← Back to Reviews
in
I consider The Most Dangerous Game one of my favorite short stories. I read it back when I was a teen and fell in love with it. I found the story of a ruthless aristocrat that hunts humans just for fun so wicked and thrilling. I've read the story again a bunch of times since and found it holds up pretty well, which is probably why it has lent itself to so many adaptations. From 1932's RKO adventure trip to a Tremors 2020 sequel inspired by it.
The 1990s brought us two loose adaptations of the story set in modern times: John Woo's Hard Target and Ernest Dickerson's Surviving the Game. For some reason, I've seen the latter... several times, but never got around the former. Maybe because it featured Jean-Claude Van Damme in the lead role and, at the time, I had already gotten my fair share of Van Damme's. So imagine my surprise when, during this recent Woo binge I've been doing, I catch up with this and it ended up not only *not* sucking, but also being a lot of fun.
The film follows Van Damme (Chance Boudreaux) as a homeless drifter and veteran in New Orleans that ends up being hunted by a team of organized and ruthless hunters led by Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen) and his right-hand man Pik Van Cleef (Arnold Vosloo). This was Woo's first Hollywood film and, although I'd say it is a bit more of a Van Damme film than a Woo film, it still has a good dose of Woo trademarks to please his fans.
One of the biggest weaknesses of the film falls on its two leads. Van Damme looks the part and sells the brooding tough guy persona well, but he doesn't go beyond that. Luckily, the script doesn't ask much from him in terms of emotion. Yancy Butler, who plays the woman that Boudreaux is helping, doesn't run the same luck, though; she's pretty bad. The two are joined in the last act by Wilford Brimley in a laughably bad supporting role as Van Damme's "Cajun" uncle.
On the other hand, what makes the film sizzle are its two bad guys. Henriksen and Vosloo are so wickedly good that I wouldn't mind putting their names on a list of "Best 90's action villains". Their chemistry and back-and-forth banter is so delightful that you love to hate them, and I would say it's reason enough to check it out. It is Fouchon the one who says the above quote as he and his goons prepare to capture Boudreaux once and for all.
The way the action unfolds is part Van Damme and part Woo. There is a good dose of the typical Van Damme bad-assery and silliness that we're used to see in his films. However, you also get a lot of Woo, with some elaborate action setpieces, some great gun play, and lots of dazzling acrobatics. Like with the previous Woo films I've seen, it was nice to see and recognize the influence this gets from previous Woo films, but also the ripples it makes on future action films.
Grade:
HARD TARGET
(1993, Woo)
(1993, Woo)
"Boudreaux is wounded. He's been pursued and harried across miles of open country. Now he's cornered and outnumbered 20 to 1. He's an annoying little f-ucking insect and I want him stepped on hard."
I consider The Most Dangerous Game one of my favorite short stories. I read it back when I was a teen and fell in love with it. I found the story of a ruthless aristocrat that hunts humans just for fun so wicked and thrilling. I've read the story again a bunch of times since and found it holds up pretty well, which is probably why it has lent itself to so many adaptations. From 1932's RKO adventure trip to a Tremors 2020 sequel inspired by it.
The 1990s brought us two loose adaptations of the story set in modern times: John Woo's Hard Target and Ernest Dickerson's Surviving the Game. For some reason, I've seen the latter... several times, but never got around the former. Maybe because it featured Jean-Claude Van Damme in the lead role and, at the time, I had already gotten my fair share of Van Damme's. So imagine my surprise when, during this recent Woo binge I've been doing, I catch up with this and it ended up not only *not* sucking, but also being a lot of fun.
The film follows Van Damme (Chance Boudreaux) as a homeless drifter and veteran in New Orleans that ends up being hunted by a team of organized and ruthless hunters led by Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen) and his right-hand man Pik Van Cleef (Arnold Vosloo). This was Woo's first Hollywood film and, although I'd say it is a bit more of a Van Damme film than a Woo film, it still has a good dose of Woo trademarks to please his fans.
One of the biggest weaknesses of the film falls on its two leads. Van Damme looks the part and sells the brooding tough guy persona well, but he doesn't go beyond that. Luckily, the script doesn't ask much from him in terms of emotion. Yancy Butler, who plays the woman that Boudreaux is helping, doesn't run the same luck, though; she's pretty bad. The two are joined in the last act by Wilford Brimley in a laughably bad supporting role as Van Damme's "Cajun" uncle.
On the other hand, what makes the film sizzle are its two bad guys. Henriksen and Vosloo are so wickedly good that I wouldn't mind putting their names on a list of "Best 90's action villains". Their chemistry and back-and-forth banter is so delightful that you love to hate them, and I would say it's reason enough to check it out. It is Fouchon the one who says the above quote as he and his goons prepare to capture Boudreaux once and for all.
The way the action unfolds is part Van Damme and part Woo. There is a good dose of the typical Van Damme bad-assery and silliness that we're used to see in his films. However, you also get a lot of Woo, with some elaborate action setpieces, some great gun play, and lots of dazzling acrobatics. Like with the previous Woo films I've seen, it was nice to see and recognize the influence this gets from previous Woo films, but also the ripples it makes on future action films.
Grade: