Jean Claude Van Damme plays Chance, a vagrant in New Orleans who saves a woman from being mugged. She remembers his skills and seeks him again to find her estranged father. What we find out is that he was killed by a millionaire (Lance Henrikson) who takes gratification knocking off drifters/poor people in a `Dangerous Game' like set-up. Chance becomes the new objective, but it obviously won't be easy.
Van Damme acts more professionally here than his other movies, but it's Henrikson who chews the scenery as the smarmy bad guy who really gets what he deserves at the end (We all expect that in an action movie, but in Hard Target you really wait for it.) If John Woo sticks with what he did here and in his Hong Kong movies (as opposed to what he's been doing recently) he has the potential of being a more appreciated director.
Van Damme acts more professionally here than his other movies, but it's Henrikson who chews the scenery as the smarmy bad guy who really gets what he deserves at the end (We all expect that in an action movie, but in Hard Target you really wait for it.) If John Woo sticks with what he did here and in his Hong Kong movies (as opposed to what he's been doing recently) he has the potential of being a more appreciated director.