High Risk (1995) Biography, Plot, Release, Reception.

High Risk (1995)

High Risk (1995 )

High Risk (released in the United States as Meltdown and in the Philippines as Super Bodyguard) is a 1995 Hong Kong action comedy film written, produced and directed by Wong Jing and starring Jet Li, Jacky Cheung, Chingmy Yau, Charlie Yeung and Yang Chung-hsien. Corey Yuen serves as the film’s fight choreographer. This was Kelvin Wong’s final film appearance, who retired from acting, until his death 15 years later of liver cancer. The film is a parody of some of Hollywood’s most influential action films, such as Die Hard and Speed. It also gained controversy for spoofing Jackie Chan, who was, in turn, offended by the satire.

Plot.

Kit Li, a cop on the Hong Kong Police bomb squad, responds to a call at a local school, where a terrorist group led by an individual calling himself “The Doctor” has taken a school bus hostage. He soon discovers his wife and son are on board the explosives-rigged bus. Kit sends a subordinate to disarm the bomb, but matters are complicated due to the intricate setup of the bomb, which eventually explodes, killing everyone on the bus, including Kit’s family. In the aftermath, Kit leaves the force and serves as a stunt double for martial arts action star Frankie Lone. However, Helen, a tabloid reporter, films one of his stunts and thus discovers Lone’s duplicity, using it to boost her show’s ratings. At a wrap party for Frankie’s film, Frankie’s father and his manager invite Kit to a jewelry exhibition at the newly opened Hotel Grandeur, but the Doctor also targets the exhibition. At a traffic stop, Kit overhears the Doctor uttering a catchphrase that he used during the school bus bombing, and realizing the Doctor’s identity, he follows the car back to the Hotel Grandeur, but is unable to convince the hotel manager of the impending threat.

At a nearby police station, only Detective Kam Chow and a desk sergeant believe him. The Doctor and his team take over the building, take the guests hostage, and initiate a massacre. Kit and Chow return, only to find themselves ambushed by the Doctor’s gang members in a shootout, during which Chow is injured. Frankie manages to escape and runs into Fai, who pretends to be a helpless damsel in distress, leading him right to her partner, Kong. It is revealed that Kong is obsessed with beating Frankie in combat. Frankie runs away after encountering Kong. Kit and Chow thin out the Doctor’s numbers after driving the car out of the freight elevator. Frankie’s father wrestles a weapon away from a terrorist and threatens the hacker trying to deactivate the exhibit’s security measures. Chow is reunited with his girlfriend Joyce. Kit tries to kill the Doctor in revenge when the villain mocks him, but the attempt tips the scales back in the terrorists’ favor. Kit, Helen and Frankie’s father barely manage to escape. Helen runs into a room with an exhibit of poisonous reptiles, places the videotape underneath a display case and hides in the men’s washroom.

Release, Reception.

High Risk was released in Hong Kong on 13 July 1995. In the Philippines, the film was released by Solar Films as Super Bodyguard on 11 January 1996. The film grossed a modest HK $11,403,790 in Hong Kong, where it was released as 鼠胆龍威 (High Risk, Rat’s bravery and Dragon’s might), which parodies the title of Die Hard (虎膽龍威 Tiger’s bravery and Dragon’s might) in Hong Kong. The film takes a cinematic swipe at Jackie Chan, with whom director Wong Jing had worked previously on the City Hunter live-action film. After the release of City Hunter, Chan not only disowned the film, but attacked Wong personally in the press. Through the character of Frankie Lone, Wong insinuated that Chan was actually a boozing womanizer and a fraud who did not really do his own stunts after all.