DrR0Ck

Hi all! I am a huge fan of Hard Target. After seeing The Killer and Hard Boiled many years ago, I was excited to see what John Woo could do once he arrived in Hollywood. When I finally saw the theatrical release, I thought it was good, but not up the standard of his Hong Kong classics. But not too long afterwards (it’s hard to recall exactly when; it was so long ago, but I was in college at the time), a friend of mine let me know he had gotten ahold of a VHS copy of the Hard Target workprint. This friend at the time had the biggest TV of anyone I knew, and he’s partly responsible for turning me into a movie collector. So he invited me over to watch the workprint, and while the tape quality wasn’t the best, and the workprint had timestamp information running along the bottom of the screen for the whole runtime, it was clear that the workprint reflected something much closer to John Woo’s Hong Kong output. I absolutely loved it! In the years since (it must be almost 30 years since I saw that workprint copy), I’ve long hoped that version of the film would appear on DVD or Blu-Ray, so I could own it and watch it whenever I want to. Unfortunately, this hasn’t happened - at least not that has been available in the US. So I haven’t seen the workprint since that time. I’ve periodically searched online for a digital copy of the workprint, but I’ve yet to find one. This fan cut appears to be close to John Woo’s original vision for the film and I can’t wait to see it. I’ll post a review if I am fortunate enough to get the opportunity.