interesting twist -- Alain is a military-trained crack shot -- is mysteriously kept under wraps until only ten minutes remain in the film, when suddenly he can shoot an eye out at 200 yards.
Van Damme himself is making gradual strides as an actor, something genre cohorts like Steven Seagal may never do. It may be a sign of his desire to be taken seriously that the obligatory shot of his bare backside does not appear in MAXIMUM RISK, although he does participate in a fist-fight in a sauna where towels remain strategically placed in a manner defying all known laws of physics. The problem is that, through his own decisions or those imposed on him by the Hollywood hierarchy, Van Damme performs in the kind of films where serious acting usually looks just plain silly. Alain may be deeply affected by learning of the existence of his twin, but when he is forced to react to that knowledge by throwing yet another roundhouse kick or, worse yet, staring into a metaphorically convenient fractured mirror, it is like Van Damme is playing at acting rather than really acting.
Still, there is a certain atmosphere to MAXIMUM RISK which shows Ringo Lam struggling to assert himself over his soggy material. It has a dirty feel which is atypical of glossy Hollywood adventures, and a few action sequences have real crackle, particularly the opening chase through the streets of Nice. Lam clearly has the chops to put the action in an action film, a knack for pacing and an awareness of where a camera should go. What he can't do is turn lead into gold, and in MAXIMUM RISK he is working with a script that is about as leaden as they come. John Woo made the big time when he moved from Van Damme to Travolta in BROKEN ARROW; here's hoping Lam gets the same shot some time soon.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 Lam chops: 5.
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