'Maximum Risk' DVD cover

Maximum Risk

1997

Director: Ringo Lam

Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Natasha Henstridge

The only thing "maximum" about this movie is the boredom that will set in. The "plot" has Van Damme as a French cop who finds out that he has a twin brother who happens to be Russian (so he can act like a tool from two nationalities, I guess). He sets off to find out who killed his brother by -- you guessed it -- assuming his brother's identity and soon unravels a conspiracy, romancing the brother's girlfriend (Henstridge) along the way. The whole movie moves at a snail's pace, all that much better for you to "appreciate" Jean-Claude's acting "talent," because he doesn't do much in the way of action in this movie. There is a good fight finale and some nice eye candy from Henstridge (she provides two of this movie's "points" in the rating, if you get what I mean), but that can't save this stinker from giving you a migrane headache from how just truly awful it is.

As the proverbial kick in the pants, supposedly Ringo Lam (who took this job only because he was having trouble getting work after a series of flops in HK and a backlash against some comments he made about the Tiannemen Square Massacre) has signed on to do yet another "twin" movie with Van Damme. Let's hope he can get better results with the man who "can't act for sh*t" (as Lam dubbed Van Damme) the second time around.

RATING: 2.5

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