← Back to Reviews
in
Plot – Homeless war veterans are disappearing off the streets in New Orleans. When Natasha Binder (Butler) comes looking for her father she discovers he is one of the missing. Hiring a local drifter by the name of Chance Boudreaux (Van Damme) to try and locate him, they uncover a deadly game run by entrepreneur Emil Fouchon (Henriksen). Rich men pay for the privilege to hunt human beings who 'volunteer'; with homeless war veterans desirable both for the challenge their training provides and the fact that no-one will miss them. Fouchon and his lieutenant, Pik Van Cleaf (Vosloo), have not banked on one thing however – Chance Boudreaux!
Now here's some primo cheese! This is a film absolutely ripe with cheese! Indeed if you suffer from lactose intolerance you might want to give it a miss else you suffer some extreme gas; it's that cheesy!!!
It's hard to pin-point what exactly is the film's cheesiest element. Is it some of the acting? Some of the ridiculous action? Or how about the moment where Van Damme beats up a snake! No really. He grabs a snake and punches it! 
He knocks the f**ker out! And then he bites off the tail to silence it's rattle so he can use it as a weapon against those chasing him, placing it in a tree as a trap. Literally one of the greatest scenes I've ever seen! In fact the phrase 'punching the snake' should be used in the same vein of 'jumping the shark', except this time to indicate sheer awesomeness!
This film takes the complete opposite approach to Van Damme's character from Sudden Death. They've ditched any attempt at making him seem vulnerable, and given him a very mythic quality. He's like a wise mystic, dispensing ass kickings and musings of wisdom in equal measure. And Woo often captures the character in slow motion with some heroic music over the top just so we're left in no doubt that this is someone special. The character actually reminded me of all those TV shows – Walker Texas Ranger, Incredible Hulk, Renegade, The Fugitive, Kung Fu etc – which featured a heroic figure wandering the earth, frequently finding themselves in a small town where some dodgy activities are taking place and our hero would save the day, before moving on to another place. And Van Damme fits into this role pretty well. Is he a good actor? No. But I think he has quite a strong screen presence. Not up there with the likes of Bruce Lee, Schwarzenegger or Stallone but a presence none the less. And I do just find him to be quite a likeable personality.
Sadly the performance of Yancy Butler is pretty poor. She looks quite hot, and has a slightly endearing little girl lost, doe-eyed quality to her but the acting is rather dodgy at best. And you know you've not had a good time of it when you're shown up by The Plank (as I believe Rodent dubbed him ). Though to be fair to her maybe she wasn't that bad, it's just that I struggled to really focus on her acting as anytime she appeared on screen I couldn't take my eyes off her eyebrows! They're incredible. So thick and bushy. They should have been given their own credit! In fact at the top of this post I should have written that it was “Starring Jean Claude Van Damme / Yancy Butler / Jean Claude Van Damme's mullet / Yancy Butler's eyebrows!”
One of the film's big successes is it's realisation of the villains, and how it captures that classic 2 villain set-up. It's got the slimy business man as the leader, with his psychotic no.2 to do the dirty work. As the leader and entrepreneur of this ghastly business venture is Lance Henriksen. He's terrific as the slimy Emil Fouchon. He's just the embodiment of pure evil, sacrificing lives without recourse as long as the money is right. And as his henchman, Pik Van Cleaf is Arnold Vosloo. He's a brutal, animalistic killer. He's like a wild dog on a lead, straining at the leash to get after his prey. While he my frequently proclaim to be a 'professional' the scariest fact of all is that he seems to enjoy the killing, he relishes it. This isn't just business for him, it's pleasure. Oh and special mention for Wilford Brimley in the role of Uncle Douvee. He only enters the film as it nears its conclusion, but in his short time he certainly makes a memorable impact. Largely down to him employing one of the thickest accents I've ever heard in my life. I honestly had to rewind the film a few times, and play it again with subtitles on as I had no idea what he had said.
Some of the action is pretty awesome, even if it is completely over-the-top. Probably the best example of this OTT nature is Van Damme firing a gun at some goons while standing on top of a speeding motorbike, riding it like a surfboard. That scene and others showcase some great stuntwork. The shoot-out which closes the film is pretty damn epic as Van Damme takes on 20+ guys single-handedly in a huge warehouse. Without a doubt my favourite part of this warfare was the fact that Van Damme would shoot the bad guys about 20 times in the chest and they'd still be standing; what would really put them down and kill them would be a Van Damme spin kick! And the actual hunts themselves are really quite well done, very atmospheric and creepy. Indeed the film opens very strongly, placing us right into the middle of one of these nightmarish hunts that the rich b**tards go on, gripping me right from the off.
