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Hard Target

Hard Target

List Price: $9.98
Your Price: $9.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another Amazing Acting Performance By Arnold Vosloo
Review: Positively chilling is the word that comes to mind when I watch Vosloo (Pik Van Cleef). Vosloo plays the murderous henchman of Emil Fouchon (Lance Heriksen), who recruits homeless combat veterans for a deadly game of cat and mouse. Vosloo interviews rich "clients", who pay upwards of half a million dollars for the pleasure of hunting and killing these Vets, which our society has "forgotten" about. These henchmen then burn the dead bodies in abandoned building in order to make the killings look like freak accidents. They even have the town (New Orleans) medical examiner in their pockets.

The movie starts with a homeless man running for his life. He is being viscously hunted by a gang of henchmen, equipped with automatic weapons on the prowl. The hunter's goal is to reach the river before the henchmen and the paying "client" gets to him first. Well they do get to him first and his death leads the police to undercover this secret "service". The dead man's daughter, Natasha Binder (Yancy Butler) along with Chance Boudreaux (Van Damme), seeks to find out what really happened. After Chance proves the death as a homicide, a new autopsy is ordered--which tips off the henchmen. They want to stop her and Chance but they have other ideas.
Van Damme and Butler do a good job on the run from the hunters. Van Damme's high-flying kicks and fight scenes are awesome. But it is Henriksen and the amazing Arnold Vosloo, who STEALES the SHOW! They are soooo baaaad you cheer them on throughout the film. Vosloo's performance is especially chilling as he expertly maintains a dignified yet heartless persona.
This high-octane film is sure to light your fire, rent or buy it today!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: John Woo and Van Damme at their best!
Review: Whether you watch this for die hard action, Jean-Claude Van Damme, or for the outstanding direction of John Woo, this film is a must see! I even think it's a must to own.

Jean-Claude is at one of his better acting attempts as he portrays a humble ex-marine wandering the streets, struggling for work. His demeanor is calm and less arrogant than we're used to seeing. He looks awesome when kicking butt, but not like he's showing off.

John Woo does a superb job at his first American debut at action directing. His foreign movies include Hard Boiled, with Cow Yun Fat, which has a lot of noticeable similarities with Hard Target except Hard Target is just plain better.

For fans of Lance Henrikson, he's awesome in this movie, too, as a smooth, but really angry business man who sets up bums from the street to be hunted by multi-millionaires who have nothing better to do with their time. When one old bum happens to be the father of Natasha, (Yancy Butler), she hires Chance, (Van Damme, who earlier saved her life), to help her around the city and find out who killed her daddy. A cat and mouse game begins between Chance and the "hunters" as they begin to pursue him in their deadly sport.

Bottom line, This Movie Rocks!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not just a dumb, violent action film
Review: Jean Claude Van Damme gets to harrow Hell in this one but I don't think anyone told him.

Not just a dumb, violent action film, Hard Target has an interesting subtext about some macho nitwits who sell their souls to Fouchon (Lance Henriksen playing Lucifer, I swear) in exchange for the ultimate thrill of killing a human being. There's an awful lot of fire in this one, and in fact the final scenes in the Mardi Gras graveyard look like scenes from hell with old Mardi Gras floats, grinning papier maché faces like demons in the shadows and even a brief appearance by the arch-fiend Himself in a scene so full of symbolic images that it requires a freeze-frame and letterboxing to appreciate them all. Look for birds as messengers - in particular, doves as messengers of grace - and some nice visual quotations such as Lance recalling DeNiro's Louis Cypher from Angel Heart and Arnold Vosloo as Fouchon's partner, Pik, as a perfectly wonderful Beelzebub (can you think of a better weapon of choice for the Lord of the Flies than a shotgun?) in a pose that looks like it's right out of Beardsley--a long, languid slash of black in the doorway at Randal Poe's.

