|
''Hard Target'' is a 1993 American action film directed by Chinese film director John Woo in his American directorial debut. The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, an out-of-work Cajun merchant seaman who saves a young woman, named Natasha Binder (Yancy Butler), from a gang of thugs in New Orleans. Chance learns that Binder is searching for her missing father (Chuck Pfarrer), and agrees to aid Binder in her search. Boudreaux and Binder soon learn that Binder's father has died at the hands of wealthy sportsman Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen) who hunts homeless men as a form of recreation. The screenplay was written by Chuck Pfarrer and is based on the 1932 film adaptation of Richard Connell's 1924 short story, ''The Most Dangerous Game.'' ''Hard Target'' was Woo's first American film and was also the first major Hollywood film made by a Chinese director. Universal Pictures was nervous on having Woo direct a feature, and sent in director Sam Raimi to look over the film's production and to take Woo's place as director if he were to fail. Woo went through several scripts finding mostly martial arts films with which he was not interested. After deciding on Chuck Pfarrer's script for ''Hard Target'', Woo wanted to have actor Kurt Russell in the lead role, but found Russell too busy with other projects. Woo then went with Universal's initial choice of having Jean-Claude Van Damme star. Woo got along with Van Damme during filming and raised the amount of action in the film as he knew that Van Damme was up for it. After 65 days of filming in New Orleans, Woo had trouble with the Motion Picture Association of America to secure the R rating that Universal wanted. Woo made dozens of cuts to the film until the MPAA allowed it an R rating. On its initial release, ''Hard Target'' was a financial success but received mixed reviews from film critics. Critics found ''Hard Target'' to have good action scenes but noted the weak script and poor quality acting from Jean-Claude Van Damme. ==Plot== In New Orleans, a homeless veteran named Douglas Binder is the target of a hunt. He is given a belt containing $10,000 and told that he must reach the other side of town where he would then win the money and his life. Hunting him are the hunt organizer Emil Fouchon, a businessman named Mr. Lopaki who has paid $500,000 for the opportunity to hunt a human, Fouchon's lieutenant Pik Van Cleaf, and mercenaries including Stephan and Peterson. Binder fails to reach his destination and is shot by three crossbow bolts. Van Cleaf retrieves the money belt. While searching for her father, Binder's long-estranged daughter Natasha (Yancy Butler) is attacked by a group of thugs who saw that she had a lot of money earlier. She is saved by a homeless man with exceptional martial arts skills named Chance Boudreaux. Chance is initially hesitant to involve himself with her mission, but as his merchant seaman union dues are in arrears he reluctantly allows Natasha to hire him as her guide and bodyguard during her search. Meanwhile, Chance's homeless friend Elijah Roper is the next to participate in Fouchon's hunt, and is also killed. Natasha discovers that her father distributed fliers for a seedy recruiter named Randal who has been secretly supplying Fouchon with homeless men with war experience and no family ties. Natasha questions Randal about her father's death, but they are discovered by an eavesdropping Van Cleaf. Fouchon and Van Cleaf beat Randal to punish him for sending them a man with an interested family. New Orleans detective Mitchell is reluctant to investigate Binder's disappearance until his charred body is discovered in the ashes of a derelict building. The death is ruled accidental, but Chance searches the ruins and finds Binder's dog tag, which was pierced by one of the crossbow bolts. Van Cleaf's thugs suddenly ambush Chance and beat him unconscious to scare him and Natasha out of town. When he recovers, he offers Mitchell the dog tag as evidence that Binder was murdered. With the investigation getting closer, Van Cleaf and Fouchon decide to relocate their hunting business and begin eliminating "loose ends". The medical examiner who had been hiding evidence of the hunt and Randal are both executed. Mitchell, Natasha and Chance arrive moments later at Randal's office and are ambushed by Van Cleaf and several of his men. During the shootout Mitchell is shot in the chest and killed. Chance kills a handful of the mercenaries and escapes with Natasha. Fouchon and Van Cleaf assemble their mercenary team and five paid-for hunters to continue the chase. Chance leads Natasha to his uncle Douvee's house deep in the bayou, and enlists his help in defeating the men. Chance, Natasha, and Douvee lead the hunting party to a warehouse of old Mardi Gras floats, and kill Fouchon's men one by one. Van Cleaf is finally shot to death by Chance in a shoot out. In the end only Fouchon is left, but he holds Chance at bay by taking Natasha hostage and stabbing Douvee in the chest with an arrow. Chance charges him, attacking with a flurry of blows, and then drops a grenade in his pants. Fouchon attempts to dismantle the grenade, but fails and dies in the explosion. Chance, Natasha, and Douvee now make their way out of the warehouse. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hard Target」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|