Maximum Risk Reviews

Until now, director Ringo Lam was known only to die-hard Hong Kong movie buffs and Quentin Tarantino freaks: The plot of Tarantino's City on Fire, which has never been released in the U.S. This sleek and highly competent action thriller should change all that. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays twin brothers, as he did in 1991's gimmicky DOUBLE IMPACT. But there's little special effects trickery here: French cop Alain Moreau (Van Damme) comes face to face with a dead body that looks exactly like him, and follows dead twin Mikhail's trail to New York, where he mixes things up with the Russian mafia, the FBI and the gorgeous Alex (Natasha Henstridge), his brother's profoundly practical girl. The plot holds together pretty well, which is not always the case in Van Damme's movies, and does not require the concoction of labored explanations for his pronounced accent. Lam stages the action with his trademark aplomb -- the climactic battle in a meat warehouse is an impressively nasty piece of work -- and the supporting cast includes such respected European actors as Jean-Hugues Anglade and Stephane Audran, who plays the small but striking role of Van Damme's mother.