It’s two decades since the original JCVD/John Woo film Hard Target, but now Scott Adkins – in a thematic sequel – takes the central role and tries to avoid the hunters while being a… ‘Hard Target’…
The original Hard Target saw John Woo make his English-language directorial debut and Jean-Claude Van Damme rocking the ultimate mullet as the wonderfully named Chance Boudreaux, a former soldier turned merchant seaman who finds himself forced to play a deadly game of cat and mouse in New Orleans against Lance Henriksen and Arnold Vosloo. The movie was a solid cinematic hit around the world, and subsequently did huge numbers on video. It’s hard to believe its taken more than 20 years for a sequel to hit the screen.
But September 6th 2016 will see Hard Target 2 hitting blu-ray, DVD and DOD (Digital-on-demand) from Universal Pictures. Roel Reine (Man with Iron Fists 2 and the Death Race prequels) is the man at the helm, and, as Impact readers already know, Britkicker Scott Adkins heading the cast. In this story, Adkins plays a retired martial arts champion who is lured back into the ring for a high paying fight in Myanmar. But when he arrives for the fight, he soon realises he has been set up. There is no fight – at least not in the ring. He will be the target of a human hunt and must outsmart a heavily armed group of (literal) manhunters who have have paid to kill him. As he fights for his life, the hunters will become the hunted…
Universal have assembled a very impressive cast for the movie with Adkins leading the way. Robert Knepper (Prison Break), Rhona Mitra (Strike Back), Temuera Morrison (Once Were Warriors) and Raging Phoenix’s Jija Yanin round out the cast. Reine serves double duty as director and DOP for the movie, while the films action sequences were put together by an impressive action/stunt team that includes Thailand’s famed Seng Stunts, Kazu Neda and Brahim Achabbakhe.
The film was originally announced as being executively-produced by John Woo, but there’s no sign of his name in any of the promo materials so far, so we’re not sure if he’s still officially involved.