This 1995 Hong Kong flick was released in China as She Dan Long Wei, Jeung Hok Yau, and High Risk. It's being released in the US on video in a few weeks under the name Meltdown. Being a huge fan of seeing well built Asian guys kicking the snot out of bad guys, I grabbed the screening copy for Meltdown as soon as it came in today.

Basic Plotline

Li plays Kit Li, a military type guy, who fails to save his wife and a bus load of schoolchildren from a terrorist known as The Doctor. He takes a job as bodyguard to a martial arts film star, and gets embroiled in a terrorist attempt to steal Russian crown jewels, masterminded by none other than The Doctor. The road from here to there is a delightful mish mash of people, places and events that are too over the top to be taken seriously.


Cast

Li plays Li, charming and serious as usual. He looks more than six years younger in this movie, but from what I can tell, it wasn't made before 1995. Li came to America's attention with his portrayal of the Asian bad guy in Lethal Weapon 4, and interest in his Chinese films has been on the increase.

The Doctor is played by Kelvin Wong, who may be recognized from his role in the Jackie Chan movie Police Story 3/Supercop. Wong has only been in 7 movies, all Chinese, so it's doubtful that you'll recognize him.

Jackie Cheung plays Frankie Lone, the chop socky film star that Li is protecting. This role is actually the main role in the movie, with Cheung receiving twice as much screen time as Li. And what screen time it is! More on this in the next section. Cheung has been in an impressive 43 Hong Kong films, including some of my favorites: Once Upon a Time in China, Chinese Ghost Story 2 and 3, and the very impressive Bullet in the Head.

The rest of the cast are people I'm unable to positively identify from the Internet Movie DataBase listing. A majority of the names listed are not the ones being said in the dubbed version I just watched, and the rest are a little too generic to be of much use. I think Fey-Fey is the ambitious female reporter who gets caught up in the terrorist attack on the building holding the crown jewels. Another character who has a fairly large role in the movie seems to be identified as "Joyce's boyfriend", instead of by the American name he was referred to in the film. To avoid confusion (I'm easily confused), I'll just refer to them by character when the need arises.

What's NOT Good About This Movie

The dubbing is awful, as usual. Subtitles are a pain to read, but they're not as distracting as hideously inappropriate voices coming from the character's mouths. Whoever dubbed Li's voice apparently watched too many old episodes of Star Trek, and Li is left delivering lines in a very Kirk-like vocal cadence. If you...know...what I...mean.

There's too much of a mix between slapstickish action and real action. It's hard to transition smoothly between a goofy fight scene and a dramatic "will girl be blown up by the bomb tied around her waist" scene.

Some scenes are so totally out in left field that you wonder what the makers were thinking. In one scene, the perky reporter is hiding in a restroom in the 48 star hotel that is hosting the showing of the jewels. One of the evil terrorists discovers her in the bathroom, and proceeds to pelt her with about 350 poisonous snakes and a big, mean lizard. WHERE do you find a large amount of reptiles in a hotel???


What is Great About This Movie

From the first scene introducing Frankie Lone, the viewer is completely aware of what this film is really about. Meltdown is not a serious action movie. Frankie is THE action star in Hong Kong, starring in martial arts films that are heavy with physical comedy, and we are told repeatedly that Lone does not ever, ever, ever, under any circumstances use a stunt double. Sound familiar? Of course, in Meltdown, Lone DOES use a stuntman (Li) because he's actually a huge wimp. Cheung's Lone is the star of this movie, and Cheung actually has top billing. Meltdown (despite what the box says) is NOT a Jet Li action movie. It is a Jackie Chan parody, and a very effective one. Cheung's climactic fight scene with a massively huge terrorist (who has obsessed throughout the entire movie about meeting Lone and "kicking his @ss"), is pure Chan. The mannerisms, expressions, and moves are all lifted straight from various Chan flicks. I'm not sure if this movie is an homage or an insult to Chan, but whichever it is, it surely hits the mark. There are a couple of overt referrences to the overcommercialization of martial arts stars, including a hilarious line when the massively huge terrorist whips out a pair of nunchuks and he and Lone have a little conversation about them being purchased from Lone's website.

Final Thoughts

If you're a die hard Chan fan, this movie may leave a bad taste in your mouth, with its thinly veiled stance that Chan is nothing but an amusing act. If you enjoy a biting look semi-parody about the state of action movies today, this movie is for you. Those of you who make a habit of watching Hong Kong movies will see several things that are routinely used in Chinese action films. In the same way that a true skewering of US action films would have to include many car chases, guns that shoot 95 rounds before needing to be reloaded, and perhaps a character uttering the line "I'll be back", this movie takes all the same-old same-old from Chinese movies and packs them into one shining strip of celluloid. The only thing missing is a white dove fluttering by in the background.







Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older