malkane316

(2013-05-22 18:22:20)

Quick Reviews!!

Notable mainly for being John Woo's first Western film after hismassive success and excellent films in China. All his trademarks arehere- slow motion action, stylish violence, tough but quiet malecharacters, and a ruthless bad guy. It is not up the standards of hisearly work, or as good as Broken Arrow, but with a strong cast itremains a solid action movie and very entertaining for people who likethis sort of thing.Van Damme stars as Chance, a tough drifter looking for some work. Hesees a young woman being mugged by a gang of crooks and wades in,destroys them without breaking a sweat, and leaves. The young woman,Natasha, played by Yancy Butler is in town trying to find her fatherwho has disappeared. She decides to hire Chance as a protector and helpher find her father. They find out that he was homeless and in anattempt to gain some quick cash entered himself in a deadly game run bylocal sadist Emil Fouchan- Lance Henricksen. He has a team of criminalswho are taking advantage of the lax policing in the area, and they hunthelpless humans for sport. He gives his victim the chance to get to acertain point in the city while he chases them with a gun. This is whathappened to Natasha's father, and when Chance becomes involved we knowthere is going to be fireworks.Henriksen here hams everything as the bad guy but is still very goodand enjoyable to watch. Van Damme tries to more cool than any of hisprevious roles and Woo certainly gets good results from him. Butler isexcellent as Natasha and steals most scenes, and the rest of the castis adequate. The action is not as stylish as other Woo films, and weget the sense he is easing his way onto the Western audience. There aresome wonderfully over-the-top scenes though, and everything works well.The simple story is also effective, leaving room for the main draw-guns, kicks, explosions, and killings.7.5 out of 10

(2013-05-22 02:33:20)

You Must find the Uncut version!

The R-rated version of Hard Target is what happens when censorship gets out of hand. The Uncut verison is so much better, if you can find it than I highly recommend you get it! This film really does belong up there with John Woo's pervious films. It's very violent with lots of action that will surely keep you interested. John Woo is the best! The ending was great, I will not spoil it! but there is one part I didn't really like, that's the whole Shoot than jump in the air kick routine Van Damme did while killing the bad guys seemed really out of place, it's like the kicks were just added because he's Van Damme and I guess John Woo thought most Americans would want to see Van Damme's sissy kicks. As for the actors..... Van Damme is a horrible one, I heard they were going to cast Kurt Russell as the lead instead which would have made the movie 100 times better cut or uncut! But alas! we were stuck with stiff Van Damme, his bad accent on top of another bad accent and his horrible hair. But all is forgiven when sexy Arnold Vosloo (Pik Van Cleaf) makes his way on to the screen, what a wonderful job he did! He literally stole the show from Van Damme with every sence they had together in my book. Lance Herkersion(sp) was also great! all the way through! These two worked great together as the bad guys, they will send chills down your spine, just the thought that there could be guys like them out in the world is really creepy! My favortie sence will have to be the introduction of Pik when he comes in contact with Chance for the first time in Randell Poe's office, the dude looked like the devil standing at that door! A job well done! I will rate this one (R-rated) with 3 stars, but the Uncut one deserves five stars all the way! the difference is, one is a Van Damme film, the other is a John Woo film!

LBytes

(2013-05-20 17:54:25)

Better than you might expect

Critics be damned I liked this movie. As you read movie comments hereat IMDb some reviewers seem almost bitter. Clearly some have issuesthat go beyond simple movie ratings and opinions. I saw Hard Targetagain recently while I was browsing my collection to lend out some DVDsand wound up watching the whole flick again. Its the best movie I'veseen Van Damme in and The Woo puts his mark on the film with well doneaction and pyrotechnics. The supporting cast is also good especiallythe two main bad guys. Most of the action isn't so far over the toplike movies today have way too much of, i.e., it's at least mostlyplausible. Its a solid 8 in a narrowed-down rating system.

(2013-05-20 07:30:11)

Van-Damme and Woo who could ask for more?

