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High Risk
Year: 1995
Jacky Cheung
Director: Wong Jing
Action: Corey Yuen Kwai, Bruce Law Lai-Yin
Cast: Jet Li Lian-Jie, Jacky Cheung Hok-Yau, Chingmy Yau Suk-Ching, Charlie Young Choi-Nei, Valerie Chow Kar-Ling, Wu Ma, Lee Lik-Chee, Billy Chow Bei-Lei, Lam Kwok-Bun, Charlie Cho Cha-Lei, Vincent Kok Tak-Chiu, Suki Kwan Sau-Mei, Bat Leung-Gum
The Skinny: Entertaining but tragically silly action/comedy from Wong Jing that features Jet Li as the straight man to Jacky Cheung's hilarious Jackie Chan parody.
Review
by Kozo:
     Jet Li is Kit, an ex-soldier who watched his wife and child get killed by a mad bomber. Years later, he becomes the bodyguard/stunt double for megastar actor/stuntman Frankie (Jacky Cheung). Frankie is actually a thinly-veiled Jackie Chan parody, and he's got all the telling signs: a silly grin, an extensive stunt team and entourage, and a popular Japanese fan base. However, Wong Jing's version of Jackie Chan is also a total coward who's forgotten his kung-fu after years of hard partying and making movies. 
     Things reach a head when Frankie’s party is crashed by terrorists. And, among those terrorists is (duh!) the mad bomber that killed Kit’s family. Then the film becomes the HK equivalent of Die Hard as Kit and Frankie must subdue the terrorists. However, this involves Frankie remembering how to fight once more, which is tougher than it seems.
     Wong Jing's action comedy has terrific action (choreographed by Corey Yuen) and a winning premise, but it's also quite silly and sophomorically directed. The plot is your typical mishmash of Wong Jing plot devices and crummy comedy, some of which is so silly that it threatens to alienate. Chingmy Yau shows up as the spunky reporter and Charlie Young is wasted in a role that could have been played by anyone. Jet Li is his usual self. It's Jacky Cheung who steals the show as Frankie, and he manages to pull off the film’s best moments. This can be a fun film, but only in small doses.
(Kozo 1995)
Notes: • In 2001, High Risk was re-titled as Meltdown and released domestically by Columbia/Tristar Home Video.
Availability: DVD (Hong Kong)
Region 0 NTSC
Universe Laser
Widescreen
Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks
English and Chinese subtitles

image courtesy of Universe Laser & Video Co., Ltd.

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