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Hard
Target |
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review | notes | awards | availability | |
The Muscles from Brussels confers with John Woo |
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Year: |
1993 |
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Director: |
John
Woo |
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Cast: |
Jean-Claude Van Damme,
Lance Henrikson, Yancy Butler, Arnold Vosloo, Wilford Brimley |
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The Skinny: |
The Muscles
from Brussels fails to totally ruin John Woo's American film debut.
Hard Target is a stupid but entertaining B-film with fun
over-the-top action and very little actual substance. This is crap,
but not without its amusing moments. |
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Review
by Kozo: |
John Woo's first US effort is pretty
good—for a Jean-Claude Van Damme film. The Muscles from Brussels
plays a Cajun drifter named Chance, who becomes a target for rich
hunters who hunt humans for sport (a la "The Most Dangerous
Game"). He gets drawn into the mess when token female Yancy
Butler hires him to find her missing dad. Lance Henrikson is the
cool bad guy who runs the whole show and Arnold Vosloo is his equally
charismatic right-hand man. Also starring Quaker Oats guy Wilford
Brimley as Chance's uncle, who makes moonshine and looks damn ridiculous
riding a horse. Kicks and explosions ensue, as does a healthy helping
of slow motion.
Over-the-top action fans rejoice! Hard
Target contains enough silly and stylized action to amuse John
Woo fans, though the overall quality of the product could never
be compared to Hard Boiled. A lot of Woo is lost in his American
transition: the slow-mo action and cheesy romanticism is intact,
but his celebrated themes of brotherhood and honor are missing.
Then again, this is a Van Damme film, so who really cares? If anything,
we should just be happy that the Universal Soldier doesn't make
the film worse than it is. If you leave your brain (and high hopes)
at the door, Hard Target possesses enough amusing action
to make it a suitably dumb time at the movies. True, the rest of
the film is dicey, and John Woo's slow-mo romanticism earns more
giggles than awe. Strangely, I found myself entertained. (Kozo 1993/1996) |
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Notes: |
John Woo was famously locked out of the editing room because his
cut of the film baffled the studio execs, who were probably expecting
Kickboxer 2. The "Director's Cut" of Hard Target
is reportedly twenty minutes longer, and is readily available at
the bootleg tables of your friendly neighborhood sci-fi convention. |
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Awards: |
Reportedly, Hard Target won the title of "Greatest Film
Ever Made." However, the venue and actual decision-making body
of that award are both total mysteries. |
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Availability: |
DVD (USA)
Region 1 NTSC
MCA/Universal Home Video
16x9 Anamorphic Widescreen
English Language Track
Dolby Digital 5.1 |
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images
courtesy of Universal Pictures
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| LoveHKFilm.com
Copyright ©2002-2008 Ross Chen |
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