Lets get this over with this film was never intended to be or ever going to be the most thought provoking film of the decade. That sort of thing is best left to the Truman Show or Saving Private Ryan. However if you don't fell like engaging your brain then you could do a lot worse than pick this film. Granted without Woo on board this would flounder however with him this hits a high standard. Woo's moody shots and slow motion shots save the film from becoming just another mindless action film. Van-Damme is always used best when he is high kicking in firelight or flipping over cars and when the camera pans over him in the firelight you'll be totaly enthralled. The end sequence is particualy good with the charecteristic magazine dropping shot and the high kicks flying thick and fast. Like I said at the beging if you want social comment and thought provoking hire Private Ryan if you want breath taking action directed by a true master of the genre hire this.

ccthemovieman-1

(2013-05-20 14:54:39)

Call It What You Will, But It IS Entertaining!

Many people see "Jean-Claude Van Damme" in the lead and think thisanother stupid, no-brainer action flick and guess what? It is! BUT, itis also a very entertaining film, kind of ripoff of the old "MostDangerous Game" storyline....and, if you can suspend belief for 90-100minutes, you'll be vastly entertained....and that's the name of thegame, folks.Some of the action scenes are outrageous and big-time "Rambo"mentality, meaning an entire arsenal that could wipe out a smallcountry is used against our hero and never seems to kill him! Peopleare being shot in the streets but no is ever around in the middle ofthe day but the killers and victims? Usually that stuff annoys me, butI didn't seem to mind in this movie. In fact, it fits.Despite the lack of credibility, Van Dame standing on top of a speedingmotorcycle as it heads towards an onrushing car, and later dodging allkinds of pretty neat weapons as he tries to help Yancy Butler, is justfun. John Wood-directed films tend to be ridiculously exaggerated andloud, so that's what you get. I am not a fan of many of his films, butI am of this one. It's pure macho madness with a Lance Henriksen doingwhat he does best: be an incredibly-nasty and brutal villain. An addedbonus in here - a real hoot - is old man Wilfred Brimley as Van Damme'sFrench uncle who comes to his nephew's aid.Add a great blues soundtrack and you have a great film to feed yourmale hormones with when needing to be fed some gratuitous violence.

sprivateryan

(2013-05-20 02:09:18)

Although not Woo's best, it delivers.

John Woo brings audiences the excitement of being hunted in this thrillingaction movie, "Hard Target". "Hard Target" stars Jean-Claude Van Dammeplaysa merchant sailer named Chance Boudreaux who comes across Natasha Binder,played by Yancy Butler. Natasha is in search of her missing father, whohasbeen hunted down by the sadistic mercenary Emil Fouchon, played by LanceHenrikson. Together, once Emil is on to them, Chance and Natasha becomethehunted. John Woo directs in what many people might call a "bad acting"movie, but if you put away the acting, and watch the sweet slow-motionscenes and Woo's doves, you'll be entertained for a hour and thirty-sevenminutes.(6 out of 10 stars)

(2013-05-19 14:23:16)

Damme skippy!

The city of Brussels, Belgium is responsible for two crimes against humanity: its sprouts, and Jean-Claude Van Damme.After getting fired as the monster in "Predator," Van Damme broke into cinema with his star turn in "Kickboxer." Or maybe it was "Bloodsport." Big difference. Somehow, Hollywood deemed him "successful," and he graduated to big-budget fare like "Universal Soldier" and that one flick with Patricia Arquette on a farm, where Ted Levine played a bad guy (shocker).Around the same time, John Woo got sick of working with Chow Yun-Fat, and decided to quit making Hong-Kong-style action flicks in Hong Kong, and make Hong-Kong-style action flicks in America instead.The two men joined forces, and with Yancy (hic) Butler as the heroine, perpetrated "Hard Target" upon us all.In a casting/dialogue-coaching stroke of genius, Van Damme is enlisted to play a Cajun named Chance. When asked about the origin of his moniker, he cryptically replies "Mi'mamma Too Kwan." Exactly who this Kwan character is supposed to be, we never learn. Maybe it's a deleted scene with a martial arts master, or something (I'm guessing James Hong played him. James Hong ALWAYS plays guys named "Kwan").Rounding out the cast is Lance Henriksen, who can check off another entry in his "the movie stunk, but Lance Henriksen was cool" list."Hard Target" is basically an urbanized re-telling of "the Most Dangerous Game," where bad guys hunt the good guy. "Surviving the Game," the one with Ice-T, is better. Sort of.At least "Hard Target" treats us to a scene where two characters shoot at each other from opposite sides of a row of windows...with nary a scratch. It's even funnier than Chance's mullet. On second thought, NOTHING is funnier than Chance's mullet.The staggering box-office results from "Hard Target" paved the way for such Van Damme classics as "Sudden Death" and...uh..."Friends" -- while Woo busted blocks with "Windtalkers" and "Paycheck."And I saw this in the THEATER.

keihan

(2013-05-19 03:22:50)

A "doughnut" movie...