Conclusion – Just a highly entertaining, and over-the-top piece of dumb action. With Van Damme trying to be at his most bad-ass, two great villainous performances from Henriksen and Vosloo and John Woo's excessive style all coming together into one nice package I just think it's pretty great stuff.
|
|
Year of release
1993
1993
Directed by
John Woo
John Woo
Written by
Chuck Pfarrer
Chuck Pfarrer
Starring
Jean Claude Van Damme
Lance Henriksen
Yancy Butler
Arnold Vosloo
Wilford Brimley
Jean Claude Van Damme
Lance Henriksen
Yancy Butler
Arnold Vosloo
Wilford Brimley
Hard Target
Plot – Homeless war veterans are disappearing off the streets in New Orleans. When Natasha Binder (Butler) comes looking for her father she discovers he is one of the missing. Hiring a local drifter by the name of Chance Boudreaux (Van Damme) to try and locate him, they uncover a deadly game run by entrepreneur Emil Fouchon (Henriksen). Rich men pay for the privilege to hunt human beings who 'volunteer'; with homeless war veterans desirable both for the challenge their training provides and the fact that no-one will miss them. Fouchon and his lieutenant, Pik Van Cleaf (Vosloo), have not banked on one thing however – Chance Boudreaux!
Now here's some primo cheese! This is a film absolutely ripe with cheese! Indeed if you suffer from lactose intolerance you might want to give it a miss else you suffer some extreme gas; it's that cheesy!!!
It's hard to pin-point what exactly is the film's cheesiest element. Is it some of the acting? Some of the ridiculous action? Or how about the moment where Van Damme beats up a snake! No really. He grabs a snake and punches it! He knocks the f**ker out! And then he bites off the tail to silence it's rattle so he can use it as a weapon against those chasing him, placing it in a tree as a trap. Literally one of the greatest scenes I've ever seen! In fact the phrase 'punching the snake' should be used in the same vein of 'jumping the shark', except this time to indicate sheer awesomeness!This film takes the complete opposite approach to Van Damme's character from Sudden Death. They've ditched any attempt at making him seem vulnerable, and given him a very mythic quality. He's like a wise mystic, dispensing ass kickings and musings of wisdom in equal measure. And Woo often captures the character in slow motion with some heroic music over the top just so we're left in no doubt that this is someone special. The character actually reminded me of all those TV shows – Walker Texas Ranger, Incredible Hulk, Renegade, The Fugitive, Kung Fu etc – which featured a heroic figure wandering the earth, frequently finding themselves in a small town where some dodgy activities are taking place and our hero would save the day, before moving on to another place. And Van Damme fits into this role pretty well. Is he a good actor? No. But I think he has quite a strong screen presence. Not up there with the likes of Bruce Lee, Schwarzenegger or Stallone but a presence none the less. And I do just find him to be quite a likeable personality.
Film trivia – Along with Woo imparting the film with many of his directorial trademarks and nods to his previous movies, he also throws in references to a number of other movies. He saw the ear-cutting scene as an homage to Reservoir Dogs, while the vicious character of Van Cleaf is so named because of the actor Lee Van Cleef; who played the sadistic Angel Eyes in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
). Though to be fair to her maybe she wasn't that bad, it's just that I struggled to really focus on her acting as anytime she appeared on screen I couldn't take my eyes off her eyebrows! They're incredible. So thick and bushy. They should have been given their own credit! In fact at the top of this post I should have written that it was “Starring Jean Claude Van Damme / Yancy Butler / Jean Claude Van Damme's mullet / Yancy Butler's eyebrows!” One of the film's big successes is it's realisation of the villains, and how it captures that classic 2 villain set-up. It's got the slimy business man as the leader, with his psychotic no.2 to do the dirty work. As the leader and entrepreneur of this ghastly business venture is Lance Henriksen. He's terrific as the slimy Emil Fouchon. He's just the embodiment of pure evil, sacrificing lives without recourse as long as the money is right. And as his henchman, Pik Van Cleaf is Arnold Vosloo. He's a brutal, animalistic killer. He's like a wild dog on a lead, straining at the leash to get after his prey. While he my frequently proclaim to be a 'professional' the scariest fact of all is that he seems to enjoy the killing, he relishes it. This isn't just business for him, it's pleasure. Oh and special mention for Wilford Brimley in the role of Uncle Douvee. He only enters the film as it nears its conclusion, but in his short time he certainly makes a memorable impact. Largely down to him employing one of the thickest accents I've ever heard in my life. I honestly had to rewind the film a few times, and play it again with subtitles on as I had no idea what he had said.
Some of the action is pretty awesome, even if it is completely over-the-top. Probably the best example of this OTT nature is Van Damme firing a gun at some goons while standing on top of a speeding motorbike, riding it like a surfboard. That scene and others showcase some great stuntwork. The shoot-out which closes the film is pretty damn epic as Van Damme takes on 20+ guys single-handedly in a huge warehouse. Without a doubt my favourite part of this warfare was the fact that Van Damme would shoot the bad guys about 20 times in the chest and they'd still be standing; what would really put them down and kill them would be a Van Damme spin kick!
And the actual hunts themselves are really quite well done, very atmospheric and creepy. Indeed the film opens very strongly, placing us right into the middle of one of these nightmarish hunts that the rich b**tards go on, gripping me right from the off.Conclusion – Just a highly entertaining, and over-the-top piece of dumb action. With Van Damme trying to be at his most bad-ass, two great villainous performances from Henriksen and Vosloo and John Woo's excessive style all coming together into one nice package I just think it's pretty great stuff.