Maximum Risk (1996)

I wanted to but couldn't!

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I go into Van Damme and Seagal films for the martial arts mayhem and there didn't seem to be much of that in this picture. Plenty of everything else though - car chases, a shootout at a Turkish bath, and Natasha Henstridge looking as fine as she did in the prior year's "Species" movie. The big bruiser Russian (Stefanos Miltsakakis) was a formidable foe for Alain Moreau (Van Damme) and didn't look like he could have ever been beaten in close-in fighting; he had to outweigh Alain by at least fifty pounds, probably more. Filled with nasty bad guys on both sides of the pond, it makes you wonder if our own FBI agents would ever get involved with the Russian mob. At one time I would have said no way, but after recent escapades within the agency I wouldn't doubt it could happen. Besides all the incredible and mind boggling punishment Alain goes through, I just had to shake my head at how easily he zipped through the French bank's set of protocol questions to get to his brother's safe deposit box. I guess Mikhail wasn't very creative. Too bad about the New York City cab driver, I got used to him doing his run at the mouth gimmick. I would have read his book too.

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.

Alain Moreau (Van Damme) is a French cop who just discovered he has a twin brother. His name was Mikhail Suverov and he worked for the Russian mob. To get to the truth about his life, he travels to New York City, specifically the Little Odessa area. While there he must fight gangsters, as well as double-dealing FBI agents. But just about everyone thinks he's Mikhail. Luckily his brother's girlfriend Alex (Henstridge) is along for the ride. Now Alain has to make it back to France in one piece, but not before causing some major Van Damage in the big apple! Maximum Risk is from the good old days when Van Damme movies went to the theater. Thus, it has a high-quality look and feel, and seems to have a decent budget behind it. It's nice to see the high production values used well by the great Ringo Lam, who would later team up with Van Damme again for Replicant and In Hell (2003).It must be in Van Damme's contract to be in movies where he plays two roles. Most actors never get this chance, but Van Damme has. FIVE times. The movies being Double Impact (1991), Maximum Risk, Replicant (2001), Timecop (1994) and The Order (2001). Just why he feels there aren't enough Van Dammes currently on earth, outside of ego, has yet to be explained. To further emphasize his "double" life, here, in Maximum Risk, Van Damme seeing his reflection is a theme throughout the movie. Glasses, windows, picture frames, and of course mirrors are all employed for psychological purposes. But really this movie is an entertaining thriller that is palatable for general audiences. You don't have to be a Van Damme or martial arts freak to enjoy Maximum Risk.Say what you will about him, but Van Damme has more emotion than Chuck Norris. Or Don "The Dragon" Wilson. Speaking of Wilson, just as his Bloodfist movies are all 80 minutes, it seems another contract demand of Van Damme is that his movies be at least 100 minutes. Maximum Risk is no exception, so naturally there's some filler, but not much. And a classic cliché is on display: the "wacky taxi driver" is on show once again, but at least this time he has a more substantial part to play than usual.Following another JCVD rule, there has to be a scene where he gets nude or semi-nude. Why, we don't know. Here it's the time-honored bathhouse fight, also seen in such movies as Red Heat (1988) and Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991). But at least there's some Natasha Henstridge nudity as well to right the ship. Henstridge, in only her second-ever movie role (after Species, 1995), looks great, and it's sad to see her end up in Scott Wiper crud like A Better Way to Die (2000), but hey, you gotta make a living.Maximum Risk is solid, undemanding entertainment seemingly made to make the careers of Van Damme and Ringo Lam go over well with larger audiences. Watching it today, it's classic 90's fun that's easy to like.For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

Now i thought Steven Seagal had the best fight scenes in his movies but Jean Claude is way better!!!!.This movie is very solid and entertaining and in my opinion Jean Claude's best movie. The fight scenes are very well done and the brutal bone snapping fights show what Van Damme can really do in a situation with stupid french punks. Maximum Risk is a very underrated movie like The Last Boyscout and deserves way more credit that what it gets nowadays and the fight in the elevator at the end when Van Damme kills the Russian guy by lodging a knife in his boot was ingenious and suspenseful. Overall Maximum Risk is a very entertaining action movie with great fights and i recommend you get the blu ray!!