I will watch any movie that has Chow Yun-fat on screen. Shit, I sat through the crappy second Pirates of the Caribbean movie just because he was playing some typecast role of a Chinese naval pirate. Also his ship looked like a dragon, which was bad ass in my opinion. But for me Chow Yun will always be the premier action star. Sure that is a tall opinion that I am putting out there, but if you are an action fan, you will remember that this man, along with John Woo, pretty much defined the bullet ballets of late 80s and early 90s. From acrobatic gun battles and making the act of weilding duel guns a staple of action cinema, Chow Yun is the man and you won’t find any actions films that are better than what we did for Hong Kong cinema. While his roles in Hong Kong cinema are well documented, he did take his first turn in an American film directed by a new, young director Antoine Fuqua, one that is underappreciated in my opinon. That film is The Replacement Killers.
I can’t help it, another Jean-Claude Van Damme movie and one that is directed by slow motion, flying dove loving director John Woo. Hard Target split kicks its way on this post with the Big Easy mullet and durable, denim shirt that Van Damme sports. It’s another one of those USA Network showings that you can catch between showings of the Westminster Kennel Dug Club Show and WWE, but shit does this movie rock. So much like Face/Off, I assume you know what John Woo is all about, duel pistols, a lot of unnecessary diving and rolls and the gun play. So get ready for the most dangerous movie of all time, Hard Target.
Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, a down-and-out Cajun merchant seaman, who, after saving a young woman, Natasha Binder (Yancy Butler), from a gang of thugs on the streets of New Orleans, agrees to help her search for her father (Chuck Pfarrer), a homeless Vietnam vet. They locate local businessman Randall Poe (Elliott Keener), for whom the vet had been working, and learn that her father has become a victim of wealthy sportsman Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen), who, along with his cronies, hunts homeless men as a form of recreation. After Fouchon finds out that the girl is investigating the murder of her father, he arranges for she and Chance to be ambushed, but they manage to escape into the backwoods of Louisiana — his stomping grounds. Realizing he needs to regroup, Fouchon assembles a private army to invade the bayous. They track the pair to the rustic cabin of Chance’s Uncle Douvee (Wilford Brimley), and the real fireworks begin. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi
That’s right, Wilford Brimley is in this movie and dealing death blows that Diabetes couldn’t do. He plays the moonshiner, bow and arrow slinging, backwoods cajun that is as deadly as Van Damme’s split kick. Also Lance Henriksen being in this movie doesn’t hurt it at all since he gets to wield a badass gun and shoots the head off of a snake.
While I jest and interject snark into the whole post, this is actually a stellar action movie. The human hunting angle is great as it keeps the action moving and the final showdown in the warehouse is the grand set piece that Woo is known for. Listen, if you are a guy, you have already seen this movie. In fact you can probably just turn on the tv now and watch it, but if you haven’t seen it and a fan of action movies, this is the one you want to watch.
Did I mention Van Damme knocks out a snake with a punch?
Time to get back into the action genre with a man who makes gun fights look like they should be shown on Broadway. John Woo, for lack of a better term, is a fucking genius. The man practically influenced a generation of action directors in the ways of the gun fight and made duel wielding pistols a common thing in movies. Face/Off might not be the best movie out there, it’s a bit laughable in some instances, but god damn is this not one of the best action movies in a long time. I mean gun fight after gun fight and shooting off more bullets than 5 movies combined. Yeah it has John Travolta and Nic Cage in the movie, but frankly seeing anyone pick up guns and start shooting can make anyone bad ass.
Alright, so you watched the trailer and might be thinking to yourself, “Hey is there any dialogue in this movie?” Well there is, but it’s the bullets that do the talking. If you are an action fan and that trailer doesn’t get you pumped enough to break out some nerf guns and start diving through the air shooting them at your pets (don’t judge me), then you have no soul. Hong Kong action films get this associated tag with their movies known as “bullet ballet”. To be frank, I am certain that dive rolls, jumping through the air with twin pistols and shotgun diving isn’t the standard thing they teach you in firearm safety class, police or military training or even on the streets. Shit does it look awesome though.
If I am talking about Hong Kong action films, then John Woo films are the only thing you need to know. If you aren’t familiar with his work, well he didn’t have a rather prolific career as a mainstream US director. Face/Off, Windtalkers, and Hard Target aren’t really the ground breaking films that they wanted to be, although Face/Off is just plain fucking awesome, but the man is a god back in Hong Kong and could be credited as the man who brought Hong Kong action films to forefront of American viewing audiences. But while there are dozens of movies to choose from, nothing beats Hard Boiled.
