A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

(Originally Reviewed: 11/01/2017) Maximum Risk is the second film that has Jean Claude Van Damme play identical twins, and while, it might not be saying much, it's better than the latter (1991's Double Impact). If you've seen a Van Damme film before you'll know exactly what to expect here, though he can make good films (Timecop, Kickboxer), he clearly hasn't done much here, the acting is okay for a mediocre actioner with a by the numbers plot with the exception of the lacklustre villain played by Zach Grenier. Natasha Henstridge is tremendously hot and there's a pretty nice sex scene in a bathroom within the picture, herself and Van Damme both have chemistry but the script isn't taking them anyway we haven't been before.Another problem is Van Damme has done some pretty badass action sequences and combat scenes in the past, however there's only one decent one here involving a 7 foot or so Russian who weighs a lot more than himself. The last sequence is also very sloppy and it takes place in a slaughterhouse, it's just not exciting or anything remotely close to it. Overall Maximum Risk is by no means a bad movie, it's more of a clichéd, predictable one that I personally could only recommend to hardcore Van Damme fans.

As a Van Damme fan when i saw this film i was instantly blown away.The only thing i didn't like was the brother storyline again.How many brothers has this guy got.But seriously this is an action movie from start to finish.There is car chases, fights, and of course a beautiful woman.What more could you ask for?.Well nothing really,this movie has it all and to think it was from the start of Van Damme's drug taking days.He must have been on drugs to make Double Team which is'nt bad film ,just bad actors (Dennis Rodman).Any way Maximum Risk is a movie that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.The fight scenes are great and well directed.And it has Natasha Henstridge who acts well and puts on a decent performance.She is also easy on the eye in more ways than one.

This has to be the best Jean-Claude Van Damme action movie he has made. It has it all, and it has it in spades. This movie is 100 minutes, and 95 of those are pure action.You have great car chases through the streets of Nice and New York.You have a whole lot of people the Government is not going to have to arrest and try because they will not be around.You have three, count them three outstanding fights between Jean-Claude Van Damme and the biggest, baddest dude you can imagine.And, you have Natasha Henstridge in the bathroom making love and giving us a view we will long remember.What more can you ask for?

Maximum Risk starts in the South of France where ex-Russian mobster Mikhail Suverov (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is killed in an accident while trying to escape from two FBI agents chasing him. The police become involved & detective Sebastien (Jean-Hugues Anglade) recognises Mikhail as his close friend & fellow cop Alain Moreau (Jean-Claude Van Damme), it quickly turns out that Mikhail & Alain were identical twins separated at birth. Wanting to know about his brother & why he was killed Alain follows a trail back to New York where he discovers his brother Mikhail was involved with Russian mobsters & a beautiful waitress named Alex Minetti (Natasha Henstridge), Alain also discovers the Russian mobsters want him dead not to mention the FBI who also want a piece of him...Making his American action film debut this run of the mill JCVD action film was directed by Ringo Lam & was the second time a famed Asian action film director made his American feature film debut with JCVD after John Woo made probably JCVD's best film Hard Target (1993) & JCVD would also star in Hark Tsui's first American film as well with the terrible Double Team (1997). Anyway, here the almost humourless script by Larry Ferguson feels like a collection of action film clichés loosely strung together with little regard for a plot, the narrative or the audience. There's the JCVD character who is not only a cop but also an ex-soldier just so he can really handle himself, there's evil mobsters who can't shoot straight, there's a pretty blonde woman who is entirely surplus to the plot & is included solely for her looks, there's various fights & chases, there's a 'big' tough bad guy who JCVD has to have a climatic showdown with towards the end, there's crooked FBI agents & not much of a plot to speak of. Most of Maximum Risk just feels like JCVD going from one fight to another on the basic pretence that they are after his twin brother & it just gets old very quickly & the whole plot is uninspiring, it's predictable, it's silly & it's throughly routine. I suppose it's watchable, there's nothing spectacularly wrong with it & it moves along at a decent pace but I just can't muster up much enthusiasm for it at all & I consider myself a JCVD fan. Maximum Risk was the second time JCVD played dual roles in a film the first being Double Impact (1991) where, like in Maximum Risk, he played identical twins & then he went on to play two roles in both Replicant (2001) & The Order (2001). Having said that his twin dies in the opening sequence so there are never two JCVD's on screen at once in Maximum Risk.I have to say that I didn't like the way Maximum Risk was shot at all, the fact I saw a pan and scan version rather than a full 2:35:1 widescreen edition didn't help but the camera angles are weird & they just don't capture the action that well, the length of shot is very short & the editing is just very bad & annoying as it makes it difficult so get a grip of what is going on & finally there's that horrible shaky camera syndrome which just adds to the general irritation. The action feels routine, the fights are alright but nothing special while the chases are ruined by being poorly shot & aren't much to begin with anyway. Also what does Lam have against plastic garden furniture? The amount of scenes in which he crashes cars into plastic chairs & tables outside cafés seems to be too numerous to be a coincidence.With a supposed budget of about $25,000,000 Maximum Risk really should have been better than this, I think it's a throughly routine & badly shot action flick that apart from one or two car chases & some expensive location work looks like it was a made-for-telly effort. The locations sound impressive having been shot in Paris, Canada & New York. The acting is poor, I think JCVD is terrible in this while all the Russian accents are unconvincing although at least Hanstridge is easy on the eyes & she goes topless briefly in one scene.Maximum Risk is one of JCVD's more routine efforts, I found it a really disappointing film that was badly shot & written. Having said that it passes the time & is nowhere near his worst although at the same time it's nowhere near his best. After several big hits like Universal Soldier (1992), Hard Target, Timecop (1994) & Sudden Death (1995) you can trace the demise of JCVD pretty much back to Maximum Risk.