John Woo directs this classic actioner which is really just an extended Levi's commercial; everything is overly-stylized and New Orleans clearly has an infestation of pigeons and doves.

The plot involves homeless people hunted for sport by rich played with relish by Lance Henriksen & Arnold Vosloo. Henriksen is on career best form as Mr. Fuchon; the big bad who considers humans the ultimate "sport". When I spoke with Lance last year he discussed a scene that was cut which had Fuchon having a dream about hunting in Africa, showing that hunting is obsessively in his blood.

The slo-mo admittedly is over the top, but it's just so damn stylish that I can't hold it against it. My dad used to take me to see JCVD and Steven Seagal films in the cinema and we both loved seeing this one on the big screen. JCVD rocks the action hero mullet to perfection and also wears the mandatory white string vest for an extra taste of badassery.

Holy hell, Hard Target is one of Jean-Claude Van Damme's finest hours oozing with style, classic action scenes and memorable villains making it still hold up as one of the best actioners of the 90's.

I demande a sequel Mr. Woo!

As with many action movies, Hard Target's strengths and weaknesses are fairly simple to analyse. It's a competent action thriller, notable for some stylish action scenes that have John Woo's touch; one particularly memorable example is when Chance Boudreaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) quite literally blasts a bikie thug out a window with a shotgun and a petrol can! These moments pretty much make the film worth seeing by themselves, despite the usual weaknesses in the plotting and JCVD's ever wooden countenance. As JCVD himself noted however, viewers paid the money to see him waste bad guys and he does plenty of this - sometimes in more inventive ways than expected (using snake traps). It very much makes the film worth seeing for action buffs, even though I'm reluctant to give a really high rating based on this alone.

The plot is not too extraordinary: a homeless veteran gets murdered by a team of mercenaries led by Emil Fouchoud (Henriksen) and Van Cleaf (Vosloo), after which his daughter Nat (Butler) comes looking for him and commissions Boudreaux, a homeless Cajun merchant marine (!) to help her out after he rescues her from marauding thugs, raising the ire of the mercenary team. A few plot holes are obvious (shouldn't this mercenary team have been dealt with a while ago, police strike or not? Why is JCVD made a CAJUN?), but it works well as a vehicle for blowing stuff up and killing people.

The dialogue is pretty standard stuff: some profanity, some hilariously cringeworthy lines ("don't worry about Randall; he's all ears!) and some macho stuff.

As for the acting, the villains are better than the heroes. Of course, when JCVD is your hero, that's bound to be the case, with his unconvincing delivery. He has recently shown that he is capable of acting, but he was a long off that in 1993. Still, English is probably his third language (after French and Dutch); Yancy Butler has no such excuses, being quite wooden in a role that doesn't demand that much. Vosloo and Henriksen are much better though. Vosloo has that quiet menace that always makes him a good villain, while Henriksen goes from menacing and purposeful to merrily nuts as Boudreaux causes him more difficulties than expected. Even Wilford Brimley is amusing as Chance's crazy uncle, reeling off some zany lines.

In the end, Hard Target is not a great movie, but it's a competent action thriller with some nice stylistic touches from John Woo during the action scenes. Henriksen, Vosloo and Brimley compensate somewhat for JCVD and Butler, but you still shouldn't watch this film for the acting and especially not for the plotting. Action fans generally don't really look for either that much though, so that's alright. Movie- goers looking for a bit more will probably like some of the style, but won't find that much else.

3/5 stars

Jean Claude Van Damme is a seaman with no employment prowling around New Orleans,Louisian and stumbling onto mysterious and strange nasties. He spontaneously aiding a beautiful woman(Yancy Butler) when is attacked and taking on megalomaniac villains,(Lance Henriksen and Arnold Vosloo) who hunt human beings.He's only helped by a Bayou old man,(Wilford Brimley). This is a ¨Sui generis¨ version from ¨The most dangerous game¨,it's a vivid recounting of Richard Connell's famed novel ,adapted previously in the 1932 classic(Joel McCrea,Fay Wray) by Ernest B Schoedsack and by Robert Wise titled¨Game of death¨ and by Boulting titled ¨Run for the sun¨with Richard Widmark and Jane Greer.This theme has been filmed many times since and utilized as a plot for countless television and cinema argument.

The picture displays suspense,tension,thriller and non-stop action for 94 minutes .Breathtaking set pieces action well staged by John Woo with bound and leaps while are shooting.The film is set in New Orleans streets,marsh,bogs of Louisian and into abandoned factory, where is developed an overlong and incredible final duel.Special mention to pair sadist baddies,Henriksen and Vosloo,they're an excessive maniacal, exaggerated villains,they're the best of the film.John Woo direction is good ,he moves well the camera with spectacular scenes ,but doesn't match with his Hong Kong vehicles(Bullet in the head,The Killer,A better tomorrow I and II),John Woo followed with a successful American career(Broken arrow,Face off,Mission impossible II,Windtalkers).The motion picture will like to Jean Claude Van Damme fans and cinema John Woo-enthusiastic