Meltdown (1995)

"Alright...I'm trapped in a building taken over by terrorists. Where have I heard that before?"

How great of a film is DIE HARD? DIE HARD left such an indelible mark in cinema that movie producers all over the world have been rehashing its film premise ever since. MELTDOWN (aka SHU DAN LONG WEI, aka HIGH RISK), released in 1995, is only one film of many which blatantly [...] Bruce Willis's action opus. On its own merit, MELTDOWN isn't bad but isn't near the top of Jet Li's best flicks in terms of acting, storyline, or kung fu throwdowns. What it's got going for it is its infusion of mayhem and graphic violence, so if you're into that (and what dude isn't?), then it's good times for the viewer.

The far-fetched plot: A deadly early encounter with a terrorist mastermind simply known as the Doctor leaves military Lieutenant Kit Li (Jet Li) a widowed man feeling guilt and in search of revenge. Two years later, Li is now toiling away as a bodyguard to crass, world-renowned kung fu movie star Frankie Lone (Jackie Cheung), who much like Jackie Chan, insists on performing his own stunts. But, unbeknownst to the public, Li actually also serves as Frankie's stunt double on occasions when Frankie has had his drink on. Frankie used to be a heralded martial artist but has "forgotten" the wushu way and is now basically a craven womanizer.

When the posh Grandeur Hotel hosts an invaluable set of Russian jewels, it becomes the point of convergence for Kit, Frankie, and the Doctor and his gang of terrorists. Kit, at last, has a chance to atone for his blunder two years ago. Can he find a way to overcome the mastermind's cunning and ruthlessness? And can Frankie find his long-missing kung fu? Will the plucky girl reporter find love with Kit? Will the dubious film director be defenestrated? Can Jackie Chan forgive MELTDOWN for making a caricature of his persona?

I don't recall the ratio but it seems to me that Jet Li wields a gun here more than he resorts to chop socky. The action sequences are still dang tootin' nifty, but I guess the producers really were going for that DIE HARD sensibility, ergo more firearms. Jet Li remains a very likable persona and his performance is pretty good here as he plays up the stoic, heroic role. As for Jackie Cheung - you either like his performance or you want to slap him silly. I got very annoyed with his incessant mugging and I personally didn't think he was funny, but I know friends who did. His character was meant to be a spoof of Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee, but I didn't much care for it.

Too, the editing staff should've been canned for the inconsistencies left in. There's a scene in which Frankie uses a shoe as a decoy, but the very next moment reveals Frankie shod on both feet. How Kit and the cop got the car out of the elevator to pull out a surprise on the terrorists is a mystery to me. There are several "people" falling out of the skyscraper who are too obviously fake dummies. See what I mean?

Now, I saw MELTDOWN on dvd, dubbed in typically over-the-top English. I just wished I'd screened it in the original Chinese or Cantonese. As I've said elsewhere, more often than not, foreign movies lose something in translation. There's a chance Cheung wouldn't be as grating if he was presented in his native lingo. But, overall, despite its annoyances, MELTDOWN is worth watching for its crazy stunts and fierce violence. And for Jet Li, of course.
February 4, 2007

Ten bad guys with automathic weapons? They always miss!!!

This movie is all about entertaining.The combination between "Die Hard" and typical martial arts flick works in many levels, but the production values are Hong Kong`s, don`t miss that point.Fans of Jet Li are welcome, but action fans be careful. Here we can find scale helicopters burst in flames, exploding building models, chopped off dummies, you name it. The characters are extreme in their own context: Jet Li is a former military now becomed bodygard and stunt actor, loyal, gentleman, honorable, deadly, you know, a portrait of the typical good guy. The bad guys are also extremely violent and cool looking. He doesn't fight or kick much in this film, but he shoots a lot, dodging bullets from a dozen bad guys with machine guns with no scratch at all, his revolver shoots 30 bullets without reloading, he drives a car inside a hall and uses the elevator, that happens to be be the right size...
Well, you have to be in the right mood to watch this film without laughing at the many cartoonish production mistakes. But if you are into Hong Kong low production values action films, you will really enjoy one of the best ones of the 90`s.