I've loved John Woo's films ever since I took a chance and bought mysubtitled copy of "The Killer" for VHS (no bad dubbing jobs for me, thankyou very much). The blood flew pretty close to what it probably does inreallife, all actions had consequences, and nearly no one was a cardboardcutout. For years, I've been listening to folk grouse about "Hard Target"being a misfire, a mistake, or just simply not worthy of what came before(one of the most irritating examples they love to throw up is "HardBoiled",a good, solid HK movie, but not up to the hype too many folks have givenit). Curiousity finally got the better of me and I decided about fourmonthsago to see for myself. What I came away with was the belief that this is a"doughnut" film, weak to non-existent center surrounded by strong elementsall around (the original "Under Siege" is a similar suchfilm).But, before I go into the single biggest defect in this film, let's startwith what the film got right. Chuck Pfarrar's script isn't too original(going back to that short story classic, "The Most Dangerous Game", inconcept), but it carries the premise solidly and believably enough. TherealNew Orleans is a city of complicated and crooked political crosscurrents,which, with its surrounding bayous, makes it the ideal manhunting ground.Woo's direction captures the sense of the place very well, making it asmucha character in the story as the human players (one could argue that he didthe same for Hong Kong in his earlier films). Genre veteran LanceHendrickson brings his patented smoky, suave menace to bear on the twisted"game warden" who's been organizing and making a killing, so to speak, offhis inhuman enterprise. Not that he's without human qualities (his pianoplaying sequence and small smile of admiration for Roper's decision totakeit from the front are the best examples), but definitely not a guy oneinvites to dinner. Arnold Vosloo, as his sociopathic second-in-command,VanCleef, seems to relish the role, playing him as a svelte animal whose onlyjoy in life comes from inflicting death, the messier the better. FutureWitchblade Yancy Butler is a little too believably naive and helpless asthewoman looking for her father and later his killers. That said, she doesredeem herself with one memorable event towards the end that brings tominda similar scene in "Hard Boiled". Finally, Wilford Brimley is a treat astheold Cajun moonshiner out to help his nephew at any cost. You gotta respectaguy who's willing to blow his own place up just to get the badguys.Perceptive readers may have already guessed where I've been going withthis,but I'll say it anyway. The single biggest flaw in this film is its star,Jean-Claude Van Damme You All. This could have been the best film of hiscareer...if he actually had any acting talent to begin with. It's a meatyrole, a Cajun merchant marine who did time in the Marine Recon and nowneedsthe cash of finding Butler's dad to get back to work. As written, he'stough, he's clever, he's likable. As played by Van Damme...well, let'sjustsay that Woo did not get the Belgian equivalent of Chow Yun Fat. Hisaccent,for once, isn't a problem, but his line readings are. He could have beenreading a prescription bottle for all the emotion he put into them. Plus,henever manages to convince me that he's actually smart enough to come upwithany of the very clever ways of offing the hunters that come into play. Itmakes his reported clashs with Woo over the film look even more petty thanthey already are (Woo probably found the MPAA more reasonable, bycontrast).In short, he is the hole in the doughnut for this film.It's really kind of sad that, but for one major flaw, this film could havebecome a classic of the action genre. Sadly, as things stand, it can onlybecalled a missed opportunity.

chris1987

(2013-05-18 06:03:29)

One of the best Van Damme movies.

First saw this movie when i was buying a video of Maximum Risk,which isa decent Van Damme film.So i watched this film and was notdisappointed,i was entertained throughout the whole movie.The actionwas practically non-stop.The storyline is decent enough with ruthlessbusiness men hunting homeless war veterans,and the street-wise ChanceBoudreaux was going to find out sooner or later,to bad for the badguys.The action scenes are spot on.When Van Damme first appears,youjust know the s**t is going down.In roughly the first half hour of thefilm sees a fight at a cafГѓВ© in which Van Damme breaks a guys arm it isbrutal.As the film rolls on,we discover Chance's background and how hehimself has experienced the streets.Lance Henrickson is great as theEmil Fouchon chief bad guy,you just love to hate.And Arnold Vosloo ashis sidekick Pick Van Cleef was great and funny at times.You just knowwhen he utters the words "Randall,Randall,Randall" that Randall was infor a very bad day.Wilford Brimley as the enjoyable and funny uncleDouvee.The tag-line for this movie is "Don't Hunt What You Cant Kill"and the bad guys should have realised this.This is a decent andenjoyable Van Damme film.

