Natasha Binder (Yancy Butler)returns to New Orleans to track down her father Douglas Binder (Chuck Pfarrer). She becomes concerned for his welfare when she discovers that he has stopped writing to her. Natasha files a missing persons report on her father, but finds that she hits a brick wall because her father was of no fixed abode. Due to a combination of being unfamiliar with the area and not knowing where to start looking for her father, Natasha decides to employ the services of out of work sailor Chance Boudreaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) who had rescued her earlier from a bunch of street punks. Chance agrees to help her, but initially the reason is only so that he can pay his debt to the boat company. However, the more that Chance and Natasha learn about her father's disappearance the more dangerous it becomes for both of them and they quickly find that there is more to his disappearance than a simple missing persons enquiry.
This is another example of a film that you will enjoy more if you just switch off your brain and don't think about it. The story isn't entirely original and the narrative is unclear and messy - once you learn who they're pursuing, why they pursue them and the money involved to participate you may well end up scratching your head. Hard Target is also predictable and isn't as gritty or tense as the premise will have you believe. Having said all that if you take it as it is and don't think about the above things too much then there is enjoyment to be found here.
That being said, where this film is at its best is in other technical areas; the martial arts scenes are well choreographed and very stylish, the direction is very crisp and for the most part the set pieces were great to watch (even though a lot of these set pieces were totally ridiculous). The film moves along at a brisk pace and I'll admit that I was never bored whilst watching this film.
One thing this film is guilty of being is Cheesy - I'm unsure whether this is the effect that Woo was striving for, but come on!!! An early scene shows Van Damme appearing in the middle of the road (as if from nowhere complete with cheesy music). Then later he appears from behind a moving vehicle again with obligatory cheesy music. I was waiting for Clint Eastwood to appear in the next scene complete with poncho, cow boy hat and Cigar. It all sounds bad and it was, but I think that it was so bad that it was good - I found it to be funny/stupid rather than annoying/stupid.
The acting was pretty shoddy (with the possible exception of Lance Henriksen). Wilford Brimley was pretty good fun as Chance's Uncle Douvee but sadly he wasn't given much screen time. Arnold Vosloo was OK as the Henchman, but he seemed to have an accent that came and went at will.
All in all, it's not a bad film and as far as entertainment goes it's great, but the reason I've given it half marks is because the story is weak, unoriginal and predictable and the acting for the most part was laughable. Worth watching if you're an action/martial arts fan or a John Woo fan, but for anyone else you may want to look elsewhere .
This is another example of a film that you will enjoy more if you just switch off your brain and don't think about it. The story isn't entirely original and the narrative is unclear and messy - once you learn who they're pursuing, why they pursue them and the money involved to participate you may well end up scratching your head. Hard Target is also predictable and isn't as gritty or tense as the premise will have you believe. Having said all that if you take it as it is and don't think about the above things too much then there is enjoyment to be found here.
That being said, where this film is at its best is in other technical areas; the martial arts scenes are well choreographed and very stylish, the direction is very crisp and for the most part the set pieces were great to watch (even though a lot of these set pieces were totally ridiculous). The film moves along at a brisk pace and I'll admit that I was never bored whilst watching this film.
One thing this film is guilty of being is Cheesy - I'm unsure whether this is the effect that Woo was striving for, but come on!!! An early scene shows Van Damme appearing in the middle of the road (as if from nowhere complete with cheesy music). Then later he appears from behind a moving vehicle again with obligatory cheesy music. I was waiting for Clint Eastwood to appear in the next scene complete with poncho, cow boy hat and Cigar. It all sounds bad and it was, but I think that it was so bad that it was good - I found it to be funny/stupid rather than annoying/stupid.
The acting was pretty shoddy (with the possible exception of Lance Henriksen). Wilford Brimley was pretty good fun as Chance's Uncle Douvee but sadly he wasn't given much screen time. Arnold Vosloo was OK as the Henchman, but he seemed to have an accent that came and went at will.
All in all, it's not a bad film and as far as entertainment goes it's great, but the reason I've given it half marks is because the story is weak, unoriginal and predictable and the acting for the most part was laughable. Worth watching if you're an action/martial arts fan or a John Woo fan, but for anyone else you may want to look elsewhere .