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Hard Target (1993)
Don’t weep because Jean-Claude Van Damme worked with John Woo only once; delight in the fact that it happened.
Hard Target captures everything distinct, glorious and laughable about the “Muscles from Brussels”—the breathtaking roundhouse kicks, the tenuous grasp on badass one-liners, the absent self-awareness mixing with unchecked ego—and elevates them to the operatic plane where director Woo revolutionized Hong Kong action movies.
The result? JCVD punching a rattlesnake in the head, sporting the oiliest mullet ever committed to celluloid, and defending the streets of New Orleans against irredeemable bad guys (Lance Henriksen, Arnold Vosloo) who hunt people for sport.
And with Woo’s eye for fluid, worshipful action, Hard Target is also the best-looking, most stylish movie in Van Damme’s oeuvre.
Cinemagic screens Hard Target as part of a late-night JCVD triptych on Saturday, March 28. Sudden Death (1995) and Bloodsport (1988) round out the evening, which Cinemagic has given its own ’90 action tagline: “One ticket. Three rounds. No tapouts.”
Also Playing:
Academy: Titanic (1997), Strait-Jacket (1964), and News From Home (1976), March 25 and 26. Matilda (1996), The Switchblade Sisters (1975), and Johnny Guitar (1954), March 27–31. Cinema 21: Johnny Guitar (1954), March 28. Cinemagic: Adaptation (2002), March 27 and 29. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), March 27, 28, 30 and 31. Synechdoche, New York (2008), March 30 and 31. Seven Samurai (1954), March 29. Clinton: A Woman of the World (1925) and The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975), March 28. Cult Classics: Samurai Cop (1991), March 29. Hollywood: Night of the Living Dead (1990), March 27, 28, 30 and 31. The Cameraman (1928), March 28. Tomorrow: Party Girl (1995), March 26. Wigstock: The Movie (1995), March 27. Selena (1997), March 28. The Fly (1986) and Purple Rain (1984), March 29.
