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Blackmail, Murder & Mayhem

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Hard Target

Hard Target

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

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Hard Boring Action!
Review: Van Damme teams up with John Woo{Mission Impossible 2}for a hard hitting all out gunning extravaganza.The storyline starts out good but by the end you can't wait to turn it off.Ex-vietnam veterans are the prey of nemesis one being Lance Henrikson who have nothing else better to do than kill.Van Damme is the only threat to the big bad gang of tycoons.Slow motion effects take up most of the fight scenes,which makes the movie even more boring than it already is.Even though I like Van Damme this film is one he should regret doing,because it has been forgotten.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE MULLET IS BACK!!!!!
Review: yes! that is correct van Damme is back and with a new due. His mullet alone is worth the movie. John WOO the director did an excellent job with the action scenes, the movie has non-stop action with shoot outs,motorcycle chases, grenades, and many cool deaths. I also liked John Woos work in Face off. Van damme is just typical guy getting chased by (Lance henrikson0 Fuchon. I hope John Woo will make more movies with Van Damm because this is one of his best!!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Van Damme's Best?
Review: "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".

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Senseless Violence Galore. Great Job by John Woo.
Review: This movie is very entertaining. Lance Henriksen does a great job playing a hillarious bad guy. A plot, similar to that of "The Most Dangerous Game" develops for some time in the beginning. Then after a while the movie becomes one long violence scene with one explosion after another and Van Damme killing everyone. Now that's entertainment! Lance Henriksen and Arnold Vosloo are spectacular. It's a damn shame that Van Damme and John Woo did'n team up for more movies. Hard Target is very enjoyable. It gives new meaning to the term "Senseless Violence."
PS. Wait for the scene with the rattle snake. It's awesome!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Actioned packed for action junkies
Review: This actioned packed movie is one of Van Damme's best films that have been made. Its one of those films that you can watch over and over. I saw it at the movies and bought it as soon as it came out on DVD. Lance Henriksen is great as the evil bad guy.



Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Too 'Hard' For Mortals
Review: John Woo's American directorial debut is beyond genius and immortal. You take, say, the greatest proprietor in the world since Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger to star in your movie and you already have achieved success. Jean-Claude Van Damme sports a mullet and kicks too much stern for mortals to handle. He plays Chance because his momma took one and he helps Nat (the bug), to find her missing father. Low and behold, he was just killed by a bunch of rich vigilantes in New Orleans. They have developed a manhunt game similar to "The Most Dangerous Game". Why didn't I think of that? Lance Henriksen is pure wicked with his grisly voice. A genius? Maybe. Chance found out about this whole ordeal and started to kick some major stern. Check out the extreme stunts that Van Damme pulled off by jumping over a car off of his motorcycle, jumpkicking everybody, jumping off of a bridge, jumping from the rafters of a parade-float building, and much more. Also, watch out for the slow motion of explosions and when Van Damme roundhouse kicks a fat, ugly guy in the face. Hilarity to the extreme. Upmost laughage. Van Damme is the most extravagant immortal living amongst us and he proves it in this deranged film. Twisted!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Surprisingly Good Van Damme?
Review: Was I finally impressed after watching this movie. Van Damme made me stand up and clap for once. He did a good job and John Woo will be remembered for making Van Damme seem like a good action star. Lance Henriksen is good and the stunt-work was amazing. Kudos to Van Damme, keep it going.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: cool movie, cooler Van Damme mullet
Review: John Woo, the master of action, does a good job with this Van Damme flick, and his vision adds much class to what would otherwise be a standard grade B action movie. The Woo style, the graceful slo-mo fights/gunbattles/action sequences, is all here. That style, with the slo-mo doves flying, etc. has become cliched, unfortunately..BUT do not let that dim your enjoyment of this film, because this thing has style to spare, and no director has ever made Van Dammage look cooler, despite the Billy Ray Cyrus look he decided to adopt for the character of Chance Boudreaux ( a name like that can only exist in the movies ). Chance is a drifter type, moody and surly, but of course he has a heart of gold. He decides to help this woman find her homeless Vietnam Vet father ( she pays him ). Unfortunately, he has been murdered by the Lance Henrikson character, who provides human victims to rich men who wish to kill the ultimate prize, man. Along the way to the inevitable showdown of good vs. evil, there is a really good action sequence involving a motorcycle ( pure Woo ), and Wilford Brimley as Chance's uncle, complete with a cajun accent that threatens to turn this film in to camp. I am only familiar with a couple of John Woo films from his pre-Hollywood days, but I can tell you that he is the finest action director working today. It's not just about violence with him, it's about beauty, human emotion, and astonishing camera work. If you are new to the Woo, and are interested in his recent work, you will enjoy Hard Target, as well as Broken Arrow. Once you have experienced those, be prepared to be blown away by Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2. An action fan looking for just a little more than mindless fun must see these Woo films, they are the standard from which all action films should be judged.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Van Damme and John Woo Rock
Review: 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.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: 4 1/2 stars - La-de-dah
Review: This movie is an example of how much a director can bring to a simple script. Woo is the object of many a movie lovers affection, his kinetic action style is all over action movies now. Watch a movie before his Hard-Boiled and you'll get the idea of how unremarkable action movies were before he came along. This is Woo at his most flamboyant in his American film work. Swooping tracking shots, lots and lots of slow motion, still-frame cuts, jump cuts, everything is used. He has seemed to tone that down in new movies, they still have the violence just not the flamboyant Woo I loved. While I'm on the violence, its insane hyper-violence, and he succeeds in making Jean-Claude Van Damme look cool, no small feat. The thing I have to say though is how surprisingly good this movie holds up to repeat viewings, it actually gets better. I respect Woo trying to bring some sort of theme into the proceedings, that being the alienation of the homeless and how the poor is ostracized in society to the point of someone getting shot in the street and no one would care. It's somewhat hackneyed, but its more than most have done in action movies. But whose watching it for the theme, its all about the action scenes, and they are off typically mindblowing quality, no one has or ever will do it like Woo. Huge Explosions, so many dead bodies, and as many have put it, it's like action ballet. This is his first American movie, and it might just be his best, its a hell of a lot better than MI2 in which Woo did a bastardization of himself. All in all, it's got horrible dialogue and a meaningless plot, but its Woo so you're not going to be bored watching it all unfold.


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