No film has featured a haircut as good as Van Damme’s mullet in Hard Target.
Hard Target’s social commentary is more subtle than The Hunt’s, touching on the plight of military veterans failed by collapsing social services and declining empathy, while the impossible-to-win $10k prize, offered to the homeless men for escaping, is a stand-in for illusory upwards social mobility. He’s a snappy dresser, going all Jeans-Clad Van Damme in pristine double denim, and appears capable of telepathically communicating with Woo’s doves. He doesn’t drive or have a licence – presumably to offset his explosive carbon footprint with actual footprints to the faces of his enemies. During his first fight, in a nod to classic Western shootouts, Van Damme brushes aside his coat as if to show off his piece, but simply reveals his leg – which he uses to kick multiple heads.Īside from some homophobic “you and your boyfriend” lines, Boudreaux is something of a renaissance man: a literal social justice warrior selling his head-kicking services at an affordable $108.50 per day. Van Damme’s character, the ex-merchant seaman Chance Boudreaux, sets out to dismantle this egregious example of class privilege by repeatedly kicking it in the head. Photograph: Allstar Picture Library/Alamy Lance Henriksen, as Emil Fouchon, and various honchos in Hard Target.