James Hitchcock

(2013-05-17 12:04:44)

Fast-paced enough for us to overlook its frequent absurdities

Hard Target was the first American film directed by the Chinesedirector John Woo. The basic premise is that there exists a group ofwealthy men who, tired of hunting animals, are prepared to pay up to$500,000 for the excitement of hunting and killing human beings. Theirtargets are selected from among the unemployed, homeless down-and-outsof New Orleans, normally former servicemen as their military trainingmakes them harder targets to kill, thus affording greater sport tothose pursuing them. (Hence the title of the film). Perhaps unusuallyfor an action thriller, this one touches upon social issues in itsclear concern for the plight of men who have served their countrybravely but now find themselves rejected by society.The hero is Chance Boudreaux, an out of work Cajun merchant seaman whobecomes involved with a young woman named Natasha Binder. Natasha issearching for her missing father, who it turns out was one of the menkilled by the hunters.The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme (aka the "Muscles from Brussels"),who had followed another European former bodybuilder, ArnoldSchwarzenegger, to Hollywood in the eighties. Neither man initiallypossessed any great acting talent, but by the early nineties Arnie hadgreatly improved his dramatic skills and he made some decent films,such as "True Lies", during this period. Van Damme, however, showed nosuch improvement, and his performance in "Hard Target" is acharacteristically wooden one. The Louisiana Cajun aspect to the filmseems to have been deliberately contrived to allow Van Damme to play acharacter whose mother tongue is French, while keeping an Americansetting. (No American audience is going to want an action-adventuremovie set in Paris or Brussels). The one thing in his favour is that,apart from Wilford Brimley's cameo as Chance's eccentric elderly uncle,the rest of the cast are no better, including his love interest YancyButler (aka the girl whose parents couldn't spell Nancy).The plot will not bear any too close inspection. We are asked tobelieve that the villains are not only ruthless but also ruthlesslyefficient and well organised, able to conduct manhunts though thestreets of a major city without anyone noticing. They also appear tohave half the city's police and officials on their payroll and to haveat their disposal enough firepower to wipe out a regiment. We are thenasked to believe that, when confronted with what should be the fairlysimple task of killing an unemployed drifter he proves to be more thana match for them and that when confronted by the hero they suddenly andmiraculously lose their previously infallible ability to hit a movingtarget.And yet as an action thriller this is not a bad one. John Woo and otherdirectors of a similar ilk are lucky that the action-adventure genredoes not always require Olivier-calibre acting or coherent plots; if itdid, most films of this type would be completely unwatchable. Woo getsthe important things about this film right; the action sequences arewell handled and the film is fast-paced enough for us to overlook itsfrequent absurdities. 6/10

(2013-05-17 02:25:56)

Maximum Van Damage

JVCD goes mulletairy in NOLA as Chance Boudreuex a down on his luck seaman that forgets to pay his $15 union membership and is stuck on land unable to work. The distressed damsel is played by the sober and delightful Yancy Butler. Lance Hendrickson and Arnold Vosloo round out the cast as bad guys. Oddly, Wilford Brimley with a Cajun accent is thrown into the mix with explosive effect.If your a fan of John Woo, JVCD, Lance Hendrickson or oddly Wilford Brimly for whatever reason this movie is not to be missed. Eventually I would like to see this movie in Bluray.

Corky1984

(2013-05-16 06:34:13)

Hilarious stuff

Hard Target is undoubtedly Van Damme's best film. In terms of laughsfew movies come close. Some scenes are just so unbelievable that youhave to rewind them to check they weren't kidding, you then discoverthat they were! The scene in which Van Damme stands up on a movingmotorbike and starts shooting at a truck before jumping over it andwatching it explode, must win the prize for best comedy moment of thefilm. A highly unrealistic snake is also witnessed later in the film.The line of the film comes when badguy Lance Henrikson shouts out 'Youare a f££££g buffalo' at one of his chums! It makes no sense at all!Co-star Wilfred Brimley steals the show however as Uncle Douvee,basically a pun on duvet. He's an old fat bearded man who rides horsesand uses a bow and arrow, but at the end of the film assures us allthat 'I can walk but I cannot dance' following an injury. Great newsUncle! Firepower is readily available throughout Hard Target, allaction fans will be kept happy by that. Some of the acting isappalling, but overall this film is worth catching, especially withlike minded mates!

