Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Teddie Blake
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
Michelle Ridley
The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity
Edwin
The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
Leofwine_draca
MELTDOWN is one of the contemporary action thrillers that Jet Li knocked out during the 1990s. This one's written and directed by Wong Jing so you know it won't take an entirely serious approach to the material despite the violence inherent in the story. The first half is the usual cheesy comedy in which Jing hilariously takes many swipes at Jackie Chan (the two fell out after making CITY HUNTER). Jacky Cheung does a great impression of Chan, but it turns out he's a coward with Li his secret stuntman.The second half of the film turns into a straight-up copy of DIE HARD with many similar situations and characters. The cast is very good and the humour mixes ably with the action, something that Hong Kong always pulls off very well. Li doesn't get to do much martial arts here but he runs around heroically a lot. Cheung turns into a Bruce Lee imitator late on and is both funny and very physical. Chingmy Lau is an attractive reporter, Wu Ma plays Cheung's dad, and Billy Chow is one of the very imposing villains. It all ends up with a big mix of explosive stunts, breakneck action, and bloody violence, and I loved every bit of it.
BA_Harrison
Prolific producer/director/actor Wong Jing is the Hong Kong equivalent of Michael Bay, a film-maker who churns out insipid popcorn fodder for the masses. High Risk AKA Meltdown is Jing's blatant clone of Die Hard, a movie full of explosions, gunfire, death and destruction, with some dumb slapstick comedy for good measure, but totally devoid of originality, completely lacking in artistic merit, and a tragic waste of star Jet Li's incredible fighting abilities.Li plays Kit, a fearless bomb disposal expert who quits the business after his wife is blown to smithereens by a terrorist organisation led by the evil Dr. David Wang (Kelvin Wong, who, thanks to the atrocious dubbing, is more Tim Curry than Alan Rickman). Two years later, Kit is working as bodyguard and secret stunt double for drunken, womanising martial arts movie star Frankie Lone (Jacky Cheung, mercilessly lampooning Jackie Chan) when The Doctor and his henchmen take over the new hotel where Frankie is attending an exhibition of priceless jewels.While the terrorists try to break the security code for the exhibits, Kit, aided by police detective Chow Kam (Chung-Hsien Yang), tries to rescue the hostages, whose numbers include sexy news reporter Helen (the lovely Chingmy Yau), Chow Kam's feisty girlfriend Joyce (Charlie Yeung), and Frankie's father (Ma Wu)—as well as the cowardly kung fu star himself, who spends most of the film hiding from the villains.While Meltdown certainly delivers its fair share of chaotic action, including a car and a helicopter crashing into the hotel to cause untold damage, endless shootouts and numerous explosions, the whole thing soon becoming tiresome thanks to the total absence of originality and the excruciatingly bad comedy. Fans of Jet Li will also be disappointed by the lack of martial arts action from the star, the film's only notable fight scene occurring between Frankie and Wang's head henchman Kong, played by Billy Chow, who sports the mother of all mullets!4.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 5 for the excessive violence (there are countless squibs, a guy has his hand cut off by a machete, Dr. Wang's sexy squeeze Fai Fai gets her head shot off, and one extra is cut in half by the helicopter's rotor blade).
maixent
I am not a huge fan of Jet Li, but I do enjoy to watch some his martial art fights. Alas! This movie doesn't involve much of fights. Ok, maybe the scenario could be great, but it is only a pale copy of Die Hard. Bruce Willis doesn't know kung-fu but at least he trashes the terrorists with style:-) Don't confuse me, I am not praising American productions. I do enjoy Chinese movies. ^;^ I guess I would have enjoyed more this movie if it wasn't dubbed. There is nothing as good as the original language. Anyway, you will not miss anything if you don't watch this movie, there are loads of better movies from Hong Kong than this one.
m0rg16
Some people might think that this is a Jet Li film. Well, it is not. Jet Li IS there, and he kills a bunch of bad guys and causes trouble for the bad guy (The Doctor). But he is not the head character. He is in the movie from time to time, but not enough to be called a main character.It starts out with Kit Li (Jet Li) as a army officer. His wife and some school children are trapped in a bus and Jet Li needs to disarm the bomb beneath the bus. He cuts the wrong wire and the bus goes boom.We fast forward 2 years and now Kit Li acts as bodyguard for the Kung-Fu superstar Frankie Lone. Frankie Lone is known for making all of his own stunts (when infact, Kit Li, or some stunt double, is the one who makes the stunts).One day Frankie Lone goes to see some Tzar jewels from Russia, displayed in a skyscraper. And then Terrorists run in, kill everyone on floor one and go up to the Tzar jewels and takes everyone hostage... But not Kit Li or Frankie Lone. While Frankie Lone runs around the building, avoiding terrorists all the time (he is to cowardly to fight them), Kit Li rushes the building with a cop and an uzi, and mows down enough terrorists to fill a football field with (well, almost. Its entertaining anyway).Excellent writing and goofy acting and directing (intentionally) makes up for a superb action movie. I have seen people here complain about the Kung-Fu just being average in this movie, but I disagree. Its very good indeed. Might not be Jet Li's best, but at least it doesn't use CGI like so many movies today. its fast and entertaining. The final fight scene between Frankie Lone and that long haired terrorist dude is really awesome (and funny).I give this movie a 9 out of 10 stars. Rent it, or even better, buy it!