High Risk (1995)
Reviewed by: JohnR on 2003-09-13
Summary: High Risk - Low Result
Jet Li stars as Lee Git, a supercop who becomes a bodyguard to Frankie Lone, a kung fu movie star played by Jackie Cheung. Frankie is legendary for doing his own stunts and his fans worship him, but he's become a womanizer and over the years has stopped doing the hard stunts, secretly using Lee as a stunt double. This parody of Jackie Chan is the base for most of this action/comedy's comedy side.

The action side centers around the activities of the bad guy, Doctor, played by Kelvin Wong Sui. Doctor, assisted by his trigger-happy private army, is attempting a jewel heist during an invitation-only showing. Hong Kong must be an incredibly noisy place because these guys can have mini-wars and not draw the slightest notice.

Lee gets involved in trying to defeat Doctor after accidentally overhearing him and recognizing him as the mastermind he'd encountered during his days as a supercop. Doctor's voice is not one Lee Git will ever forget, as Doctor was the cause of great trauma earlier in his life. And since Frankie is one of the guests at the jewelry show, the comedy side and the action side merge for the film's final set piece.

Chingmy Yau is also here, but all but her most diehard fans will be disappointed. This is not the Chingmy of Kung Fu Colt Master or Royal Tramp II.

Valerie Chow is one of the bad guys. Her acting seemed flat, but maybe it's more to do with her trying to maintain her action side role while being merged into the comedy side. I don't know, it just didn't come off.

Charlie Yeung appears as Jayce, strictly a flower vase.

The scene where Chingmy is trapped in the bathroom and one of the bad guys, on the upper floors of a commercial highrise, suddenly acquires boxes full of snakes and a leaping, man-eating lizard to attack her with was pathetic. Presumably the gang used up all the ammunition during the big shootout downstairs, leaving nothing left in the arsenal but the reptiles.

There are some good comedy scenes with Jackie and some good action pieces, but, as a whole, it doesn't work. Not one of Jet Li's better outings; he's very dull. I'd give it about a 6 out of 10. It's not an awful movie by any stretch, but falls way short of the potential of the plot setup.
Reviewer Score: 6