Hard Target is a 1993 action film starring Jean Claude van Damme, Lance Henriksen, Arnold Vosloo, Yancy Butler, and Wilford Brimley. It was the first American film directed by acclaimed Hong Kong action director John Woo. Sam Raimi, a horror film director, was executive producer. The film was produced on location in New Orleans, Louisiana.
| Hard Target | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical Release Poster | |
| Directed by | John Woo |
| Written by | Chuck Pfarrer |
| Produced by | Sean Daniel James Jacks |
| Starring | Jean-Claude Van Damme Arnold Vosloo Yancy Butler |
| Cinematography | Russell Carpenter |
| Edited by | Bob Murawski |
| Music by | Graeme Revell Tim Simonec |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures Alphaville Films Renaissance Pictures United International Pictures Varese Sarabande |
Release date | 20 August 1993 |
Running time | 98 mins |
| Country |  USA |
| Language | English |
Plot
As the film opens, a homeless man named Douglas Binder (played by Chuck Pfarrer, who is also the film's screenwriter) is fleeing through the wet, empty streets of New Orleans, as a group of mercenaries led by Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen) chase him. As Binder reaches the docks by the river, with Fouchon and his henchman Stephan (Sven-Ole Thorsen) and Peterson (Jules Sylvester) in pursuit, he is shot and killed by a businessman named Mr. Lopaki, who has paid $500,000 for the opportunity to "hunt" a human. Pik van Cleef (Arnold Vosloo) leans over the dead man and slices off his belt. The next day Binder's daughter Natasha (Yancy Butler) drives into a rough area of New Orleans to search for her estranged father. When Natasha is attacked by a group of thugs, a homeless man saves her by defeating all the thugs using his martial arts prowess. The next day, Natasha finds her mysterious savior, who is named Chance Boudreaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme). She hires him as her guide and bodyguard during her search. Meanwhile, Chance's homeless friend Elijah Roper is also hunted and killed by Fouchon's hunting party after trying to get help from a pedestrian (Ted Raimi) to no avail.
Natasha discovers that her father a homeless man in the New Orleans waterfront area, and she learns that he did some jobs for a seedy recruiter named Randal. When Natasha questions Randal in his disheveled office, the recruiter nervously avoids her questions, as the leering Van Cleef watches them menacingly. New Orleans police then inform her that her father's charred body was discovered in a derelict house that went up in flames. Even though Binder's death was ruled accidental, Chance searches the smoldering ruins and discovers Binder's dog tag, which has been pierced by a projectile. Moments later, Van Cleef's thugs ambush Chance and beat him unconscious. When Chance recovers, he tells the police about the dog tag, prompting the investigating officer, Mitchell (Kasi Lemmons) to order a new autopsy.
Van Cleef and Fouchon decide to relocate their hunting business and begin eliminating "loose ends", including Randal, whom they murder outside his office. Mitchell, Nat and Chance arrive moments later and are ambushed by Van Cleef and several of his men. During the shootout Mitchell is shot and killed, while Chance and Nat narrowly escape. As Fouchon and Van Cleef assemble their mercenary team, Chance leads Natasha to his uncle Douvee's (Wilford Brimley) house deep in the bayou. Chance kills the mercenary gunman one by one, including Van Cleef. In the end, only, Fouchon is left, but he holds Chance at bay by taking Natasha hostage. Chance charges and attacks him with a flurry of blows and then detonates a grenade, killing him.
Director's Cut
The Director's Cut version is 116 minutes long, including about 20 minutes of graphic footage originally removed to avoid an NC-17 rating. Scenes Included in the 116min Directors Cut Include: Additional dialog at the beginning where Van Cleef tells Lopaki (the guy with the arrows) that he shoots like a buffoon and next time he will charge him double. The ear cutting scene is intact. A three minute scene of dialog between Natasha and Chance which takes place in Chance's apartment. She is patching him up after the beating he got while looking for dog tag, he puts the moves on her, she leaves then comes back saying she has changed her mind. A still from this scene appears on the liftout that comes with the American DVD release. While Fouchon is playing the piano there are several shoots of news or documentary footage showing elephants, deer etc being shot down by hunters.
Before Fouchon drops the letter opener on the floor at the coroners house he has additional dialog that describes what happens when a hunter dies in Africa. When Roper dies he is shot then gets up and is then hit with another volley of bullets. When Chance and Natasha first meet up with Douvee and Chance jump around and start singing before Chance introduces Natasha. Most of the deaths in the Mardi Gras Graveyard are longer and juicier (people being shot 30 times instead of 10 etc) In the directors cut the final fight between Chance and Fouchon (in which Chance utters the line "Hunting Season Is Over") is missing. Instead Chance does the runnup as Fouchon shoots, kicks him into the garbage pile, throws the grenade and Fouchon is blown up. The trailer features a scene in which Van Cleaf utters the line "At least you'll get to meet Elvis". This scene is not in either the 116 min cut or the 97 min cut.
Box office
External links
- Hard Target Fans Hard Target film fansite.
- Hard Target at IMDb
- Template:Amg movie
- Boxoffice information
- Original New York Times Review
