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Risk

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

It's the quiet ones you have to watch.

Innocent Ben Madigan (Tom Long) is one of many trying to make it in the sharp-edged world of personal injury insurance assessment. Ben's boss is John Kreisky (Bryan Brown), a hard-bitten veteran of the trade. Constantly overlooked by the company that he has saved millions for, Kreisky has concocted an ingenious scam, skimming the top off fake insurance claims supplied by the young, slick and vampish, solicitor, Louise Roncoli (Claudia Karvan). Together they're a beautiful team but when Louise wants more the besotted Kreisky has to find a way to increase the cash flow.

Enter Ben Madigan - young, polite, and with in-built sympathy for those in need. The perfect person to settle Kreisky's huge pile of disputed claims, at a cut-price, out of court, with the savings funding more and more fake claims set up by Louise.

As Ben realises he's saving the company millions he wonders why he's still stuck in a dogbox of an office on a grade 1 salary. Kreisky's reply is cold hard cash in a plain white envelope. But to Ben this has scam written all over it and he wants out. That is until Louise invites him to the beach.

Under Louise's spell Ben ups the percentages and suspicions begin to rise. No longer in need of Kreisky, Louise tries to take control of the scam at any cost. It's an accident waiting to happen and Ben is to learn that the most important rule of insurance is not who's at fault, or who's to blame, but who gets to walk away.

Also starring Jason Clarke, Brian Meegan, Bob Baines, Kim Knuckey, Thomas Clunie, Sharin Contini and Wayne Pygram. Written by John Armstrong, directed by Alan White.

Cinematic intelligence sources

Intelligence analyst

Secret Agent Acid Thunder

Theatrical report

Tom Long was in The dish, Claudia Karvan is in The secret life of us and Bryan Brown was in Effects 2. Once again Bryan plays the bad guy. What is it with him and villain roles? Maybe he'd be happier playing a fatherly role in a garage porno.

In Risk he tries to make you believe that he's doing good when he's actually doing bad. He manipulates his girlfriend and young protégé into doing his bidding, then the girlfriend gets ideas of her own and goes to work on the aforementioned protégé. With standard twist number 47, young protégé takes all he has learned from the master and the mistress then turns it all back on them.

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Media intelligence (DVD)

  • Background footage
  • Interviews: Claudia Karvan, Alan White
  • Picture: Widescreen (16:9 enhanced)
  • Trailer: Theatrical

Security censorship classification

MA 15+ (High level sex scenes, drug use)

Surveillance time

93 minutes (1:33 hours)

Not for public release in Australia before date

DVD retail: 13 February 2002

Cinema surveillance images

Risk image

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