By the way, this DVD edition sucks. English dubbed, subtitles, poor sound and no extras, not even a filmography. November 20, 2006

"no risk, no reward"

Meltdown has a lot of great things going for it and a lot of stupid things. This is an action packed movie that has some great fights and some other great action scenes. There are a lot of cool characcters in the film, but unfortunately there are plenty of stupid ones as well. The story is ok but the dubbing ruins everything, unless you get your hands on the original Chinese version. The guy that dubs Jet Li's voice sounds...like...he...is.....acting like...William....Shatner acts on the.....original.......Star.....Trek series.

Kit (played by Jet Li) is Frankie Lone's bodyguard, a famous stuntman who has become a disspointment and a drunk coward to those closest to him. He is a big fraud, and Kit has been accustomed to covering for his stunts while not taking the credit. Frankie and Kit become part of a major hostage crisis in a fine HK hotel during a jewelry exhibit. Kit encounters the same men again, two years after they killed his wife and a bus full of school kids.

There are two villains in the movie that are pretty awesome. The first, whose name I can't remember, fights Jet Li about 3/4 through the movie. It is my favorite fight scene of the movie and one of my favorite Jet Li fight scenes in any movie. The fight is intense and quick, beginning with gun shots, then some good ol fancy martial arts, finally ending with an interesting swordsfight, where Kit improvises by using a lighting rod from the ceiling. The other villain is Kong, played by Billy Chau (also appeared as Jet Li's nemesis in Fist of Legend). Unfortunately, Kong only has a very quick fight against Kit early in the movie, but he provides the final fight of the movie against Frankie, lasting a good 5 minutes and again combining martial arts with weapons. Its a good fight, but the previous fight mentioned was much better.

Aside from these great fights, there is a lot of action consisting of lots of gunfire, driving a minivan through the hotel, and even bringing a helicopter into one of the upper stories, creating quite a disaster.

Its the dubbing and the rest of the characters that becomes complete annoyance throughout the film. There is also dumb humor that fails to be funny, and ends up being really cheesy and unsuccessful at creating comedy.

The Chinese language version should provide a better experience for this movie, unfortunately subtitles distract me too. However, if action is all you are after grab Meltdown and it will give you want you want. November 19, 2006

The king of sleeze-Jing Wong forgets that he had Jet Li starring in this movie

Jing Wong truly sinks to a new low with this movie. Jet has one oustanding action sequence but other than that, he just isn't used.

Jacky Cheung is the star of this movie and plays an actor who absolutely never uses stunt doubles. It became apparent within 5 minutes that this movie was made to make fun of Jackie Chan. Of course it didn't have to be so obvious but Jing Wong just keeps driving it into your head that he does his own stunts. So if you are familiar with Jing then you know this isn't going to be a tribute to Jackie. Oh no, it is a punch to the throat through the movie screen. Jet Li plays Cheung's bodyguard and ends up doing the a stunt for him. After setting up his stupid Jackie Chan character, Jing tries to do a remake of Die Hard. Remember how you never knew what Bruce Willis was going to do and it was always surprising? Well Jing makes about the worst movie possible from here on. Instead of being clever, he makes Jet just keep storming in on the hostages and then flee. At one point he takes a helicopter up and starts shooting right into the buiding at the main bad guy with all of the hostages standing around. After the helicopter crashes into the side of the building it doesn't blow up, it just destroys everything on that floor. So other than one outstanding action sequence between Jet Li and Ben Lam(guy with sunglasses), this movie is a complete waste of time. Even Billy Chow couldn't save this one. Of course it would help if Wong Jing was smart enough to capitalize on the success of Billy Chow and Jet Li in 'Fist of Legend', but instead we don't get to see them fight and get to look at Billy Chow in a thong. Yeah, that it just what I am looking for.

The Universal Laser and Video company version is OK but the imbedded subtitles are sometimes hard to read. There is a version of this released by Dimension Video(grrrr)that has been retitled Meltdown and has been shortened by 10 minutes and also has gotten a horrible new soundtrack including English dubbing and rap music replacing what was in the original. Doesn't matter which one you get because the Chinese version isn't really any better since it is not a good movie to begin with. October 4, 2006

Don't take it seriously

Don't take this movie for more than what it is, a comedy. It was funny, Jet Li fans won't find what they're looking for, if they want typical Jet Li. It's some pretty good fighting scenes at the end, especially when Frankie, turns from a coward to a fighting machine. If you watch this movie not expecting much, you'll be pleased. May 9, 2003

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