Word: woo
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...many ways, "Hard Target" hits the mark. It is cerie, tense, eye-popping and humorous by turns, all thanks to Hong Kong's action-king, John Woo. "Hard Target," his American directoral debut, has been trumpeted by the Hollywood press juggernaut and awaited with drooling anticipation by Woo's growing American cult...
...what drives the Woo fan club mad, in both Bel Air and Brockton, is the one thing Woo can't get away with in the US: over-the-top, mind-bending, gut-wrenching, only-expressible-with-hyphenation violence. Woo's 1989 film "The Killer" features scores of deaths, each carried out with a dozen bullets. Reviewers enjoy comparing Woo's 1990 "A Bullet in the Head" with Michael Cimino's similarly Vietnam-themed "The Deer Hunter" and fliply deeming the latter "a Disney romp...
...editors of "Hard Target" did a more thorough job than those of the other films, however. The film seems castrated compared to other John Woo fare. Woo's fans will likely walk away disappointed...
...bullets don't pour out at such cartoonish levels. Blood does not erupt from bodies in languid slow-motion shots--a John Woo specialty...
Plenty of the John Woo stamp remains despite restrictions, however. Woo's most recurrent touch is the arcing closeup. Tight shots on the face, directing attention to the eyes, do not hold still, but arc around the head. The meditative, emotional effect is powerful and highly unusual for an action film...