This is not a bad movie – it’s of a respectable standard – but is easily 1 or 2 levels below the original classic from 1993.
In Hard Target 2 (2016), the screenplay, camera work and sound effects – and even the acting by Scott Adkins – are not quite as on point as we had in the original Hard Target movie starring Van Damme. So the atmosphere is not quite there in the same way. But it’s still a respectable movie worth watching sequentially after the original.
Scott Adkins does alright – he is his usual self – he’s just a bit too “everyday stunt man” for this role compared to the piercing attention given by Van Damme in the original. Maybe that’s just Scott’s way of acting, or maybe he was distracted with something, or maybe it’s a cinematography issue, but he just doesn’t seem totally with it, and at times is trying too hard, with external expressions that don’t appear to be coming from deeply inside. We know Scott can perform outstandingly when the role suits him better, as we’ve seen with Ninja (2009) where everything lined up and clicked together nicely – not just the outfits and supporting cast members although they were very much on point in that movie.
The lead female character in this movie is played by Ann Truong – again, she is a level or two below who we had in the original, for my taste, but to her credit, her acting was decent and some men will even prefer her style. She’s a bit of a butch warrior woman, with vulnerability and dominance in equal measures. Some men are into that, I guess – take Van Damme’s real life bodybuilder wife for example – he probably could have married Kylie Minogue if he wanted, since they had a fling while shooting Streetfighter immediately after finishing the original Hard Target movie, but instead he preferred to marry the Puerto Rican bodybuilder Gladys Portugues. So I’m not saying Ann Truong was a bad casting choice for the general masses, I’m just saying the casting of Yancy Butler as the lead female in the original movie was a much more powerful ingredient, for my taste. And that’s what these reviews are about – I’m not reviewing movies based on the likely perception of the masses, I’m reviewing them based on my own preferences, just for myself and anyone who can relate.
Good to see the return of Robert Knepper as the chief baddie. He was great in the original, and he kind of stole the show in this movie too.
Other supporting cast members were fair enough but didn’t wow.