' If you understand me, just grunt. ' (Hard Target (DVD))

Member Name: adambrown400

Product:	Hard Target (DVD)
Date:	01/07/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great action sequences

Disadvantages: Dated

Hard Target

'Don't hunt what you can't kill.'

If you're looking for the epitome of early nineties action, then look no further than the excellent Hard Target. People give me a bit of a hard time for liking the 'work' of Jean Claude Van Damme, but there is absolutely no denying that Hard Target is probably the one 'must see' film that he has made. Many people, especially my real-life brother jbsabbath deride his films as total tosh, without having ever really watched them. I urge him now to add this one to his Tesco list!

The reason Hard Target is so good is because of director John Woo. Most later Van Damme films have tried to emulate the action and set pieces from this film, but have in turn just churned out drivel (Until Death, Wake of Death, Derailed etc.) Attempting to replicate Hard Target without John Woo would be a mistake, but so many have tried.

Woo was in fact championed by Van Damme himself to the makers of this film calling him the 'Martin Scorsese of Asian cinema'. They agreed and gave Woo the gig. While Van Damme's career has gone pretty downhill of late, Woo has been consistently producing big budget action films such as Broken Arrow, Mission Impossible 2 and Face/Off. Hard Target features all the familiar Woo trademarks - the flying doves, Mexican standoffs and a lot of carnage.

The film begins with a man being chased down a street in New Orleans. In fact, he is a bum - taking part in a manhunt organised by evil gamesman Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen). When the homeless man turns out to be the father of Natasha Binder (Nancy Butler) she enlists the help of unemployed and weirdly named Chance Boudreaux (Van Damme). They begin to uncover the truth about the hunts organized by Henriksen but in turn become targets themselves - Hard Targets (geddit?)

What starts as a piece of fun by Henriksen and a way in which he can make some big bucks soon becomes a bit of a nightmare. Van Damme turns out to be pretty good at hunting himself and can handle himself when it comes to kicking people in the face, rolling off the tops of cars and catching guns in mid-air. Handy that!

By this stage in his career, Van Damme was pretty much at the top of his game. His physique and acting were pretty much as good as they were ever going to be. His distinctive accent is a good selling point and there are some really amusing scenes in the film where he gets to play off his on screen persona. Van Damme sports a ridiculous mullet in this film which is quite disconcerting to begin with, but you soon get used to it. It kind of flows in slow motion when he starts fighting and is so huge it might even give Pat Sharp a run for his money.

The action scenes are superb. No one quite does car chases and fight scenes like John Woo and combined with the ace kickboxing skills of Van Damme you get a match made in action movie heaven. Really I haven't seen this quality of action in many films from this era and will put myself out on a limb by saying this might be the best action film of the 90's (put that in your pipe and smoke it jbsabbath!).

Lance Henriksen also does very well in this film. He snarls and shouts his way to his imminent demise but has a good right hand man Pik van Cleef (Arnold Vosloo).

In all, Hard Target is an excellent film. Its perfect for repeated viewing and is immensely satisfying. You're probably not going to see a better Van Damme film - so why not check this one out.

Summary: Possibly Van Damme's best film