Hard Target is such a blast of a midnight movie that I can almost forgive it for being at times, most times, so warped and awful. It's got some dialog that will have you ripping your hair out ala Dr. Scratch'n'sniff on Animaniacs and may have you doing a MST3K even if you're just watching it by yourself. It's a surprise that a major studio would let anyone direct a movie like this, but it's a credit then that not only John Woo had the back-up from his catalog of bad-ass Hong-Kong flicks but that he had the back-up of Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert to go on and just go totally bonkers with over-stylization. It's an American debut that just flips the bird and does what it wants, and for those looking for a completely tasteless action movie that sometimes makes no sense and at best it will make any guy remotely fans of action movies giddy as hell and occasionally slack-jawed.
I should repeat it: this is NOT a good movie. Some of the dialog is just so... it's hard to say it exactly, so here's a quote: " If you understand me, just grunt." Actually, that's one of the better lines; just wait until villain Lance Henrikson is going completely bat-s*** in the last fifteen minutes of the movie and just spewing out whatever comes into his head! But hey, let's face it, if you come to John Woo's film of a Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle you're bound to just want to get blood, lots of it, and enough explosions and intentional dove shots to make even die-hard fans of the HK flicks go nuts. But even as it gets ridiculous, and there are some REAL moments like that (punching out a snake, synchronized explosions including the French uncle's own house, any given motorcycle stunt) it's never less than totally entertaining.
Indeed, compared to a more serious effort like Windtalkers or something, John Woo is having a lot of fun as a filmmaker, finding new ways to explode and have his stunt and FX crew waste a perfectly good set to smithereens as his actors make out what is a totally bonkers live-action comic-book. Van Damme is about as bad-ass as possible throughout, whether doing an inane and illogical stunt or reciting his lines of "dialog" ("Nat, like a bug?"), and it shows signs of promise that he didn't live up to in the 90s. And there's even a small chunk of time, the sequence where the black veteran is being chased through the graveyard and through the New Orleans streets, that Woo gets a solid, non guilty pleasure scene that works totally on its terms.
The rest of the time though, Hard Target is violent in such a way that has now become something of an over-used standard with super-ultra-mega violent productions; you can see its influence most directly recently in Wanted and in Snyder's direction in 300 and Watchmen (the latter quite out of place with the Woo touch). But at the same time Woo is already such a pro at his own way of doing a super-over-mega stylized action movie, loaded with cranes and dollies in the "small" scenes alone, that it's no wonder when we see the first slow-motion dove go across the screen Van Damme comments simply, "Yeah." Hard Target is like taking three or four beer bongs in a row surrounded by hordes of drunken buddies and maybe some naked women - it's not something you would make a habit of, but you got to try it once, just once, depending on the frame of mind and age and excitement of the scene.
I should repeat it: this is NOT a good movie. Some of the dialog is just so... it's hard to say it exactly, so here's a quote: " If you understand me, just grunt." Actually, that's one of the better lines; just wait until villain Lance Henrikson is going completely bat-s*** in the last fifteen minutes of the movie and just spewing out whatever comes into his head! But hey, let's face it, if you come to John Woo's film of a Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle you're bound to just want to get blood, lots of it, and enough explosions and intentional dove shots to make even die-hard fans of the HK flicks go nuts. But even as it gets ridiculous, and there are some REAL moments like that (punching out a snake, synchronized explosions including the French uncle's own house, any given motorcycle stunt) it's never less than totally entertaining.
Indeed, compared to a more serious effort like Windtalkers or something, John Woo is having a lot of fun as a filmmaker, finding new ways to explode and have his stunt and FX crew waste a perfectly good set to smithereens as his actors make out what is a totally bonkers live-action comic-book. Van Damme is about as bad-ass as possible throughout, whether doing an inane and illogical stunt or reciting his lines of "dialog" ("Nat, like a bug?"), and it shows signs of promise that he didn't live up to in the 90s. And there's even a small chunk of time, the sequence where the black veteran is being chased through the graveyard and through the New Orleans streets, that Woo gets a solid, non guilty pleasure scene that works totally on its terms.
The rest of the time though, Hard Target is violent in such a way that has now become something of an over-used standard with super-ultra-mega violent productions; you can see its influence most directly recently in Wanted and in Snyder's direction in 300 and Watchmen (the latter quite out of place with the Woo touch). But at the same time Woo is already such a pro at his own way of doing a super-over-mega stylized action movie, loaded with cranes and dollies in the "small" scenes alone, that it's no wonder when we see the first slow-motion dove go across the screen Van Damme comments simply, "Yeah." Hard Target is like taking three or four beer bongs in a row surrounded by hordes of drunken buddies and maybe some naked women - it's not something you would make a habit of, but you got to try it once, just once, depending on the frame of mind and age and excitement of the scene.