Hard Target

Hard Target is an action movie from 1993 starring Jean Claude Van Damme and directed by John Woo. It was the first movie by John Woo after migrating from Hong Kong to the US. It contains many signature style elements like the white dove flying into the room in action sequences. Hard Target ‘introduced’ the West to other visual themes like the use of slow motion sections in the middle of an action sequence and the extremely violent bullet operas. Muscles from Brussels was probably never taken very seriously as an actor and if you ask Steven Seagal then Jean Claude is certainly not a martial artist. Regardless, the athletic fighting style of Van Damme matches well with the stylised violence from John Woo. There are a few good half slow motion fight scenes and no shortage of bullets flying through the air. Bad guy Lance Henriksen has no trouble shooting people but somehow the hero always manages to dodge the bullets flying his way. Chance (the character played by Van Damme) has no trouble hitting what he aims at and fully in line with the visual style he will not hesitate to empty more than one clip into an enemy body as there are always more bullets to be found to finish off the next bad guy. Visually well done with a tolerable story to propel the action this is an enjoyable movie. You just have to keep in mind that bullet operas are meant to be spectacular, not realistic.