First of all, I'd like to apologize for the very bad pun I put in the one line summary, but it's late, and I swear, it sounded much better in my head. However, it is fairly accurate; the film is exactly like every other movie Van Damme has done. The lame one-liners, the cliché dialog, the stereotype characters, the decent-at-best action... I was honestly barely paying attention to this film, partly because I had seen it before, once, and couldn't remember if it was good or not(believe me, had I remembered it, I never would have watched it), but mainly because every time I did pay attention I almost instantly wound up mocking and laughing at what went on on-screen. It's just so typical and by-the-numbers that it's ridiculous. Every single action scene involved stuff that we've seen before(and more than enough of), every line of dialog tried to be clever but wound up being embarrassing, each of the "cool" villains were just too damn stereotypical and the whole thing was so preposterous and predictable that it was laughable rather than anything else. The plot is predictable and poorly paced. It's about... uh, Van Damme #1 gets killed, Van Damme #2 finds out #1 existed, some tame unrealistic fighting ensues, Van Damme breaks bones with the ease that only he and Steven Seagal can manage... eh, something else happens... like I said, I wasn't really paying very much attention to it. The one good thing I can say about this, and a lot of people will probably crucify me for saying this, but I have to say it; Natasha Henstridge looks hot as hell in this film, and if you are ever forced to watch this for whatever reason, or you find yourself being half bored by the film, stay awake for the sole reason of seeing her getting her freak on... the one bad thing about is that Damme is there too, but that is tolerable to see Natasha like that. If you're having trouble sitting through it, think of Natasha, look forward to the scene, or, even better, do what I did; laugh. Laugh at every single cliché-like and stereotypical thing that happens in the movie. That'll take you through it. What else is there to say... cinematography is uninspired, dialog is badly written, action is tiresome and not particularly well-choreographed, acting is decent, characters are cliché-like and stereotypical with not one shred of personality or development. What can I say; a decent at best typical Van Damme movie. I recommend it to fans of Jean-Claude Van Damme and anyone who are willing to sit through about 100 minutes of bad action flick to see Natasha Henstridge naked. 5/10
Review of Maximum Risk
