Product Details

• Actors: Jet Li, Jacky Cheung, Chingmy Yau, Charlie Yeung, Kelvin Wong
• Directors: Jing Wong, Lun Ah
• Writers: Jing Wong, Domonic Muir
• Producers: Jing Wong, Catherine Kwan, Pei Hsiang Chuan, Siu-Kei Lee
• Format: Color, Letterboxed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Tai Seng
• VHS Release Date: April 13, 1999
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304745346
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #578,732 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Mild-mannered Jet Li is bodyguard and secret stunt double to Jackie Chan-like action-movie superstar Jacky Cheung in this action-packed spoof of the Hong Kong movie industry. Li, playing a former demolition squad commander haunted by the loss of his family, takes a job with the womanizing Cheung, an action hero with a reputation for performing all his own stunts. Li surreptitiously performs the most dangerous bits with quick-switch secrecy, but when a TV journalist catches sight of him sneaking from a spectacular fall they suspect an elaborate publicity conspiracy. The showbiz scandal becomes sidetracked when high-tech jewel thieves take them all hostage in a skyscraper heist that smacks of Die Hard. Li turns stealth fighter, stalking perimeter guards and taking out the heavily armed bad guys with a smooth display of acrobatic martial arts moves, while glory hound Cheung proves his own skills in a brave confrontation with the thieves. The swipes at Jackie Chan are mean-spirited and undeserved, but Cheung's manic, mugging performance is awfully funny (unlike much Hong Kong humor), and Li plays his usual moral backbone with quiet authority, impressive agility, and explosive fireworks. High Risk is broadly played and Wong Jing directs bluntly, but the movie packs plenty of explosions, great martial arts work, and a driving sense of energy. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GREAT, AMUSING, GOOD ACTION, April 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: High Risk [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Take a plot stolen from Die Hard and mix it together with poking fun at Jackie Chan and you've got High Risk, one of Wong Jing and Jet Li's best efforts. Jet Li plays the stuntman for Asia's leading action hero, who's famous for doing his own stunts (wink, wink). The parody of Jackie Chan is hilarious, depicting "Frankie" as a bumbling boob with an inflated movie star ego. The whole movie moves briskly and has enough decent action and oddball humor to keep one deeply entertained. I rank it up there as one of Jet li's best and as one of the funnier Hong Kong movies I've seen. Definitely worth owning if you're a Hong Kong fan.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rollicking send up of Jackie Chan and homage to Die Hard., February 13, 1999

By 

Philip V (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High Risk (DVD)

I just finished watching this movie and I have to say it was money well spent.

The best description of High Risk would be a homage to Die Hard and a parody of Jackie Chan. Jet Li plays a former bomb squad commander who's last run in with the villain cost him his family. He has since has become the double and bodyguard of Frankie, a Kung Fu superstar. Frankie is a cowardly, boozing, womanizer who has forgotten how he achieved his stardom.

Various elements play like Die Hard scenes including the characters and dialog. Mixed in with this are other subplots and some original scenes (at least to me). I won't spoil them by elaborating. Suffice to say, High Risk is an excellent blend of comedy, action (both martial arts and gunplay) and suspense with some romance thrown in. This movie does not take itself too seriously. Sometimes it parodies the martial arts genre with its voices, dialog and facial expressions!

On the down side, the subtitles leave something to be desired, blending into the background and being poorly translated on occasion. The disc has no features, just different subtitles. The video quality is average, audio Dolby Digital 2.0/Pro-Logic.

Any fan of Jet Li, Hong Kong films or action in general will enjoy this a lot. There is little if any wire Fu.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "Alright...I'm trapped in a building taken over by terrorists. Where have I heard that before?", February 4, 2007

By 

H. Bala "Me Too Can Read" (Just moved to posh Marina Del Rey, CA - where if you drop a quarter, why, you just keep on walking) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Meltdown (DVD)

How great of a film is DIE HARD? DIE HARD left such an indelible mark in cinema that movie producers all over the world have been rehashing its film premise ever since. MELTDOWN (aka SHU DAN LONG WEI, aka HIGH RISK), released in 1995, is only one film of many which blatantly [...] Bruce Willis's action opus. On its own merit, MELTDOWN isn't bad but isn't near the top of Jet Li's best flicks in terms of acting, storyline, or kung fu throwdowns. What it's got going for it is its infusion of mayhem and graphic violence, so if you're into that (and what dude isn't?), then it's good times for the viewer.

The far-fetched plot: A deadly early encounter with a terrorist mastermind simply known as the Doctor leaves military Lieutenant Kit Li (Jet Li) a widowed man feeling guilt and in search of revenge. Two years later, Li is now toiling away as a bodyguard to crass, world-renowned kung fu movie star Frankie Lone (Jackie Cheung), who much like Jackie Chan, insists on performing his own stunts. But, unbeknownst to the public, Li actually also serves as Frankie's stunt double on occasions when Frankie has had his drink on. Frankie used to be a heralded martial artist but has "forgotten" the wushu way and is now basically a craven womanizer.

When the posh Grandeur Hotel hosts an invaluable set of Russian jewels, it becomes the point of convergence for Kit, Frankie, and the Doctor and his gang of terrorists. Kit, at last, has a chance to atone for his blunder two years ago. Can he find a way to overcome the mastermind's cunning and ruthlessness? And can Frankie find his long-missing kung fu? Will the plucky girl reporter find love with Kit? Will the dubious film director be defenestrated? Can Jackie Chan forgive MELTDOWN for making a caricature of his persona?

I don't recall the ratio but it seems to me that Jet Li wields a gun here more than he resorts to chop socky. The action sequences are still dang tootin' nifty, but I guess the producers really were going for that DIE HARD sensibility, ergo more firearms. Jet Li remains a very likable persona and his performance is pretty good here as he plays up the stoic, heroic role. As for Jackie Cheung - you either like his performance or you want to slap him silly. I got very annoyed with his incessant mugging and I personally didn't think he was funny, but I know friends who did. His character was meant to be a spoof of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, but I didn't much care for it.

Too, the editing staff should've been canned for the inconsistencies left in. There's a scene in which Frankie uses a shoe as a decoy, but the very next moment reveals Frankie shod on both feet. How Kit and the cop got the car out of the elevator to pull out a surprise on the terrorists is a mystery to me. There are several "people" falling out of the skyscraper who are too obviously fake dummies. See what I mean?

Now, I saw MELTDOWN on dvd, dubbed in typically over-the-top English. I just wished I'd screened it in the original Chinese or Cantonese. As I've said elsewhere, more often than not, foreign movies lose something in translation. There's a chance Cheung wouldn't be as grating if he was presented in his native lingo. But, overall, despite its annoyances, MELTDOWN is worth watching for its crazy stunts and fierce violence. And for Jet Li, of course.