Moving Target (Video 1996) Poster

(1996 Video)

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4/10
Russian Roulette
sol121815 October 2005
(There Are Spoilers) Doing his job tracking down fugitives from the law bounty hunter Sonny MacLaine dukes and shoots it out with three bad guys at the beginning of the movie "Standing Target".Sonny has them hauled off to jail before we get a chance to catch our breath and get our bearing to what the movie is leading up to.

With his girlfriend Casey pregnant Sonny's trying to be as sensitive as he can to her condition without letting it effect his job. Casey is also very apprehensive about Sonny being out looking for dangerous criminals to bring in. Since his dad who was also a bounty hunter was killed when Sonny was 10 years old and doesn't want her child like Sonny to grow up without a father.

One day Sonny is approached by this elderly couple Laslo & Eva Kukock who want him to find their fugitive son Jonish. Told by the couple that they put up their restaurant, The Little Oddesa, as bail and if he's not returned to the court very soon they lose what they worked all of their life to achieve. Sonny at first isn't that interested in finding the bail-jumper but later does track down Jonish only to find out that his parents are dead! It turns out that he's the nephew of Russian Mafia mob boss Tuzla, Len Doncheff,who grooming him to take over his crime organization. Jonish, played by Irish Patrick Gallagher, doesn't even look anywhere like his so-called white Russian parents Laslo & Eva looking more Mongolian then European, was he mistakenly switched at birth? It turns out that Sonny was tricked into finding Jonish by a faction of the Russian Mafia so they can knock him off and that's exactly what happens when Sonny finds him.

Uneven and somewhat boring action flick with Michael Dudikoff as Sonny MacLaine taking it on the chin as well as everywhere else from the bad guys and still coming back or more. Captured and kidnapped at least a half dozen times by the Russian mobsters Sonny keeps getting away, or is released by them, even though he's suspected of killing the mob boss' faired haired boy and hair-apparent Jonish.

It later turns out that Tuzla's hot headed and career climbing son Danny was behind Jonish's murder wanting to take over the organization himself after he does in both his dad, Tuzla, and his fellow Russian mobsters who are backing Jonish. Sonny gets help from Det. Racine and fellow ,but retired, bounty hunter Jake. Which ends with both of them getting shot by the Russians with Racine being killed.

Billy Dee Williams looks either bored or half-asleep as Det.Racine and only seems to be in the movie to lend it some creditability. And you can see the shock on Sonny's, or Dudikoff's, face when he's gunned down since it means that Dudikoff would now have to carry the movie all by himself.

Trying to stop the determined Danny from wiping out the Tuzla Mob Sonny again messes up and gets there, the big mob powwow in the country, too late to stop the bloodshed. But he does get his man Danny who seemed to be the only survivor of the shoot-out to face justice. Nothing made any sense in the movie even Sonny's girlfriend Casey being pregnant with her looking as flat as a washboard even at the very end of the film when she was about to give birth! You would have thought that the filmmakers would have at least stuffed a pillow under her blouse or did they just run out of money, by then, to buy one?
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5/10
An average watch
Leofwine_draca25 October 2018
Warning: Spoilers
MOVING TARGET is a Canadian B-feature that offers a starring role for low grade martial artist Michael Dudikoff. Here, he plays a down-on-his-luck bounty tracker who takes on an unofficial job from an elderly Russian couple who task him with finding their missing son. He soon discovers that he's wandered right into the middle of a war between rival gangsters and much low grade action plays out. This has a mildly gritty feel and an on-the-street vibe, but the plot is nothing special and Dudikoff feels a bit frustrated by the whole thing. Billy Dee Williams offers solid support, while the action scenes are brief and to the point. It's an average watch at best, and not one you're going to remember.
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5/10
Only the two leads make this worth watching.
tarbosh220002 May 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Sonny McClean (Dude) is a bounty hunter who just wants to find the escaped criminals he's assigned to find, then go home to his pregnant wife, Casey (Johnson). Of course, she wants him to quit the skip tracer game and get a less dangerous job. Sonny doesn't necessarily disagree - but first he has to disentangle himself from a complex web involving being framed for murder and having to contend with two different factions of the Russian mob. In too deep, Sonny tries to enlist the help of his old buddy Don Racine (Williams), but will it be enough? Using only his wits (well, that and his fists), Sonny will have to fight the mobsters, clear his good name, and get home to his wife on time. Can he do it? The fact that both Michael Dudikoff and Billy Dee Williams are both charming and likable are pretty much the only things that keep Moving Target afloat. Director Damian Lee - responsible for such unmitigated turkeys as Agent Red (2000), and, to be fair, decent movies like Last Man Standing (1987) - imbues the movie with an overall bleak feel, with nothing but cloudy, overcast skies and the bare trees and cold, snowy environs of the Canada all his movies seem to be set in. On top of that, Moving Target takes its sweet time, with some long, meandering bits in between the fight scenes or more relevant scenes. But many of the clichés we've come to know and love are present and accounted for, such as the abandoned warehouse and the prerequisite torture scene (which naturally takes place in the abandoned warehouse).

