DWilson

The first film came at just the right time, as far as I was concerned. I had caught "The Killer" on Cinemax knowing little about it, then a Mid-West theater chained experimented by showing a month of Chinese imports, where I saw "Hard-Boiled". Around the same time, JCVD was upping his game by working with better and better directors, doing mostly solid Action fare. So "Hard Target" provided a nice crossroads as it were. Also, the theater I saw it in put it in its "THX Room", which was a "thing" around that time. All the kicks and hits were amped up, a knife crunching, -all of that made for a great experience. It may not have had a lot of depth, but it was a good, solid commercial Action film with some directorial flair.

planetaire

Big time fan of the original. This DTV sequel, of course, looks like butt. Now take your big stick, and your boyfriend, and find a bus to catch.

james2025a

I had a chinese friend at High School who would go visit his family in Hong Kong a few times a year and always come back with great new movies and anime from there. So from the mid 80s to mid 90s he introduced me to tonnes of amazing Manga and stuff like John Woo and movies like the Better Tomorrow Series, Zu Warriors and anything cool with martial arts or action. A few movies really stood out, mainly with Chow Yun Fat, The Killer, Hard Boiled, A Better Tomorrow, God of Gamblers. Really excellent movies with great action.

Hard Target is without a doubt Woos best American movie. A lot of people like Broken Arrow and Face Off (with Nic Cage even giving a nod to Woos the Killer in the opening assassination scene), and they are both strong movies, but Hard Target was just a non stop action fest that harked back to the best action movies of the 80's. I still watch it a few times a year. I would love to have seen a proper sequel with Van Damme.

DJariya

Figures that this was get shit on because it's an in-name-only DTV release.

Unless you've have never seen a Scott Adkins action movie (mostly DTV), he's a very serviceable action hero. I think this looks like a very watchable rental. Adkins DTV releases have been mostly decent. There are a few cheap stinkers in his resume though, but this looks like they have a little more money in it.

Ash Ketchum

NINJA (2009), shot in Bulgaria-tricked-up-to-look-like-Brooklyn, was quite good.

Solid Snake

It was alright at best. Ninja 2 kicked aas though.

OldBoy

have the bluray of the first coming tomorrow. hope it is as good as you guys say. i didn't even know John Woo directed...

E Unit

Don't expect his Hong Kong greatness. It's okay, I think you'll find a lot of it more humorous than kickass.

OldBoy

yeah, nothing will touch The Killer which is how he was introduced to me...

DJariya

DVD came out early, so I managed to rent it today.



It was decent. It was a very serviceable Scott Adkins movie. Liked that it was shot on location in Thailand.

Basically to make a long story short on the premise, it's in-name only. Adkins plays an MMA fighter, who accidentally kills his best friend, who he was fighting in the ring for a title in Las Vegas. He quits and then moves to Bangkok where he is recruited by Robert Knepper (the big shady villain) for an apparent big pay fight day. But, as it turns out, Knepper brought him to be hunted for sport in the Myanmar/Thailand jungle. Adkins is pursued by several hunters including Ms. Mitra. Loosely similar premise to the 1st movie.

For a low budget action movie, it's as watchable as the Death Race sequels that also came out direct to video. Some cool fights and kills.

Not sure I would buy this movie, but if you can rent the DVD/BD for a couple of bucks, it's a decent 103 minute time killer if you're a fan of Adkins. The DVD does have a commentary track with the director, Adkins and Robert Knepper.

Sonic

Van Damme in Hard Target punched a snake in the head and knocked it out. That was the best scene in the movie.

Brian T

That's the kind of thing that's so often missing in these direct-to-video action "sequels". It may sound silly on paper, but the people making the original knew it would inject a little levity into the show. As technically polished as Adkins' movies often are, they generally take themselves more seriously than they need to (even the Ninja movies).

Cardiac161

He also stood balancing on a speeding motorcycle while shooting at the incoming pickup truck...Van Damme really is the Hard Target!!

Sonic

Yeah I agree.


He rode that motorcycle like a skateboard. That was another classic scene. The music added an atmosphere like they were rumbling in the jungle.

mattysemo247

I just watched Hard Target on blu ray a couple weeks ago. For a movie that is over two decades old now, it still holds up as a kick ass action flick.

E Unit

Boy, that definitely doesn't sell it.

It's the mullet that makes it so. But it is still a fun movie.

DJariya

I just gave my honest opinion. Straight to video movies like this are hardly groundbreaking and don't really add anything new. I found Hard Target 2 to be a watchable time killer at best mainly because Adkins' work in it. I would be lying if I tried to oversell this as some kind of action masterpiece.

E Unit

I appreciate the honesty. I keep watching Atkins's movies and still don't get it. I think I'm going to draw the line here and just watch the first one twice and call it 1 and 2.

But I do love me some Rhona Mitra.

Why So Blu?

The Blu-ray of the first one is actually the unrated cut. It has tons of more violent inserts throughout.

TheMovieman

Was John Woo an uncredited producer? I don't recall seeing his name attached (though it would explain the doves in two scenes)

DJariya

Woo was attached to the film over a year ago before filming began, but I also didn't see his name in the credits.

http://www.manlymovie.net/2015/08/ha...producing.html


None of the behind the scenes footage showed Woo present on set, so I guess he was either uncredited or pulled out due to other commitments.

DJariya

http://www.vulture.com/2016/08/whats...mber-2016.html

According to Netflix's release list for this month, Hard Target 2 will be posted next Tuesday.

EddieMoney

Thank God

TheMovieman

I listened to the commentary with Roel Reiné and one thing I like about him, as I noticed in past commentaries, is he reveals the production budget. The budget on this was $4.5M.

james2025a

Well I actually saw the unrated cut of the first movie today, and it certainly had a few more things in than the previous cuts I had seen. A few more arrows to the guy getting hunt pre-opening credit, the scene of Pick dying is extended and plays better, more gun shots to a lot of people. Not actually huge amounts of extra footage, and not sure why they edited a lot out (probably control board has a quota on how many times a guy can get shot in one go...stupid shit like that), and it didn't really change or add much to the movie. It still is a lot of fun though and Henriksen plays a great bad guy. I always loved that huge single shot canon he uses in the movie.