John Wood's first Hollywood film is a bit of a disappointment despite the ever reliable source material of The Most Dangerous Game. Jean Claude Van Damme has a particularly unflattering mullet in the lead role, a veteran who has fallen on hard times and helps Yancy Butler track down her dad. Dad's dead, which gives her quest a hollow feel.
There are recogniseable Woo tropes - slow motion, doves flying, two men facing off against each other with pistols - but his style doesn't seem to quite suit the material. I struggled to put my finger on why this film didn't work for me - maybe the development of the story was too silly, maybe it lacked a third act (the film is basically, figure out there's hunting going on, and being hunted), maybe Woo was hampered, or maybe he wasn't hampered but didn't do a good job.
There are positives - it's got a decent budget and plenty of action; Lance Henriksen is always reliable as the head villain; Arnold Vosloo offers some early 90s nostalgia as that old time villain standby, the nasty South African; Yancy Butler is an engaging female lead; Wilfrid Brimley annoyed me a lot less than I thought he would as a French accented crusty old timer; Kasi Lemmons impresses as a detective as does Willie Carpenter, touching as a homeless man.
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