Speaking of which, Dudikoff does get beat up a lot in this movie. The polar opposite of Seagal (who refuses to be punched or kicked, much less bested in a fight, just like in real life) - Dudikoff is getting wailed on in seemingly every other scene. Perhaps that's what he gets for continuing to be a bounty hunter, because the same year as Moving Target, he was also in Bounty Hunters (1996), with Bounty Hunters 2 (1997) following just a year later. It was fun to see a drunk and slurring Billy December Williams (that was part of his character, we're assuming. And hoping.) - as much as Dudikoff gets beat up, Williams is drunkenly shambling around and swigging a beer. It was unusual for him, and we liked it. Michelle Johnson should have been insulted to play the stereotypical character of the grousing woman. Surely there are better roles for female actors than one-dimensional parts like this. However, she did show us that you can be part of a Lamaze class even if you're not even close to showing with your baby. So that was helpful.

Not to be confused with the Don The Dragon movie of the same name from 2000 (or any other movie by this name), Moving Target features the mindless shooting and relatively inconsequential antics we've come to expect from Damian Lee. Only the two leads make this worth watching. Featuring a catchy song we believe to be called "Rock Me With Your Love" (typically, no artist is credited), Moving Target is hit-or-miss.
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2/10
* Out Of Five
bronsonskull7218 March 2006
Michael Dudikoff stars as Sonny McLaren a bounty hunter who finds himself hunted by mobsters when one of his prisoners is killed, when Dudikoff is transporting his prisoner to the jail (We strangely never learn where this is supposed to take place) of course the mobsters have marked him for death and now his only help comes from Detective Don Racine (Billy Dee Williams) in this terminally dull actioner which is photgraphed very poorly and just doesn't have enough action to justify the means. Michael Dudikoff actually tries to act and although he's not terrible, he fares much better in The Silencer. In all seriousness this is for only, I repeat only for die hard Michael Dudikoff fans.

1/5 Matt Bronson
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1/10
The audience is the target this time
Maziun25 November 2014
Warning: Spoilers
*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS A bounty hunter with a pregnant wife who is urging him to get a regular job gets framed for murder and trapped in a war between Russian gangsters. This actually isn't bad idea for an action/thriller movie. Too bad that the filmmakers wasted it.

Nothing made any sense in this movie. Michael Dudikoff gets captured and kidnapped at least a half dozen times by the Russian mobsters. He keeps getting away or is simply released by them even though he's suspected of killing the mob boss' faired haired boy and hair-apparent Jonish. Dudikoff gets a lot of beating in this movie – he is getting wailed on in seemingly every other scene. I would LOVE to see Steven Seagal making a movie like this one. You , Steven "Nobody can touch me" Seagal. It would be interesting.

