written by larry ferguson . directed by ringo lam . starring jean-claude van damme and natasha henstridge . rated r ( contains violence , nudity , and profanity ) 101 mins . synopsis : alain , a cop from " south of france , " encounters the corpse of his unknown twin brother , assumes his identity , travels to the usa , and meets an annoying cabbie , the russian mafia , crooked fbi agents , and his brother's former lover , alex . after surviving car chases , street fights , and near-deaths due to fires , alain becomes nervous when he must introduce alex to his mother . comments : maximum risk's opening informs the audience that the scene takes place " south of france . " the scene actually takes place in france , the audience finds out , and i'd imagine the filmmakers probably meant " southern france . " why mention this ? because i wanted to point out that one can't apply logic to maximum risk and expect it to work . in fact , logic immediately falls apart in this movie . in order to enjoy it , ome must throw logic out the window . this movie , like so many other action movies , is dumb . mindlessly dumb . it competently delivers , however , a lot of action in a slick manner ; therefore , it manages to achieve what the filmmakers set out to achieve . in order to somehow justify one elaborate action sequence after another , an action movie's plot must usually be contrived and contain many competing factions . such is the case with maximum risk , which is populated by crooked fbi agents allied with the russian mob , an alluring seductress , a cop who has crossed the line , a cabbie who doesn't know better than to stay away from dangerous people , and twins separated at birth , just to name a few . and , i haven't even mentioned the plot elements : fires , car chases , chases through crowded streets with screaming pedestrians , lots of guns , a chainsaw , and the obligatory sex scene ( don't forget , natasha henstridge , the femme fatale from species , stars in this film ) , amongst others . somehow , with a considerable suspension of disbelief , larry ferguson's script manages to make most of these disparate elements work ( occasionally , something is so ridiculously implausible that you have to groan ) . maximum risk basically serves as a vehicle for martial arts star jean-claude van damme , even though natasha henstridge prominently appears on the poster and video box along with him . natasha henstridge , a very capable model-turned-actress , has surprisingly little to work with in this movie . she appears much later in the film than one would expect and basically plays the damsel-in-distress who van damme must frequently save from the bad guys . her role here comes as a surprise considering the other movies she's been in to date . ( she played a tough cop in the awful adrenalin : fear the rush and a tougher , dangerous seductress in species . ) those who are familiar with her " revealing " species character , though , won't be surprised to find that she strips off clothing left and right in maximum risk as well . she looks like nice in a beret too ! the main star , however , is indeed van damme , and this movie features van damme fighting , kicking , punching , and bleeding like he does in every other movie he's been in . the fights and the stuntwork are the true stars of the movie , of course , and they're delivered frequently and entertainingly . occasionally , the violence is slightly uncomfortable ( in one scene , alain slowly twists a bad guy's hand which snaps when it breaks ) and thus resembles steven seagal's oftentimes disturbingly violent sequences . for the most part , however , the action is cartoonish enough to seem too unreal to be sensitive to . even if one were to excuse a number of faults due to its being an action movie , maximum risk still isn't perfect . for one thing , at 101 minutes , it plays too long for an action movie of this nature . about 10 or so minutes of scenes containing unnecessary plot details could have been shaved from the running time . also , larry ferguson , for some reason , tried to inject blatant humor , unsuccessfully , into the mix by introducing an annoying cabbie with aspirations to be a novelist . this character's lines aren't cute or humorous ( even alain tells him to " shut up " ) , and the audience is left feeling relieved rather than angry when he is killed by the bad guys . despite these criticisms , maximum risk still delivers . if you're in the mood for a dumb action movie , you'd be better off risking this film than a number of other turkeys out there in this genre . 
