Review of Hard Target (1993) by Caesar M — 05 Jun 2012

What do you get when you combine the master of action John Woo and a Belgium Martial Artist Jean-Claude Van Damme? You get a stupid over the top action movie that's actually kind of enjoyable action movie.

Hard Target is about Chance (Van Damme) who's hire by a woman to look for her missing father and discover a human hunting game behind his disappearance. I know you're probably thinking I'm crazy enjoying a Van Damme movie that's so stupid and over the top, but that's where most of the fun comes. Sure it does have some stupid moment, like how Van Damme punches a snake killing it and biting off its tail for a trap and then the snake comes back to life when a henchman steps on a trap. You will only see something that ridiculous in a Van Damme movie, and he's also the only guy I've seen so far that unloads an entire gun clip on one guy and does a roundhouse kick to finish the job. Unlike most of Van Damme movies, Hard Target actually does a decent job giving Van Damme some cool moments with a so-so story that's actually tolerable. The story is not well written to be honest, but it gets the job done and that's what ultimately counts. If you're going into Hard Target expecting a complex action flick with a decent story you're going to be disappointed. Instead go into Hard Target and have some over the top fun.

I give credit to John Woo for quickly paying homage to one mine of personal favorite, Reservoir Dog, with a quick ear cutting scene and for making one of the few Van Dame movies worth your time. As you could expect the action is well done as with any John Woo movie (except Paycheck) and Van Damme is enjoyable, though some will laugh at his mallet. Now you could complain the supporting cast does a better job in acting department than Van Damme, but I certainly haven't see any of the supporting cast balancing on a top of a motorcycle with oil leaking, crashing it into a truck, surviving the crash, and blowing up the truck. Now there are some occasions of Van Damme speaking English poorly, but he's certainly more entertaining than Steven Seagal to be honest. Unlike Steven Seagal who come out to invincible in his movies, Van Damme actually does get hurt in his movies and you could actually tell Van Damme trying to change facial expression unlike Seagal who has the same expression in every got Damme (pun intended) movie.

Hard Target is certainly nothing special in the action genre, but it is better than most of John Woo and Jean-Claude Van Damme American movies to be fair. If you're into the mood for some over the top fun that you could sit through and pass the time, Hard Target is definitely the movie for you.