Billy Dee Williams ("Star wars : The empire strikes back" , "Star wars : The return of Jedi" , "Batman", "Nighthawks") makes a brief appearance as the Detective Don Racine. What happened to you man ? You once had an career… During one scene you can see the microphone during the dialogue scene. Also , Dudikoff's pregnant girlfriend is flat as washboard through all the time . I guess that the filmmakers couldn't buy her a pillow and put it under the sweater.

I give it 1/10. Avoid.
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2/10
Skip it
refinedsugar6 November 2001
I thought it was my duty as a fellow movie buff to let you know 'Moving Target' isn't very good. It went straight to video which I guess is no surprise for Michael Dudikoff fare, but even for Dudikoff fans, I don't recommend this. Seen one bounty hunter conspiracy yarn with Dudikoff haven't you seen them all?

There's an overhanging feeling of cheapness. Shot in Canada on a small budget with no real names involved in the project. Billy Dee appears picking up a quick paycheck. Poor camera work and a musical score that encompasses one track which the movie employees over and over again. It's amateur hour. 'Moving Target' promises action and conspiracy, but delivers on neither.
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Dudikoff with a plot
MichaelM2411 April 2002
Sadly, a good majority of Michael Dudikoff's movies have pretty thin plots. I don't have much of a problem with that, but it is nice to see him do something with a slightly better story now and then. MOVING TARGET gets off to a bad start, with some terrible editing and sound mixing that results in moments of unintentional laughs. But once the film gets going, the story picks up and offers a plot with some twists as Dudikoff's Sonny McLean, a bounty hunter, finds himself in the middle of a mob war. Billy Dee Williams offers his always-reliable support McLean's detective friend, and Michelle Johnson does a decent job as McLean's pregnant wife. The action scenes are pretty well-done, including the truck/snow-ski chase, an attack sequence at a school, and the climactic mansion raid with the FBI and Dudikoff taking on the mob. With a jazzy score that gives the film a nice urban film and a good story, MOVING TARGET comes out as one of Dudikoff's best. If only the opening sequence could have been as good as the rest of the film.
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3/10
Pretty lousy stuff from Dudikoff
callanvass19 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
(Credit IMDb) A bounty hunter with a pregnant wife who is urging him to get a regular job gets framed for murder and trapped in a war between Russian gangsters.

For a B movie actor, I quite like Michael Dudikoff. He's always had a bit of natural charisma, and I grew up with American Ninja 1 & 2. He seemed to have a solid career etched out in front of him as an Action star, but that was not the case. He went the Seagal, Snipes & Van Damme route by making a slew of crappy DTV movies, and this is one of them. For some odd reason, I enjoyed this movie on my first go around with it, years ago. I have no idea what I was smoking then, but this is a rather painful experience. It actually starts out on a bit of a high note. It has a rather exciting opening action sequence, with a couple of decent scraps involving Michael Dudikoff, and some baddies. Then it all goes to hell, and the cheap budget comes into play. The storyline is extremely predictable, and there are a couple of twists I saw coming a mile away. As the movie progresses, we get plenty of dull shootouts, and unexciting, hand to hand combat. Michael Dudikoff is OK here, nothing more. He has that natural charisma, but he can do nothing with this movie. His natural charm isn't enough to make the movie worthwhile. We also get a rather mundane subplot involving Michael Dudikoff and his pregnant wife (Michelle Johnson) The movie should have done a better job at making me care about them. Billy Dee Williams seems a bit ashamed to be in this film, and phones it in completely. His part is fairly substantial, but not deserving of his talents. We all have bills to pay!

Final Thoughts: If you're an action fan, I'd look elsewhere. It's a cheap, boring experience, with not enough going for it to warrant a recommendation. You won't miss much if you choose to ignore it.

3.5/10
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7/10
slick and would have played well on the big screen
lardlad10 December 2000
a slick cross between The Fugitive and The Package, Moving Target excels at doing what most action films only can dream of, being entertaining whilst not being predictable. Dudikoff shines in his best screen roll to date and Billy Dee Williams is noble as his drunken friend.

All the sub plots work and i am, for one, glad to say that I own a copy of this movie!!!
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