Hard Target 2
I’m so confused. I don’t understand. This is not a franchise! Not only is this not a franchise, making your second sequel 23 years out, it’s just a bad look.
The thing about Hard Target is, it was a simple premise, paired with an amazing Director in John Woo, and some absolutely legendary actors in Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lance Henriksen, and even Wilford Brimley with his unbelievable Cajun accent. Add to that some genuinely good supporting cast in Yancy Butler, Arnold Vosaloo and Kasi Lemmons, with some over the top violence, and you ended up with something special. The problem with Hard Target 2, is that it’s missing all that, and is left with merely the simple premise.
This would be where Scott Adkins starts following in JCVD’s footsteps. He’d meet up with him in the Expendables 2 later on, as well as one of the five Universal Soldier sequels. He’s cast as a washed up MMA fighter, slumming it and doing street fights to get by. A promoter from Bankok shows up and offers him the opportunity of a lifetime… What Adkins doesn’t know is this is a hunt, not a fight. Along the way he picks up some of the locals in Miramar who act alternatively as hostages and as the cavalry.
The movie begins with black leather on motorcycles hunting someone with arrows and guns. It’s enough to remind you that this is trying to be Hard Target, but other than the premise of hunting a man, we don’t really see any other connective tissue until the very end where we get some Slo-mo shots of doves at the climax and the bad guy using the same single shot pistol that Henriksen used in the original.
The thing is, it’s not a bad action film. It’s well shot, with plenty of gunplay, fist fighting, and explosions… Adkins is very good at leaping away from explosions in slow motion… And even at an hour and 45 minutes, the pace never slows. I happen to be a horror movie fan, and I’m usually content to watch whatever low budget fare is tossed in front of me. If you’re an action movie fan like this, a movie like Hard Target 2 will absolutely satisfy. If on the other hand, you’re just a fan of the film Hard Target, you’re probably going to be a bit disappointed in the sequel.
Argo City Comics 