Jean-Claude Van Damme and Ringo Lam would work on 3 films together. Maximum Risk, Replicant and In Hell. In this video I am going to be focusing more on Maximum Risk, but there will be plenty of information about Van Damme as well as the filmography and style of Ringo Lam films. I’ll also be covering Natasha Henstridge of Species fame and we’ll take a look at the late Stefanos Miltsakakis.

View the Article from Vulture that breaks down 5 Essential Ringo Lam films here:
https://www.vulture.com/2019/01/revisiting-ringo-lams-5-most-essential-films.html

This video on Ringo Lam by the way is part 2 of a 4 part series on Hong Kong New Wave directors that teamed up with Jean-Claude Van Damme on their first US produced films. Make sure to check out Part 1 of this series here where I cover John Woo and Hard Target here:
https://youtu.be/XgjpmcC7Zds

Ringo Lam first gained prominence in the action genre with 1987’s City on Fire. He’d follow that up with Prison on Fire and School on Fire. None of these films share any characters or situations by the way, but instead, a common theme. They all portray a bleak view on Hong Kong society. In these films, Ringo Lam explores controversial issues, such as street violence and the abuse of street, prison and school systems.

Maximum Risk is not usually brought up in a discussion when talking about Van Damme films, and that’s a shame. It may have something to with it being a box office disappointment in the US overall, grossing $14 Million on a $25 Million dollar budget. It did more than make up for it in Europe though, grossing almost $40 Million there.

As far as the production for Maximum Risk goes, this began on January 22, 1996 in France, where they first filmed the opening chase sequence. This whole scene would be the only time you’d see Van Damme’s character’s twin, Mikhail Suverov, in the actual film. The rest of the film would just focus on Alain Moreau, who ends up going undercover as Suverov to find out just what the heck happened to his twin brother he never even knew existed.

As far as the supporting cast goes, in Maximum Risk we’d get this huge Russian guy named Red Face, whom Van Damme would tussle with not once, not twice, but rather a whopping 3 different times. The actor that played him, Stefanos Miltsakakis, is unfortunately no longer with us, and passed away in 2019 at the age of 59. Aside from Maximum Risk, he played the villain in several other Van Damme movies as well. As far as the love interest goes, Natasha Henstridge of Species fame played this role really well. There was a lot of onscreen chemistry between her and Van Damme.

Maximum Risk was written by Larry Ferguson, who wrote 1986s Highlander with Christopher Lambert. After Species, Natasha’s 2nd movie was Adrenalin: Fear the Rush, who she starred alongside Christopher Lambert. The director of that film was Albert Pyun, who you may know as the guy who directed the Van Damme’s Classic Cyborg (which of course also had Stefano Miltsakakis in it as well). And then, in Natasha’s 3rd movie, she would team up alongside Van Damme in Maximum Risk, which also had Stefano Miltsakakis in it).

The 2nd Movie Ringo Lam did with Van Damme was 2001s Replicant, which Van Damme played dual roles again, this time a serial killer and his clone. Van Damme actually put up a really good performance in that one, which is no surprise, because Ringo Lam is the director that really pushed Van Damme as far as acting goes.

Their 3rd and final collaboration was 2003s In Hell. In it, Van Damme plays a man sentenced to life in prison after taking justice into his own hands to avenge his wife’s murder. The Russian prison he is sent to is tough and the warden puts on fights amongst the prisoners both for his entertainment and monetary gain. It’s a little like Death Warrant meets Bloodsport.

Ringo Lam sadly passed away in late 2018 at the age of 63. Van Damme had posted bout this on his personal Twitter account, mourning the loss.

In 2015, Ringo Lam attended the New York Asian Film Festival and was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award. His last would be 2016’s Sky on Fire, which completed his whole On Fire series. Sky on Fire was the bookend to a great career that really began with 1987s City on Fire. Although he is no longer with us, his films will continue inspire new directors and entertain new audiences.