Maximum Risk (1996)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1996
	Director: Ringo Lam (Full Contact, Replicant)
	Actors: Jean-Claude Van Damme (Bloodsport, Cyborg, Kickboxer), Natasha Henstridge (Spieces, Ghosts of Mars), Jean-Hugues Anglade
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar, Action
	Conditions of visioning: 31.03.2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: French policeman Alain Moreau (Van Damme) discovers he had a twin brother when this one is found dead in the streets of his city of Nice. He will use his likeliness to travel to the New York and find out more about his lost brother.
Review: It's been a while since I watched a 90's classic featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme, since Kickboxer in fact, and Timecop before that. In the past years I watched more of his recent work which are more cameos and/or self-reflection on hit cult personality: Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, Welcome to the Jungle, The Expendables 2, JVCD. In Maximum Risk, the Belgian actor uses his Martial Arts skills a little (ah, the famous rotating kick is shown a few times) but this is not at all central to a story in which he is more a policeman and a brother looking for explanations and then revenge after his blood brother. Accompanying him is the very cute Natasha Henstridge in her only second role after her revelation in Species. In this movie we do get to appreciate her charms as well, but she gets much more speaking time that in that other, and I found her to act pretty well. What disturbed me a bit in this international movie is how languages are handles: on one hand Moreau tries not to speak when taking the place of his brother so as not to be betrayed by his accent (well thought), but on the other hand all characters speak English all the time, which is weird when it is between Moreau and his partner, among Russian mobsters and worst of all between Moreau and his own mother! I guess in the 90's the audience was not accepting to have to read sub-titles in an Action movie... But in general I liked the movie: the action scenes are welcome, the change of location (Nice - New York - Nice) is refreshing, the story is not predictable and cinematography and soundtrack are appropriate. It is not a masterpiece of Art, far from it, but a worth-watching 90's Action flick if you feel nostalgic about that period.
Rating: 6 /10