On H List of Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
Hard Target (1993)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
8/25
8/25:
Hard Target is one of the most ridiculous, overblown, and cheesy movies ever made.
It's impossible to cure John Woo of this particular filmmaking style. He must have birds flying to make
some moments über special. At the same time, no intelligence is ever needed. Therefore, everybody laughs at
him. Eventually, John Woo was booted out of Hollywood after Windtalkers
and Paycheck came out in 2002 and 2003, respectively.
The plot is a mix of The Most Dangerous Game,
No Mercy, and The Professional. I
don't get why almost every bad action picture must finish in a factory or a warehouse. Is this a
Hollywood rule that's set in stone or what? How about the awful writing? Here are some of the lines that have
my head shaking:
-"Can you get up?"
-"I cannot dance, but I can get up."
"Sometime I amaze myself, me!"
-"You had nothing in common with those people. What made you wanna complicate my life like this?"
-"Poor people get bored, too."
New Orleans is always busy all day and all night long. It's unbelievable to see streets in the French
Quarter empty most of the time. Cops tend to patrol there, too, so is John Woo telling me that Kasi Lemmons'
character is practically the only cop working in the city? After showing up from Michigan to find her daddy,
Yancy Butler should've said to herself, "What the fuck am I doing here after all?" If I were her,
I would do something about these eyebrows. Eek!
Jean-Claude Van Damme is all right but lacks credibility for a homeless guy due to his pretty boy looks and
well-chiseled muscles. Naturally, he's up to the task of performing any high-octane stunt. I wish he was given
a normal director, that's all. There's one scene that bothers me the most, and it's when Van Damme was atop the
motorcycle. From the looks of how fast he was going against the incoming truck, I thought Van Damme would be
thrown in the air at the point of impact and land on the asphalt brutally with his brains all over.
All in all, anyone saying Hard Target is John Woo's best film obviously hasn't seen his Hong Kong
masterpiece: Dip huet seung hung.