Columbia Tristar’s DVD of MELTDOWN is a perfect example of how not to release a Hong Kong movie in North America. You’d think with the success of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON and KISS OF THE DRAGON these Hollywood studios would have more faith in the works of Hong Kong production companies. The way MELTDOWN turned out is a real surprise coming from Columbia Tristar Home Video, who recently released the ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA series and Jackie Chan’s MIRACLES in English subtitled versions only. Who would have guessed that CTHV would perform such an abortion of the 1995 Jet Li action vehicle, HIGH RISK? They have really sunken to the depths of Dimension Home Video, with their new added title sequence, new rap soundtrack, and new moniker for director Wong Jing’s DIE HARD tribute.

MELTDOWN begins with military action man Kitt (Jet Li) attempting to defuse a bomb placed inside a school bus, along with his wife and a group of school kids. He makes an error in judgment, and the bomb explodes killing everyone within the bus. Two years later, a disgraced Kitt is desperate for work and takes a job as a bodyguard and stunt double for a womanizing Hong Kong film star, Frankie (Jacky Cheung). It’s through Kitt’s hard work that the alcoholic action star looks good onscreen. The mastermind behind the death of Kitt’s wife, called the Doctor (Kelvin Wong) plans a major heist in the summit of a skyscraper where the precious Russian Crown Jewels are being displayed under heavy security. The Doctor amasses a small army to pull of the robbery, and they stage it during the same time that cocky movie star Frankie visits the exhibition. Of course, Kitt gets sucked into the siege since he is Frankie’s bodyguard. When Kitt discovers that the man who killed his wife is the leader of these goons, all hell breaks loose!

MELTDOWN relies far too much on genre conventions, such as numerous scenes of exploding buses and automobiles, cars crashing through walls of buildings, and heroic attempts to defuse bombs at the last minute. The only action sequence that appears totally original in when Jet Li commandeers a helicopter and sends it flying though the glass walls of the skyscraper—the helicopter hurtles across the floor with it’s spinning blades decapitating all who can’t escape it. But the plot is typical bad-guy-kills-hero’s-wife-who-now-seeks-revenge plot that we’ve all seen billions of times. Perhaps one of the downfalls of the film is that Wong Jing attempts to make his film resemble a mindless Hollywood action failure like SUDDEN DEATH or UNDER SIEGE. However, the crass comedy bits undermine the deadpan delivery of Jet Li who lacks the comedy skills of Jacky Chan. Li’s facial expression’s are dead serious which gives MELTDOWN a schizophrenic feeling as Wong Jing can’t make up his mind whether to thrill the audience, or make them laugh.

Besides focusing on the macho musings of Jet Li in Bruce Willis mode, MELTDOWN focuses on the spoiled Kung Fu star, Frankie. This satirical take on Jackie Chan adds immensely to the thin storyline. It’s no secret that Jet Li and Jackie Chan share a long rivalry, and I think Li used this movie to comment on Jackie’s superstar status. The character of Frankie and his elder-but-brave father are brilliantly portrayed by Jacky Cheung and Wu Ma, respectively. Jacky Cheung mimics all the faces that Jackie Chan makes, and fights with the mannerisms and vocal intonation of Bruce Lee. The scenes where a drunken Jacky Cheung can’t perform his trademark stunts forces Jet Li to save the day (some symbolism there, perhaps?). The script allows for some character definition for the Frankie character, including why he lost his martial skills. Chingmy (NAKED KILLER) Yau is great as a reporter who is wise to Frankie’s façade, and wants to expose him for the show business phoney that he is.

From the Special Features menu, you can view the talent bios for Wong Jing, Jet Li, Jacky Cheung, Charlie Yeung, Chingmy Yau, Valerie Chow. You can view the cool trailer for MELTDOWN, which is full frame, DD 2.0, and runs 1:30. This is not the original Chinese trailer, but rather an Angelicized version assembled by Columbia Tristar. There is also a behind the scenes photo gallery for MELTDOWN, which includes Jet Li trivia to match the production stills. There are English dubbed trailers for these other Hong Kong films on Columbia Tristar DVD:

• ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA 1-3 compilation trailer (ws, DD 2.0, 1:10)
• THE PRISONER (ff, DD 2.0, :44)
• GORGEOUS (ff, DD 2.0, 1:33)
• RED DRAGON (ff, DD 2.0, 1:42)

-  Phil Chandler 

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