| | | The Other Side of Safe.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound, English, Subtitled, French, Spanish, Dubbed & Subtitled
Prepare for Maximum Van Dammage when action superstar Jean-Claude Van Damme is joined by sexy newcomer Natasha Henstridge (Species) in their most explosive roles yet! Alain Moreau's (Van Damme) investigation into the death of his identical twin brother leads him from the beauty of the south of France to the mean streets of New York City and into the arms of his brother's beautiful girlfriend (Henstridge). Pursued by ruthless Russian mobsters and renegade FBI agents, the duo race against time to solve his brother's murder and expose an international conspiracy. Sparked by the erotic chemistry between Van Damme and Henstridge, spectacular stunts, and globe-hopping adventure, Maximum Risk is "vintage Van Damme" --Bob Ross, Tampa Tribute.
"An action-packed, sexy thrill ride!" Alan Silverman, Voice of America
"A sheer blast of super-charged adrenaline." Bill Hoffman, New York Post
"Premium Van Damme...Henstridge is eye-poppingly appealing..." Clint Morris, MovieHole
"...spectacular stunts...stomach-churning automotive chases...and a script by Larry Ferguson that actually holds water, or in this case, blood." Lawrence Van Gelder, The New York Times
"...Lam brings a welcome kinetic energy to the chase scenes, and his action has that fast and furious quality unique to Hong Kong films." Susan Lambert, Box Office Magazine
Editor's Note
After making several violent Hong Kong action films in the style that's come to be known as heroic bloodshed, Ringo Lam came to Hollywood to make his first American film with Belgian martial arts star Jean-Claude Van Damme. MAXIMUM RISK, like Van Damme's previous DOUBLE IMPACT, is the story of twin brothers. Unlike the earlier film--in which he played brothers with contrasting characters--here he's a French policeman, Alain Moreau, who takes on the identity of his dead brother, Mikhail. They were separated at birth when their mother, Chantal, played by veteran French film actress Stephane Audran, gave one up for adoption to a Russian diplomat. He grew up to become a member of the new Russian Mafia operating out of the Little Odessa section of New York City. When Mikhail is murdered in France after a wild chase through the streets, Alain goes to New York, where he's assumed to be Mikhail by everyone from the local Russian crime boss to his brother's beautiful girlfriend, Alex (Natasha Henstridge). Working with a seemingly unlimited budget for car crashes, Lam stages the action scenes with a kinetic flair and smartly knits them together with the help of sharp editing by Bill Pankow.
Plot Summary
There's plenty of Van Damme-style action as a French soldier learns of the existence of his identical twin only after the Russian-raised sibling is killed by mobsters. Vowing to gain vengeance on his brother's killers, he assumes his brother's identity and travels to Brooklyn's Little Odessa to infiltrate the Russian mob.
| Features | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: French, Spanish Dolby Digital Stereo | | Dubbed: French, Spanish | | Includes A Digital Copy Of The Film For Portable Media Players! | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Sony Pictures |
| Release Date: 8/12/2008 |
| Original Release Date: 1996 | | Catalog ID: 27533 | | UPC: 00043396275331 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Widescreen 2.40:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Variety
"...It's a visceral delight....[A] full-tilt genre boogie..." 09/16/1996Los Angeles Times
"...A solid, fast-moving action-adventure....As for Van Damme, he does some of his best acting yet..." 09/14/1996 p.F15 Chicago Sun-Times
"...On the action front the film more than lives up to its title..." 09/13/1996 p.35 ReelViews 5 of 10
Watching Maximum Risk, I had the feeling I'd seen the film before. I hadn't, of course, but the generic nature of the plot and action sequences, not to mention the presence of Jean-Claude Van Damme, made everything seem all-too-familiar. If I hadn't known beforehand that Lam was the director, I never would have guessed it. Maximum Risk displays little of the style that has gained the film maker an international following. This is the kind of job that a hack director could have accomplished...We're talking pedestrian action here. There are all the usual staples: car chases, foot chases through moving traffic, foot chases across rooftops, fist fights (with a little kick-boxing thrown in for good measure), and shootouts. I kept expecting Lam to do something unique, but, by the time the end credits started rolling, I realized it was a vain hope. This is just another story of Van Damme hunting, and being hunted by, a variety of stereotypical bad guys. There's no room in the formula for improvisation or originality...It's reasonable to hope that Lam agreed to direct this movie because it was a means of entrance into the American film market. Even then, however, there's no denying that this is the most unpromising of beginnings. It took John Woo three years to recover from working with Van Damme. Let's hope the same misfortune doesn't befall Lam. - James Berardinelli
Variety 6 of 10
The overriding concern in "Maximum Risk" is action. Cars careen through the streets of two continents, buildings burn and explode, bodies fly through the air from the force of fists and kicks, and bullets whiz by. It's a visceral delight that refuses to be deterred by niceties of plot or character consistency and prefers sweat to emotion...From the opening frames, it's clear the pacing will be breathless. Through the narrow streets of Nice our hero is pursued on foot and in cars by assassins. In the process of eluding them, he hurtles through the air and into the windshield of a parked vehicle. The plot options are clear: He lives, the story goes into a flashback, or the twin brother arrives...But, like the Hong Kong pics, story and logic are repeatedly sacrificed for flash and tempo. Accomplished performers such as Jean-Hugues Anglade, Audran and David Hemblen are squandered in thankless roles while Grenier, as a villain with dramatically rich potential, is reduced to a cartoon crazy...If newcomer Henstridge has dramatic qualities, they will have to be discovered in another movie. The filmmakers' idea of animal attraction is to have her stare like a hare caught in the glare of headlights..."Maximum Risk" has more than its fair share of jolts and can easily be enjoyed for its superbly choreographed ballet of blood, blasts and blows. Yet the echoes of past actioners, including Van Damme's earlier twin-brother saga, "Double Impact," cast a cynical shadow over the pic that chips away at the fun. - Leonard Klady
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