(2013-05-16 02:02:41)

Van Damme summons the power of Chuck Norris's mullet from the 80's

Is there really anything better then an early 90's action flick? The answer is of course NO! There's just something special about this era in action that keeps us always coming back for more with no end in sight. Out of all our great reviews surprisingly we are very low on the Van Damme count which is something that must change after watching the 5 star extravaganza Hard Target. The mussels from Brussels is surely in the top ten of all-time action hero's and now will have to be seriously considered in Sid's future B viewing options. It's really amazing how there is no possible way to run out of B material to watch and review.Hard Target starts with ultra rugged Chance Boudreaux (Van Damme) whose unemployed and looking for a job in a very dangerous New Orleans. Enter Natasha Binder whose looking for here lost former combat vet father to only discover he's been murdered by Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen) and his partner Pik Van Cleef in a ver special way. Yeah he's been a victim of a human hunting game almost identical to the style in Death Ring! That leads us to believe they got a hold of the Death Ring script, saw the goldmine it was, and had to recruit Van Damme since Mike Norris was already taken. Once Natasha gets the help from Chance it's simply known as "go time." The only chance Lance Henriksen has against Van Damme is if he were to resurrect Pumpkinhead for a battle royal of B glory. Naturally Chance proves himself as the ultimate prey and even finishes off Emil with the old grenade down the pants trick.So despite the fact that Hard Target clearly was overshadowed by the success of Mike, Cad, and Don in Death Ring it was still an amazingly awesome movie. Van Damme was a force to be reckoned with sporting the finest mullet since Chuck Norris in Hellbound. It's what gave him his super human strength in this movie. There were so many explosions and amazing fight scenes leaving us speechless. The best part, outside of the great ending showdown, had to be the motorcycle gunfight where Van Damme stand ups on his hog while shotting at a moving car to jump over it doing a shoulder roll and land on his feet. It's that typical fantastic action of the 90's that just can't be touched by anything else.

(2013-05-15 21:20:01)

Van Damme plays the most dangerous game Theatrical 7.5/10 NC 17 workprint 8.5/10

This is how you do the most dangerous game unlike Predators. Directed by John Woo is probably his best american film it stars Jean Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreax, Lance Henriksen as Emil Fouchon, Arnold Vosloo as Pik Van Cleaf & Yancy Butller as Natasha Binder but goes by Nat for short. Story is Emil Fouchon has this game where he uses homeless War veterans promises them a large sum of money & people enter this game to hunt them. At the beginning they are chasing 1 of them down named Douglas Binder & he's killed but doesn't go down without a fight. His daughter Nat shows up in New Orlens looking for him she runs into trouble these guys try to rob her Chance Boudreax shows up & kicks all of these guys a***s. Chance works as a Merchant Seaman & owes union dues so agrees to help Nat look for her father since he'll be paid $100 a day. She finds out later on that her father died in a fire Chance does his own investigating & & he didn't die in the fire. Elijh Roper 1 of Chance's friends agrees to play the most dangerous game & what happens to him you feel sorry for him & it helps the viewer hate the villains. If you have the overseas version or the workprint you get more violence & gun play blood squibbing especially the workprint which I guess was used as a screener. The workprint is more satisfying than the theatrical version. Jean Claude Van Damme did a good job & tried to improved his acting game. Lance Henriksen he did a great job very underrated actor & was over the top in a good way. Arnold Vosloo played it straight. Yancy Butler was good. Wilford Brimley was ok in his role. I wish the workprint would be released officially on DVD or Blu Ray cause Universal has DVD'd Blu Ray'd special editioned Street Fighter yet Hard Target hasn't. Critics bashed Hard Target back in 1993 but like with The Expendables the critics don't know what there talking about h3** Hard Target entertained me more than half the movies released this summer. This wasn't some direct to video clunker like Universal Soldier Regeneration. If you didn't like Hard Target then you should see the workprint to fully make your mind up.

