High Risk

The words `no talent' and `wastes of skin' are not harsh enough to describe the Hollywood vultures who bowdlerized and rewrote High Risk, renaming it Meltdown. For example, the villain of the movie, called the Doctor, is having a meeting with his gang. In the 1995 Cantonese movie version, with English subtitles, he tells the gang one of them is a police undercover agent. That agent tries unsuccessfully to escape. In the 2000 version, dubbed in English, the Doctor orders the killing of this same gang member for incompetence. In another scene, Jet Li tells a reporter and her cameraman to leave, which they do in a rush by news van as German shepherds chase them. In the original, one of the dogs gets in the van and, off screen, you hear the van crashing. In Meltdown, the scene ends with the van driving away, the dogs chasing it. Whoever adapted this movie for English decided that they would `improve' the movie, with rewritten dialogue and new edits. Wong Jing, the director of High Risk, made an over the top action movie that borrowed heavily from Die Hard. Jet Li is good in this movie, and Jackie Cheung is even better, as a Jackie Chan type actor who is supposed to do all his stunts, but never does. I have read that the real Jackie Chan was upset over being made fun of in this movie. That may or may not be the case. What is true is that I am upset that High Risk could not have just been dubbed into English and the print cleaned up. Instead, the movie has new dialogue and a cheaply done remastered print for the American market.

Some people might think that this is a Jet Li film. Well, it is not. Jet Li IS there, and he kills a bunch of bad guys and causes trouble for the bad guy (The Doctor). But he is not the head character. He is in the movie from time to time, but not enough to be called a main character.

It starts out with Kit Li (Jet Li) as a army officer. His wife and some school children are trapped in a bus and Jet Li needs to disarm the bomb beneath the bus. He cuts the wrong wire and the bus goes boom.

We fast forward 2 years and now Kit Li acts as bodyguard for the Kung-Fu superstar Frankie Lone. Frankie Lone is known for making all of his own stunts (when infact, Kit Li, or some stunt double, is the one who makes the stunts).

One day Frankie Lone goes to see some Tzar jewels from Russia, displayed in a skyscraper. And then Terrorists run in, kill everyone on floor one and go up to the Tzar jewels and takes everyone hostage... But not Kit Li or Frankie Lone. While Frankie Lone runs around the building, avoiding terrorists all the time (he is to cowardly to fight them), Kit Li rushes the building with a cop and an uzi, and mows down enough terrorists to fill a football field with (well, almost. Its entertaining anyway).

Excellent writing and goofy acting and directing (intentionally) makes up for a superb action movie. I have seen people here complain about the Kung-Fu just being average in this movie, but I disagree. Its very good indeed. Might not be Jet Li's best, but at least it doesn't use CGI like so many movies today. its fast and entertaining. The final fight scene between Frankie Lone and that long haired terrorist dude is really awesome (and funny).

I give this movie a 9 out of 10 stars. Rent it, or even better, buy it!

I can't say it better myself. This movie rocks, HARD! It's filled with non-stop comedy and action sequences and is never boring.

Jet Li is a police officer who is asked to fill in for a stunt-man, who is a Jackie Chan-persona, one fine day. The next couple of days, the cop's supposed to be a bodyguard for the spoiled star who's to meet with his managers a couple of business partners in a huge rich, business building with a lot of people.

All of a sudden, the party is crashed by some jewel thieves who have been wanted for various terrorist acts in Hong Kong, including one where a bus armed w/ explosives & had a ton of hostages on it was blown to pieces. Included was Li's wife and child so the film is part- revenge flick as well.

The movie starts out explosive, has funny in-between moments and has the last couple of minutes be all about kung fu, more explosions, gun-fights, people using random objects as weapons, more gun-fights, snakes (!) and a helicopter crash along with another random fight.

It never gets old!

The tagline used over here: "They took his wife, now he takes revenge" is pretty corny, and doesn't really appeal to anyone. It sounds like just about any ordinary action movie out there. But it isn't. This movie is truly superb! The acting, the directing, the action, the plot all mix together into something you just got to love.

Kit Li, a former commando soldier, who accidently killed his wife and a bunch of school children after cutting the wrong wire on a bomb, now works as a stand in for a shameless Kung-Fu superstar named Frankie Lone. The public believes Frankie Lone does all his own stunt work, when infact Kit Li does it for him, and Frankie Lone has become a real coward, who forgets from where he got his fame... That is, by using Kung-Fu.

One night Frankie Lone and Kit Li goes to look at some russian jewels, displayed in a skyscrapper. Unfortunetly terrorists take over the building, and takes everyone in it as hostage. Frankie Lone and Kit Li, however, escape the clutches of the terrorists and dwell around in the building, Kit Li taking out every terrorist he finds and Frankie Lone, running from every bug he finds. Its very funny at times, really.

In the end they manage to take out the terrorists, of course, and Frankie Lone remembers who he really is and Kit Li gets a new girlfriend. Cute. Well, its a good ending to a good movie. Wait, make that a great movie. If you ever lay eyes on this movie in the store, buy it! its definetly worth it.

To sum it all up: Funny, action-packed, good directing and writing and just loveable in general. Go get it! I give it a 9!

This movie makes the cardinal sin of trying to mix light, slapstick comedy with extremely graphic, gory, brutal violence. It is merely a rip off of the Die Hard movie with an element of any Jerry Lewis movie thrown in for kicks. The plot revolves around the Jet-Li character who lost his wife to the diabolical mad bomber known as "The Doctor". He becomes employed as a bodyguard to a Jackie Chan type Action Movie Star who is a drunken, lazy bum. At one time, the movie states he had real skills, but lost them with fame. Anyhow they all get trapped by the terrorists in a skyscraper and that is when you get Jet Li taking on the terrorists with the aid of a nerdy looking cop, a plucky female newscaster, and the Jacky character and his dad. My favorite villian is the Valerie Chow character who is this super sexy, karate kicking, weapon toting ultra vixen who makes the other beautiful actresses look like naked human turds. The movie is not very good. Lots of gunfire, explosions, gruesome killings, and noise. I have seen better Jet Li movies.