Hard Target

***Hard Target*** is a 1993 American action film directed by Hong Kong film director John Woo in his American 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.

## Plot

In New Orleans, a homeless veteran named Douglas Binder (Chuck Pfarrer) 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 is the hunt organizer Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen), his lieutenant Pik Van Cleef (Arnold Vosloo), a businessman named Mr. Lopaki who has paid $500,000 for the opportunity to hunt a human, and mercenaries including Stephan (Sven-Ole Thorsen) and Peterson (Jules Sylvester). Binder fails to reach his destination and is shot by three crossbow bolts. Van Cleef 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 cash earlier. She is saved by a homeless man with exceptional martial-arts skills named Chance Boudreaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme), a former Marine Force Recon. 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 (Willie C. Carpenter) 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 Poe (Eliott Keener) 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 Cleef. Fouchon and Van Cleef beat Randal to punish him for sending them a man with an interested family. New Orleans detective Mitchell (Kasi Lemmons) 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 Cleef'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 Cleef 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 Cleef 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 Cleef assemble their mercenary team and five paid-for hunters to continue the chase.

Chance leads Natasha to his uncle Douvee's (Wilford Brimley) 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 Cleef 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.

## Cast

* Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux
* Lance Henriksen as Emil Fouchon
* Arnold Vosloo as Pik Van Cleef
* Yancy Butler as Natasha "Nat" Binder
* Kasi Lemmons as May Mitchell
* Chuck Pfarrer as Douglas Binder
* Willie C. Carpenter as Elijah Roper
* Wilford Brimley as Uncle Douvee
* Sven-Ole Thorsen as Stephen
* Jules Sylvester as Peterson
* Eliott Keener as Randal Poe
* Robert Apisa as Mr. Lopacki
* Douglas Forsythe Rye as Frick
* Mike Leinert as Frack
* Marco St. John as Dr. Morton
* Joe Warfield as Zenan
* Pete Antico as Punk Leader in bar

## Release

*Hard Target* was tentatively scheduled to open in July 1993. *Hard Target* was released August 20, 1993 in the United States making it the first film by an Asian director to be released by a Hollywood studio.

*Hard Target* did well in the box office, being the second highest-grossing film release of the week at the American box office on its initial release. *Hard Target* also became the 49th highest-grossing film in the United States in 1993. *Hard Target* made domestic ticket sales of $32,589,677 (worldwide sales were $74,189,677).

## Sequel

In 2016, a sequel titled *Hard Target 2* was released, starring Scott Adkins.