JohnnyPHreak

(2013-05-15 05:36:59)

John Woo and Van Damme make a pretty good team

Right here and now I'll say this is Van Damme best movie and he picked theright director for it. It an action adventure about a team of killers arewho paid to hunt by rich people. The movie is not action filled as the videobox may tell you. But it does have enough to make your mouth water. If youknow John Woo than you know that his films spread out the action and putspace of acting between them. The acting is not top notch but it isbelievable. But what makes this movie is the action sequences. They haveremnants of Woo's other movies like Broken Arrow, Hard Boiled, The Killerand the final scene looks like it was plucked straight out of Face/Off. Youhave to see it to believe it. Van Damme does his normal tough guy nottalking much thing but it is great to see him with two pistols in his hands.It's a 7 for total movie but gets a 10 for action. Action movie junkies willlove Hard Target. John Woo and Van Damme makes for great action.

(2013-05-14 13:55:17)

The BETTER version, please read to see why as Amazon does not specify which dvd version this is and they are all mixed together!

This review is from: Hard Target (DVD) This is not so much a review as it is more of a mild comparison! This is for the "import version from the U.K." (has the red circle with the white number 18 rating, for those who are not familiar). From what I can tell the movie is almost identical to the U.S. version until the ending. The ending of the U.K. version is not nearly as cut up as the U.S. version, and though I haven't compared it to the bootleg director's cut on vhs, the ending of the U.K. version may be the same ending as the director's bootleg cut. There are actually scenes completely missing from the U.S. version that appear on this U.K. version, though not many. A scene involving a guy wearing a motorcycle helmet who gets elbowed and has his gun taken away from him and used on someone else, completely disappears in the U.S. version, but in the U.K. version, after Van Damme kills the man that he used the bikers gun on, the biker gets back up and is killed and another guy behind him is killed as well. The biggest difference between the two endings are the number of times you see someone get shot. For example In the U.K. cut you'll see someone get shot 5 times and then the scene may change. In the U.S. cut, you'll have the same scene where you see 1 or 2 gunshots, and then the scene will change and you'll only hear the rest of the gun shots. This is very evident in the scene where Yancy Butler kills the man chasing her and shooting at her, after he manages to get in front of her, (Woo has always been one to show the gun shooting and the person getting hit with bullets in the same scene, as opposed to most who show the gun shooting and cutting to another scene showing the person geting hit with bullets). The U.K. cut ending is much more distinctly John Woo's style of gun fighting. So in my opinion, the U.K. version is much better as it is more complete and actually makes more sense when you see the difference. The downfalls are three, one is that it has a different region code (2) and is in PAL format, so if you don't have a multi-region dvd player that can also read PAL format, the dvd will not work for you. The second is that it is not as good a quality as the U.S. dvd, though the U.K. version is not bad by any means, just not quite as sharp. The 3rd is that it is not anamorphic if that matters to you. Whenever I watch this fim it will be with the U.K. version simply for the ending that is Woo. For those interested in this version and are not sure if you have the correct one on your page, click on the this Hard Target, and it should take you to the U.K. import DVD version I am talking about, it was correct when I pre-viewed my review!

(2013-05-13 22:58:32)

Van Damme and John Woo Rock

This one of my favorite Van Damme movies, and a great movie from John Woo as well. Woo's slo-mo directing is awesome, and is hardly comparable to Van Damme's other films. Jean Claude gives us the goods, and his jump-spin-180 split-kick is just awesome. A great Van Damme and Woo movie. I wish they would work together again. The DVD is great too. I highly recommend.

(2013-05-13 14:34:33)

Van Damme's Best?

