Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Maximum Risk Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 18, 2021

Ringo Lam's "Maximum Risk" (1996) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors 88 Films. The supplemental features on the disc include exclusive new audio commentary by critic Audi Sorlie and vintage trailer. Also included with the release is a 20-page illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic James Oliver. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

I am done with him. Don't shoot.

Maximum Risk begins in Nice, France, where a young man is chased by some very creepy characters trying to kill him. He does his best to get away from them, but eventually dies in a spectacular car crash. When his body is recovered, Detective Sebastien (Jean-Hughues Anglade) makes an odd discovery -- the dead man looks almost exactly like his best pal, Detective Alain Moreau (Jean-Claude Van Damme).

It turns out that the dead man is Mikhail Suverov (Van Damme again), an American national with connections to the Russian mafia, and Moreau’s long-lost twin brother. Moreau’s heartbroken mother then reluctantly reveals that decades ago she had to separate the twins because she was too poor and too weak to feed them -- Moreau stayed with her because he cried too much, while his brother was adopted by a prominent lawyer. Stunned by the confession, Moreau immediately heads to America to learn more about his dead brother’s past and find out why he had to die.

Shortly after he lands in New York City, Moreau hooks up with a loopy cabbie (Henry Gomez) working on a great mystery novel who agrees to follow him around while he reconstructs his brother’s past. Then, in a busy restaurant in Little Odessa, he meets Alex (Natasha Henstridge), his brother’s girlfriend, who welcomes him with open arms not realizing that the two have never met before. When the inevitable confusion is resolved, Alex vows to help him accomplish his goal.

But digging for information and trying to understand who his brother was quickly sends Moreau on a collision course with the ruthless Russian gangster Ivan Dzasokhov (Zach Grenier), and then his boss, Dmitri Kirov (David Hemblen), the most powerful man in the Russian mafia.

Maximum Risk was conceived primarily to elevate Ringo Lam’s image outside of Hong Kong and contrary to the mainstream consensus it is a very fine action film. It was part of a big trend whose main goal was to make some of Hong Kong’s top directors and action stars as well as their work marketable in the West. (In 1998, just two years after Maximum Risk, Chow Yun-Fat committed to The Replacement Killers for this very reason as well).

The breathtaking pacing of the opening sequence where Moreau’s twin brother is killed immediately reminds of Paul Greengrass’ work in the Jason Bourne films. Fortunately, Lam controls the camera movement a lot better and as a result the action footage never breaks down into nauseating pans and zooms. Later on, when Moreau and Alex become a team, Lam also effectively slows down the film so that the evolution of their relationship can appear legit.

But there is a fair amount of awkward material in this film that easily could have been avoided if some of its key characters were not forced to utter their lines in English. It is easy to understand why English had to be the main language, but the deliveries of the exchanges are often so mechanic that it is quite simply impossible to ignore the fact that lines are being recited rather than spoken. This makes a lot of the more dramatic material look rather grotesque.

Still, Van Damme reveals plenty of diverse emotions and actually looks quite good in a number of ‘serious’ situations. Henstridge is a good partner as well, especially after her character reveals that the new brother can replace the dead bother and the two can have a future together.

Lam worked with cinematographer Alexander Gruszynski, who earlier in his career lensed the cult ‘90s action thriller Stone Cold.

Maximum Risk Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Maximum Risk arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of 88 Films.

The release is sourced from an older master that was supplied by Sony Pictures. I think that the master is decent, but if the film is viewed on a larger screen some of its limitations begin to show. For example, it is often easy to tell that in darker footage depth isn't optimal; some finer nuances begin to disappear as well. In footage with plenty of natural light highlights can be managed better and this should strengthen depth. However, in the same footage delineation frequently isn't optimal again, though for the most part I actually think that it is still quite nice. The color scheme is good. However, a fresh 4K master will produce better saturation and rebalance some nuances. Image stability is excellent. Finally, I did not see any age-related imperfections to report in our review. So, this is a good organic master, but from time to time its age certainly shows. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Maximum Risk Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I viewed the film with the lossless 5.1 track and was rather impressed with it. I think that it has great intensity, a very fine range of nuanced dynamics, and solid surround/separation effects. Can it be improved? I am unsure. The folks at Sony Pictures have been producing new Dolby Atmos tracks for a lot of their 4K Blu-ray releases of older catalog titles so there is certainly a possibility that I am proven wrong, but at the moment I think that the 5.1 track sounds terrific. In fact, I liked it so much that I would speculate that when the current master was created either Ringo Lam or another member of his team signed off on it.

Maximum Risk Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage trailer for Maximum Risk featuring The Prodigy's "Firestarter". In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Commentary - in this exclusive new audio commentary, critic Audi Sorlie, apparently a big fan of Maximum Risk, places the film in a proper historical context and discusses its importance for the evolution of Jean-Claude Van Damme's career, its style, Sony's promotion of the film and some interesting changes that were considered for it, its critical reception, Ringo Lam's direction and work, etc. It is an honest and informative commentary, so if you enjoy the film find the time to listen to it in its entirety.

• Booklet - 20-page illustrated booklet featuring James Oliver's essay ""Wham-Bam Thank You Van Damme: Maximum Risk, Maximum Reward".

• Poster - mini-replica of the original theatrical poster for Maximum Risk.

Maximum Risk Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I like Maximum Risk quite a lot. It fits nicely between Red Heat and The Yards, and the only real issue that I see in it is the fact that it forces all of its characters to communicate in English. Obviously, given its production history this was unavoidable, but I think that it would have looked a lot more authentic if it had footage that was shot in French and Russian. But it is still a legit Ringo Lam project -- it is intense, fast, and oozing the type of energy the director's classic Hong Kong action films are praised for. RECOMMENDED.