Hard Target

Unemployed sailor Chance Boudreaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is hired by a young woman in New Orleans to help her search for her missing father. The trail leads to the criminal organisation of Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen), who lures homeless people with money: They become prey in murderous manhunts that he organises for other millionaires. Boudreaux is soon targeted. John Woo's first US film follows on directly from his Hong Kong action successes while celebrating his love of Hollywood genres. The manhunt theme goes back to the pre-Code classic The Most Dangerous Game (1932), Woo interprets it as a kind of modern western in the bayous of Louisiana and presents Van Damme as a working-class cowboy using slow motion and stylised imagery with the same gusto as Sergio Leone did the young Clint Eastwood. (Christoph Huber)

Introduction by Christoph Huber on 18 April 2025

Photo: Austrian Film Museum