Though working on a Jean-Claude Van Damme vehicle can be seen as a comedown for Woo, he rises to the occasion to create an often rousing entertainment that is almost inarguably Van Damme's best film to date.
Comment
11/02/08
Hard Target (1993)
46
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:28
Fresh:13
Rotten:15
Average Rating:5.1/10
Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: A young woman searching for her missing and homeless father in a seamy section of New Orleans is saved by a martial arts fighter, sometime merchant seaman, when a gang of thugs try to rob her. She... [More]
Starring: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lance Henriksen, Yancy Butler, Wilford Brimley
Director: John Woo
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Reviews for Hard Target
No review available.
03/23/04
It's what Hollywood wanted Woo for: bigger, brighter explosions.
06/24/06
Its characters are poorly-developed, the plot is the pinnacle of absurdity, and the acting, at best, is well over-the-top. Nevertheless, on the most basic, visceral level, the film succeeds.
01/01/00
Top Critic
Presenting Mr. Van Damme as reverentially as Sergio Leone did the young Clint Eastwood, Mr. Woo displays a real aptitude for malignant mischief, which is this story's stock in trade.
08/30/04
Top CriticIt may once have been a second-rate "B" picture, but John Woo turns it into something better.
10/20/03
One of my greatest guilty pleasures.
05/26/06
No review available.
08/02/02
Van Damme's kicks and flips never looked so cool.
09/10/02
It's a nice change of pace to see a strong, competent woman in a John Woo film. If you've never heard of the man, this is your chance to see what all the buzz is about.
01/01/00
Click to read review
01/02/04
Even when the acting is hammy, notably Wilford Brimley's turn as Chance's Cajun uncle, Woo stages every fight with hypnotic grace.
05/12/01
Top CriticThe result is without question the best film Van Damme has ever made. But it's also quite possibly the weakest in Woo's filmography.
01/01/00
No review available.
10/09/05
No review available.
08/08/02
Essentially, Hard Target is a risk-averse Van Damme vehicle, steered by many hands, and set on tracks leading directly to the delivery entrances of the country's video stores.
01/01/00
Top CriticA disappointing American debut of the Hong Kong cult director John Woo is a decent action vehicle by standards of its star Jean-Claude Van Damme but, hampered by a B script and flat characters, it doesn't bear Woo's auteurist signature and unique vision
10/10/06
Top CriticA combo of American Honk Kong actioners that fails to show John Woo's distinctive talent
07/03/05
Top CriticHard target my ass.
01/01/00
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