A Van Damme classic. Solid entertainment with little brain requirements. For fans of the man.

Jean-Claude Van Damme and John Woo (in his North American debut) adapt _The Most Dangerous Game_ into a slick, brainless gunplay / martial arts movie. In a technical sense, their partnership is a success, retaining crucial elements of each creator’s distinctive cinematic fingerprint. Woo’s characteristic blend of soft, lingering peace and loud, abrupt action is still evident, as is JCVD’s penchant for flexible high kicks (always in slow-motion), badass squints and excessive instant replays. We spend a lot of time admiring the many forms of weaponry, from handguns and crossbows to biceps and rocket launchers, relishing the play of light on their various contours and savoring each burst and explosion. That’s Woo gazing into his navel, no doubt about it, but at least his enthusiasm translates to something beautiful. Brutally violent and far over the top, sure, but beautiful. As far as the story goes, well, it’s confidently stupid. Aggressively, unapologetically, relentlessly stupid. Between the villains’ total lack of discretion and the hand-wavy “oh, he’s Cajun” excuse for Van Damme’s thick accent, we encounter something baffling or nonsensical, roughly, every three minutes. There’s barely enough plot to get us from one huge, stylish ammo dump to the next, which is really the only reason it’s there at all. Everyone takes pointless risks, whether it’s the secretive bad guys’ willingness to pump a homeless dude full of lead right in the middle of Bourbon Street or the hero’s bewildering decision to drag his innocent charge along for the climactic showdown in a burning warehouse. The famous rattlesnake-punching clip might be _Hard Target_’s lasting legacy (what a great meme) but that’s far from its worst offense. That it took so many cuts to avoid an NC-17 rating should say everything about this film’s intentions. It’s a bullet ballet, pure and simple; a direct continuation of Woo’s Hong Kong work with slightly better production values, a higher capacity for bloodshed and a significantly reduced plot. The director’s admiration for projectile sponges hasn’t changed - it takes a full clip to put anybody down - but now he has JCVD finish them off with a spinning head kick after the chamber’s empty. I can’t say it isn’t entertaining, but I refuse to say it’s any good.

I thought it was pretty good. Had some nice action scenes.

This is pure 1990s action-movie junk food: loud, ridiculous, wildly overcaffeinated, and somehow still pretty entertaining. John Woo gives it plenty of his signature slow-mo, doves-wouldn’t-be-surprising chaos, but this is not his best work — more “John Woo on a studio leash” than full glorious insanity. Jean-Claude Van Damme is basically asked to do exactly two things here: kick people in the face and keep the dialogue to a minimum, which is probably the wisest decision the script makes. He may not be a great actor, but the man’s kicks were elite, and the fight scenes absolutely deliver. Lance Henriksen makes a very good villain, bringing just the right amount of smug, icy menace to the whole thing. The plot is dumb, predictable, and occasionally so over the top it feels like realism was escorted off set by security, but that is also part of the charm. You do not watch this for deep character work or subtle storytelling. You watch it to see JCVD spin-kick bad guys into another dimension, and on that front, the movie absolutely keeps its promise.

"Ooh-wee! Ha ha! Sometimes I 'maze myself! Good whiskey make jackrabbit slap de bear!" Hard Target is still one of my favorite van Damme movies and if I come across it I can't help myself and I have to watch it. John Woo gets the best out of van Dammage. The shots of his glorious mullet, the slow-motion kicks and especially the one were he kicks a cigar out of a baddie's mouth. Great bad guys in Lance Henriksen and Arnold Vosloo. Explosions, stunts, the action. The legendary scene with the snake. Hard Target is just non-stop entertainment. You just can't go wrong with late 80's, early 90's van Damme. What a run the legend had back then. Blood Sport, Kickboxer, Cyborg, Lionheart, Death Warrant, Double Impact, Universal Soldier, Nowhere to Run, Hard Target, Time Cop, Street Fighter, Sudden Death and Maximum Risk. Legendary stuff. I always love to watch the Muscles from Brussels. Anyway, if you are in for a movie about men hunting men and seeing JCVD kicking ass under the wings of John Woo, this one is for you!