John Woo's first American film and sadly overlooked. I recommend this one highly.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One Of Van Damme's best
Review: This movie is one that i watched a couple of times without getting bored.it really doesnt have a lot of plot but the action is great.but then again,not most van damme movies have plot now do they?anyway this was one of van dammes best movies alongside with bloodsport lionheart,universal soldier,sudden death.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Van Damme is the best action movie star ever
Review: I am a big fan of Jean Claude Van Damme. I like him since the minute I saw Bloodsport. This movie is so good. I don't get bored watching it. I can watch it for a thousand times a day. I don't know why such a good movie as this one would flopped at theaters. VAn Damme should have won an oscar for this movie. Hard Target is one of the best action movie. It is directed by John Woo(my best action director). John Woo dilivered us many good action movies such as Broken Arrow, Face Off, the killer, and his latest project Mission Impossible 2, which starring Tom Cruise. hard target is just as good as many of John Woo's movies. I bet that when you see this movie the first time you will definitely want to see it again and again, because it is so good, and if you like it so much you might go to the store and buy it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: For fans of stupid movies only
Review: Whether you are an ultra die-hard fan of Van Damme, his bad accent, stupid, plotless movies or all three, this one is for you. Here Van Damme stars a sailor who's out to rescue some "good guys" from some "bad guys". Sounds original huh? An unintentionally hilarious mess, with not one believable or suspenseful moment.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A good movie but could have been made better
Review: Please note that there is also the uncensored version released in the rest of the world. Ironically, Americans don't like "excessive" violence, so we get stuck with this one. Some fight scenes are borrowed from movies like The Killer and Hard Boiled. So if you like this movie, by all means go rent the other two mentioned above.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: PRETTY COOL JOHN WOO MOVIE
Review: Hard Target was the first Hollywood film John Woo ever did. All his trademarks are here. They are even more apparent than in BROKEN ARROW. Once the action starts the film is a joy to watch. The action is, once again, like some kind of blood-soaked and gun-smoked ballet. Watching Van Damme twirl and tumble and dive thru the air while firing a number of different weapons is very pleasing on the eye.

The plot is (yet another) remake of the most excellent MOST DANGEROUS GAME. But that doesn't make it bad. Humans are hunted for sport and that is the only similarity. The plot was recycled again only 1 year later in Ice-T's equally as good SURVIVING THE GAME.

This DVD is unfortunatly NOT the far better director's cut but is still worth buying. It is in Dolby 5.1 and is anamorphically enhanced at 1.85:1.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hard Target
Review: I had seen hard target on the theater much before Hard boiled, Face off, Broken arrow ect, When it was first released way back in 1993. At that time i didnt know John woo and havent seen his great hongkong action films. I loved Hard Target, But now watching it on the video i feel he(woo) should have done better. Even though it has the Woo trade mark and 100% not dissapointing for a John woo movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "This is bad, very bad"
Review: The disappointment in not liking a thing is magnified by the hype which surrounds it. This is true of Hard Target. John Woo has garnered a reputation as a visual stylist, deservedly so. I was quite surprised to find that this his inaugural film in American cinema lacked the telltale visual cues found in his Hong Kong films. Admittedly the slow motion sequences and rapid fire edits bear his signature but overall the "style" is severely lacking. Don't misunderstand, the stunts and pyrotechnics per se are visually arresting and camera movement adds to the "balletic" quality. However, these scenes are incidental, taking up a mere fraction of the screen time. Unlike more successful and visually arresting films like THE MATRIX where the non-action sequences are incidental but nevertheless compelling. The major let down is in knowing that the formula for this film has been adapted from a classic thirties film, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, which was set on a remote island. By altering the locale to the French Quarter of New Orleans the producers have made a great blunder. It detracts from the realism rather than enhancing it. If the filmakers wanted us to suspend disbelief then they should have gone the whole hog and placed the setting in another time or place rather than a contemporary urban setting.. Notwithstanding this plot element, the characters seem ill at ease in their environment especially Wilfred Brimley as a bayou hooch monger, a clear anachronism. And yet his are the last lines delivered in the film, "This is bad, very bad." Which perhaps sums up John Woo's perspective on this film more than any other, simply because he knows he is capable of much better fare.


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