HONG KONG PHOOEY: THE BRIDE WITH WHITE HAIR 1&2, HARD TARGET
being considered the hottest director out of Hong Kong, and perhaps keeping in mind that Hong Kong would soon go back to the Chinese, John Woo decided to jump to Hollywood and try his hand at filming there. His first effort, unfortunately, was for the wannabe action star Jean-Claude Van Damme. After a notoriously difficult shoot, the result was HARD TARGET, which was better than average Van Damme, but low rent Woo.
The story by Chuck Pfarrer is a variation on the old short story "The Most Dangerous Game," about men hunting other men. The twist here is that it's homeless Vietnam vets who are the targets of the hunt, since they presumably have little to lose. Emil Fouchon (Lance Henrikson), and his assistant Pik Van Cleef (Arnold Vosloo), two hunters living in New Orleans, arrange for other hunters to hunt down and kill these vets, who agree to the hunt in exchange for money. Of course, the vets never survive the hunt. Of course, Fouchon only uses vets without families. Of course, his latest victim (played by Pfarrer) has a family. His long-lost daughter, Natasha Binder (Yancy Butler), comes to town looking for him. She comes, unfortunately, in the middle of a police strike (though a detective (Kasi Lemmons) promsies to help how she can). While flashing money around, she's set upon by muggers, who are then beaten by Chance Boudreaux (Van Damme), who's also a homeless veteran. When she sees he can take care of himself, Binder offers Chance a job to help her find her father. He refuses, but when he's denied work at a shipyard, he changes his mind. Naturally, this puts them into conflict against Fouchon.
Woo has obvious stylistic touches in his movies, and they're all used here, from slow motion to characters using two guns, and even doves. But the story lacks the emotional hook of his Hong Kong movies. Still, for the first two-thirds, it's decent enough entertainment. Partly this is because Henrikson makes such an effective villain. Also, Van Damme, the Ah-nold wannabe, actually isn't bad. Woo clearly shot around his limitations, and managed to tone down his mannerisms, and Van Damme even manages to act a little with his eyes. Butler, by contrast, is flat and unconvincing (Lemmons, who makes the most of her short role, as she did in THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, would have been a better choice). When the action
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