In the south of France, Mikhail Suverov (Jean-Claude Van Damme) dies after a car chase. His doppelganger Alain Moreau is a policeman from Nice. It turns out that his mother had given up Mikhail to be adopted. He traces Mikhail back to NYC tracking down Alex Bohemia. People mistakes him for Mikhail. Alex (Natasha Henstridge) at the nightclub Bohemia is Mikhail's girlfriend. Mikhail had been trying to leave the Rusian mob run by Dmitri with lieutenant Ivan Dzasokhov. Corrupt FBI agents are also after evidence of their involvement with the mob hidden in a Nice bank.The story is messy. It's too complicated. A little bit of simplification would allow the movie to concentrate on the action. It should have fewer bad guys and I don't know why he doesn't get help from his french police friends. A long distance call to his partner would have really helped. Van Damme and Henstridge are not necessarily great actors but they give their best effort. There is plenty of action. There are fight action, gun action, stunts and car chases. One of the problems of a complicated story is the need for exposition. It slows down the movie when it's not done well. The movie slows down in many spots.

I guess the advertisement summed up this film elegantly. It has fighting and an attractive girl. If that is what makes a movie, then I am no longer interested, because even though this movie had fighting and a girl, everything else about it was dull. The bad guys were annoying and the acting was bad, but that is what one expects when one comes to a Van Damme film. Why he keeps on making film is beyond me - he should go back to dancing, because there you don't have to speak. It is not surprising that he plays some French guy because he can't even get rid of that accent - and it isn't even pleasing.Basically this movie is long, boring, and quite pointless. The surprising thing is that it was directed by a Hong Kong director. I cannot recall any Ringo Lam films off of the top of my head, but I am sure they are more entertaining than this one. Van Damme may appear to be a good martial artist (which he is not - he is a dancer) but everything else about his movies are bad. In my personal opinion, give this film a miss.

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?

The Story: Alain, a French policeman, is shocked to discover that he had a twin brother when his body is found in Nice. Investigating the murder, he finds out that he was in possession of a list that details the deeds of the Russian Mafia. Helped by his brother's girlfriend, Alain dodges Russian gangsters & corrupt FBI agents while trying to find the list."Maximum Risk" is another one of the long list of action films that feature Jean-Claude Van Damme. As far as things go, it is strictly formulaic. The script sticks to the clichés & the acting is mediocre. There are some nicely done action sequences, with an inventive car chase, a fight in a burning building, an escape through rooftops, a brutal fight in an elevator & JCVD fleeing his enemies over an elevated train line. Director Ringo Lam keeps everything going at a reasonable pace.