After failing to save his wife from 'The Doctor', Kit Li is working as a bodyguard and secret stunt double for the cowardly martial arts film star Frankie Lane. Frankie attends an exhibition of the crown jewels of Russia at a Hong Kong hotel, and when the Doctor's gang take over the building in attempt to steal them, Kit is the only thing standing in their way. Will Frankie regain his courage? Will romance blossom between Kit and the nosy reporter? Who has the best Kung-Fu? Review: I really found it hard to get into this oriental Die Hard/Blown Away type movie, because the acting was pretty bad, along with the shoddy storyline. The baddie was trying to hard to be like Alan Rickman in the first Die Hard movie and Jet Li, who plays an actors bodyguard, looked uncomfortable in this American style movie. Some of the action scenes weren't bad, but I must admit, I did drift off a couple of times whilst watching it. On the plus side, it does have a well thought through twist at the end which surprised me, but apart from that I did lose interest after a while. Disappointing!<br/><br/>Round-Up: This movie does prove that Jet Li was trying to cover every genre in the early part of his career but I personally prefer him in the more authentic movies. The guy that he was protecting in this film, became really annoying after a while, along with the reporter who thought a lot of herself. There are some scenes that are a blatantly the same as Die Hard but you have to really know the film to notice them. It also seemed a bit weird that they used a English speaking Hop Hop soundtrack throughout the movie but thats just me being picky. Disappointing <br/><br/>Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: $11.4million<br/><br/>I recommend this movie to people who are into their Jet Li movies about a bodyguard whose trying to save some kidnapped individuals from a group of jewel thieves. 2/10 "Meltdown", or "Total Risk" is pretty much a Die Hard clone with a sprinkle "Speed", and Bruce Lee/Jackie Chan-parody mixed in.<br/><br/>That may sound like a trashy combination of famous stuff, and like a cheap B-movie, but it's surprisingly entertaining to watch and most of all, very good.<br/><br/>The Speed-references are obvious: At the start of the film is a bomb on a bus and at the end then damsel-in-distress get's one on her chest that the hero has to stop. The rest of the movie is basically the story of Die Hard starring Jet Li, with a comedy-driven subplot about a martial arts actor who 's a women loving alcoholic and acts like he would do all of his stunts on it's own, even though he's a coward.<br/><br/>And this mix of genres and ideas it what makes this movie a bit more than just one of hundred Die Hard-clones, it makes it a fun movie with exceptionally great action sequences, which are brilliantly choreographed, filmed and edited, and characters you care about, even when they get pretty goofy at times, but that's the Asian style i expected anyway…
Betfild replied
295 weeks ago