"Hard Target" Is Hong Kong action director John Woo's first forray into American film. That they tossed him a cheesy script and Van Damme for it proves that his American handlers weren't sure about his abilities. I'm happy to say that Woo proves himself to be an excellent action director who manages to get Van Damme's most interesting performance ever. The plot is a basic "The Most Dangerous Game" [...]. Rich folk are hunting homeless Vietnam Vets in New Orleans for sport, with weapons and targets supplied by the always entertaining Lance Henriksen(Best known as Bishop the Android in "Aliens"). Van Damme plays a local longshorman/blue collar type who was raised in the Bayou by his crazy cajun Uncle(Hilariously portrayed by Wilford Brimley, who has a great time with his role). He comes across waywayd northerner Yancy Butler("Witchblade"), who is in town looking for her homeless vet father who got offed in the movie's opening sequence. The police are no help, and when Van Damme saves her from being attacked by local ruffians, she hires him to help her find her father. What follows are brilliantly over the top action sequences, and performances that are better than this movie deserves. Special mention must go to Arnold Vosloo(the Mummy in the new Mummy films) as the sadistic, consitantly amused by his own brutality VanCLeef, henchman of Henriksen. He knows the script is garbage, but plays the hell out of his role. His lines are great, and his demeanor perfect. Too bad he has to speak Ancient Egyptian in the Mummy films.Van Damme is his usually bad self here, replying to the question "Why is your name Chance?" with a flat, accented "Because my momma took one". What does that mean? I don't know, but it sure comes out funny. He does get serious for the action scenes, and they are spectacular, particularly a motorcycle vs. truck showdown and the final battle in an old Mardi Gras wharehouse. So Woo breathes some life into the Muscles from Brussles.The weakest link is Yancy Butler, who never switches from her monitone delivery, and emotes as well as a rock, but the over the top performances by Henricksen, Vosloo, and Brimley make up for it. Trust me, you've never heard a line like "Good whiskey makes jackrabbit slap the bear" until you've heard it from a cajun Wilford Brimley.For the cheesey action fan, this is a must own. The action is better than the movie deserves, as Woo basically proves to the big guns in LA that he can make an American film, and the supporting performances make the bad script seem plausible. The rewatchability is high, and the film is alot of fun. So come on, be like Van Damme's momma and "Take a chance".

Shawn Watson

(2013-05-12 22:09:20)

A more dangerous game

John Woo's Hollywood career has been turbulent, which nothing reallydefining him as a great action director. Broken Arrow was bland, theoverrated Face/Off was even less fun, M:I 2 was the movie equivalent ofa Big Mac, Windtalkers was absolute trash, as was Paycheck. But atleast he started out on the right foot with Hard Target. Unfortunatelyneither the studios nor the MPAA were familiar with his OTT style ofbloody action, and the film was neutered before it was exposed tomovie-goers.Jean-Claude Van Damme stars as Chance Boudreaux an out of work sailorslumming it in New Orleans, and boy is it a terrible performance, theBelgian kickboxer just isn't even trying a little bit. This was alsomade during the 90s, when he wore his belt-line directly underneath hisnipples in an effort to look taller. Chance meets a pretty girl calledNatasha (Yancy Butler, who despite being gorgeous seemed to just dropoff the radar completely) and helps her find her missing dad. Butduring the course of their investigation they discover a game of deathin which rich folks hunt the homeless.Apparently Woo wanted Kurt Russell in the lead, but with Van Damme'ssub-par skills draining fun from the film the best performances comefrom the always brilliant Lance Henriksen and Arnold Vosloo as the mainvillain and right-hand man. Mr. Woo's gunfighting and action SHOULDalso make the film more enjoyable, though compared to his originalvision, a 116-minute epic, the final cut is butchered 97-minutecould-have-been. All the John Woo trademarks are here, but it's hard toenjoy it knowing what was cut out.

FlashCallahan

(2013-05-12 12:04:26)

Find a bus to catch....

Van damme is back with a mullet that Mel Gibson would be proud of, inJohn Woos first western film.a great story and great production values make this one of Van Dammesbest movies. Homeless people are being hunted for money by rich people.One guy gets killed, and his daughter is looking for him. Just as sheis about to get mugged by some goons, good old Van Damme saves the day.She then pays him money to help her find dad. When he turns up dead,Van Damme finds himself involved in the game. Now the hunters becomethe hunted.Fantastic from beginning to end, Hard Target is more of a fairy talethan a proper action movie if you read between the lines. Van Damme canrun down a road quicker than it takes a bike to get him there. Gunsnever seem to run out of bullets, and the damsel in distress gets savedin the nick of time.We never really learn much about Van Dammes character, which leaves abit of mysticism to him. Being a Woo movie, you expect over the top setpieces, and he doesn't fail to deliver.From a desolate street, to a warehouse shootout, Woo pulls no punches,and knows that every death is as absurd as the last.camera-work is good, and there are some good tricks used throughout tomake the film a little more tense.it's a showcase for director and star, and neither fails to impress.funny, crazy, guilty pleasure stuff.