JCVD stars in John Woo's Hollywood directorial debut as a drifter hired by a hottie to investigate what happened to her daddy and in the process gets caught in the middle of a most dangerous game with a gang of psychotic fucks lead by Lance Henriksen and his right-hand man Arnold Vosloo. Manhunt. Dog tags. Yancy before the crack. JCVD's earring. JCVD's mullet. Payphone. Purse snatch. Switchblade. Going all Kickboxer on some motherfuckers. The picket line. Day labor. Union dues. Suitcase of memories. Sad news. Zartan. Scissors. Bishop without Ripley. Nut punch. Police harassment. Piano keys. Massage interruptus. X-rays. Sassy cop. Letter opener. Peep hole headshot. Money belt. Cemetery fun. Desperate plea. Roper's last stand. Body bag goodbye. Exploding windshield.…

I don't like action films, but I LOVED Hard Target. Every now and then the genre offers up a film so amazing that I begin to question why I don't like more action packed, ass kicking movies; but to answer my own question, it's because, unfortunately, they can't all be directed by John Woo, John McTiernan or Paul Verhoeven.

Woo's signature use of slow motion and pigeons adds a whole new level of commitment to how over-the-top action films are, and fortunately for him, it works so damn well.

I consider myself lucky that I am able to enjoy these movies sitting next to someone like my husband, who is so enthusiastically in love with action films, because that enthusiasm…

Hong Kong director John Woo made his mark back in his native country with hits such as The Killer and Hard Boiled starring Chow Yun-Fat back in the late 1980s. It wasn't long until he arrived in Hollywood that he unleashed his brand of Western-based high -octane violence and heavy-handed gunplay to the masses. 1993's Hard Target was Woo's U.S debut and his first film that starred predominantly Western-based actors. The character of Chance was originally going to be played by Kurt Russell, famed for Escape From New York and Big Trouble In Little China, in the main lead role, but he was busy with other projects, and thus was unavailable. Woo then turned to Universal Pictures first choice in…

"Poor people get bored, too." or "You are a fucking buffalo."

Such a great showcase for Woo, even in its bastardized release form* an exercise in style and excess, with his slow-fast-slow cutting fully intact and a tonal register that has room for both devastating regret and snake-punching. There's also a tantalizing predatory shock-capital institutional-failure streak, with rich scumbags Most-Dangerous-Game-ing it up in an economically depressed New Orleans during a police strike. If Woo's American films were coming out today, they'd be heralded as the unreconstructed works of an old master.

*There are four versions I know of: the 96-minute theatrical release; the 100-minute "international" version (restoring basic cuts for violence); the 116-minute rough "director's cut" (Woo's preferred version, temped…

Let's see how John Woo's US debut movie holds up. I think I got quite excited for this and Woo's next movies, even as a somewhat 12-13year old I was already exposed to his Chinese action movies. Previously Woo was mostly know for his collabs with Chow Yun Fat and doves and bullets flying around. So a big check on the pigeons, there are a bunch of them in Hard Target. What we don't get for the first time is no bare JCVD buttocks, sorry ladies. He does sport a nice, greasy mullet. The first 50 min is a bit slow but the real action starts at this minute mark and never let's down. Again a very ruthless Lance Henriksen…