6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Alain Moreau, a French soldier, never knew he had a brother, much less a twin, until he found him lying dead on the streets of his European home town. To find out who his brother was, Alain must step into his shoes. He must become Mikhail, and follow his footsteps back to New York's tough Little Odessa and into the same shadowy underworld that swallowed his brother. There's only one problem: all traces of Mikhail's life are rapidly disappearing, and the one person who knew Mikhail best may not be telling all she knows...
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Natasha Henstridge, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Zach Grenier, Paul Ben-VictorAction | 100% |
Thriller | 80% |
Crime | 41% |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
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.
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).
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.
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.
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