Fouchon (Lance Henriksen) and Van Cleaf (Arnold Vosloo) are two people who sell something unique.  For a few thousand dollars, they will organise a manhunt for a rich and bored millionaire who is looking to add a little thrill to his life.  After all, as Fouchon says, to bring a man down is like the ultimate drug.  The hunted are usually homeless Vietnam war veterans, who have no family and will be easily convinced that the money they might make in the hunt, is worth putting their lives on the line.

Hard Target was the first American movie made by acclaimed Hong Kong action movie director, John Woo.  Woo is one of my favourite directors, and he brings his fascinating touch to this movie as well.  I think this is Jean-Claude Van Damme's best movie to date, he plays his role very well here.  I also thought all the actors suited their roles, and the villains, played by Henriksen and The Mummy Vosloo, really made an impression.  The movie had a nice combination of interesting characters in it's script, and John Woo's unique visual style to create powerful scenes.  The central idea of the movie, the hunter and the prey, was brought out very effectively.  Lots of great sequences here - like the part where Chance's Uncle Douveé (Wilford Brimley) gives him a shotgun in graceful slow-motion, the flying doves at a couple of places in the movie, etc.

Ultimately though, this is an action movie, and that too a John Woo action movie, so, much of the movie is made up of very exciting action scenes!  It all builds up to the intense finale, which has almost non-stop gun battles.  Only complaint about the action scenes is that Van Damme seems to have some sort of magic armour - the bad guys can shoot all they want, but he never gets hit with a bullet.  Other than that, Hard Target is absolutely great as an action movie, and even to those with no particular preferences for this genre, it will be a very entertaining film.  John Woo went on to make the equally entertaining Broken Arrow and the even superior Face/Off after this.

Running Time: 95 minutes | Country: US | Genre: Action