What one man does for cash, another man will do for rubies.
Being this just came out, I don't want to get too in depth of the actual story scene for scene. All you need to know is that it's basically the same as the first movie except they take the Rambo route and set it in Berma. Why is everything better in Berma?
I would like instead to give you the down and dirty as to why you should get out and watch this movie immediately.
- It's on Netflix, stop reading and just go watch it now!
- It's pretty damn decent. It's actually a cut above decent and a level below good.
- It pays subtle homages to the original with it's up close arrow shots, roundhouse kicks, a single shot hand gun, and DOVES, DOVES, DOVES!
- Pretty much every kill is great. The movie does a great job at pacing them out perfectly apart as to not overkill too much at any one point. (There's a certain train kill that I thought came to a particularly brutal end)
- It's got some pretty good cinematography. The production team bought a killer drone and put it to some good use. They definitely got all over the place with the camera and definitely made sure the audience recognized the overall size of the jungle this movie takes place in.
- The action is very well paced and weighted. There's some amazing hand to hand fighting, pretty good sword fights, some vehicle chases, things exploding everywhere, hand guns, automatic weapons, crossbows, different vehicle chases, and more things exploding!
They did a pretty good job at casting. I think the roles fit the characters pretty well. Scott Adkins is the second coming of Van Damme and it's only fitting he take over the sequel to arguably Van Damme's best. (If not most notable movie, anyway) It's good to see Rhona Mitra in a movie again, she kind of disappeared after Doomsday and Underworld 3. I'm sure I'm the only one that enjoyed those movies but nevertheless it's good to see her kick some ass again. (Lay off the surgery Rhona, you look great as is!) It was also fun to see the girl from Chocolate return for a small fight scene up against Scott Adkins. Robert Knepper does a pretty good job filling in for Lance Hendricksen here. He's not Lance but I he fills the shoes pretty well. And there's nothing like watching the bad guy take a seat and have a beer during the climax of the movie.
All in all, it was a pretty good time. The director, Roel Reine, has done other fun direct to video sequels such as Death Race 2/3 and Scorpion King 3...among others. If you've seen those movies then you can about imagine what you're in for here.
I'm all in for a Hard Target 3: Harder Target. Make that happen Scott Adkins!
