The film stars Jean-Claude Van Damme as Chance Boudreaux, an out-of-work homeless Cajun merchant seaman and former United States Force Recon Marine who saves a young woman named Natasha Binder (Yancy Butler) from a gang of thugs in New Orleans.

The screenplay was written by Pfarrer and is based on the 1932 film adaptation of Richard Connell's 1924 short story "The Most Dangerous Game".

After 65 days of filming in New Orleans, Woo had trouble with the Motion Picture Association of America to secure the R rating that Universal wanted.

[6][7][8][9] In New Orleans, a homeless United States Force Recon Marine and Vietnam War veteran named Douglas Binder is the target of a hunt.

While searching for her father, Binder's estranged daughter Natasha is attacked by a group of muggers, punks who saw that she had a lot of cash earlier and attempt to rape her.

She is saved by a homeless man with exceptional martial arts skills named Chance Boudreaux, a former Force Recon Marine and a sailor, now currently out-of-work.

Boudreaux is initially hesitant to involve himself in 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.

Natasha discovers that her father distributed fliers for a seedy recruiter named Randal Poe who has been secretly supplying Fouchon with homeless men with war experience and no family ties.

New Orleans police detective Marie "May" Mitchell is reluctant to investigate Binder's disappearance until his charred body is discovered in the ashes of a derelict building.

The death is deemed an accident, but Boudreaux searches the ruins and finds Binder's other matching dog tag,(as they always are given in pairs) which was pierced by one of the crossbow bolts.

With the investigation getting closer, Van Cleef and Fouchon decide to relocate their hunting business and begin eliminating "loose ends".

Meanwhile, Boudreaux's friend, Elijah Roper, who is also homeless and former United States Army Special Forces is the next to participate in Fouchon's hunt and also ends up dead.

In the end, only Fouchon is left, but he holds Boudreaux at bay by taking Natasha hostage and stabbing Douvee in the chest with his arrow.

[13][14] Universal was not eager to have Woo direct an entire feature and only agreed after what producer James Jacks called a "difficult period of convincing".

[12] Describing the scripts he received, Woo stated that "Some of them were good—some of them were very good—but the rest were simply martial-arts movies and I told producers that I had no interest in doing those kinds of films anymore.

[19] Woo read Pfarrer's script for Hard Target appreciating that it was a "simple but powerful story, with a lot of feeling underneath.

[19] Before any director was attached to Hard Target, Universal Pictures saw the film as a potential vehicle for actor Jean-Claude Van Damme.

[24] Actor Lance Henriksen accepted the role of Emil Fouchon stating he was a great fan of Woo, noting that his earlier films "were so creative, so balletic, and had this incredible philosophy in them.

[28] The weapon fire on the set was considered dangerous, which led the crew to build a new bulletproof plexiglas shield that could be bolted to the camera.

Carpenter specifically noted the Mardi Gras parade warehouse by recollecting that "just the lighting for a space like that, with all those strange shapes and shadows was difficult enough, but John then added the further complication of wanting the scene shot from several angles at once—often with more than one of the cameras moving".

[26] Producer James Jacks supported this style of filming finding it the most economical way to shoot these types of action scenes.

This copy is a poor-quality videocassette dub and has a burned-in time code in the corner indicating that the film was not meant for public viewing.

Kino Lorber released it in the United States on 4K Ultra HD and restored Blu-ray in 2021 including the Unrated Director's Cut and U.S.

[54] Hard Target received mixed reviews on its initial release praising the film's action scenes but noting the poor story and Jean-Claude Van Damme's acting abilities.

[55] In Variety, Emanuel Levy wrote that Hard Target was "a briskly vigorous, occasionally brilliant actioner starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.

However, hampered by a B-script with flat, standard characters, and subjected to repeated editing of the violent sequences to win an R rating, pic doesn't bear the unique vision on display in Woo's recent "The Killer" and "Hard-Boiled."

Van Damme and the director's reputation should ensure initial commercial kick on the way to solid if not spectacular box office".

[57] Desson Thompson of The Washington Post wrote that "When Van Damme isn't duking it out with the English language, scriptwriter Chuck Pfarrer is filling Henriksen's mouth with villainous pseudo-profundities.

The consensus summarizes: "Hard Target gets a boost from John Woo's stylish direction, but at heart, it's still another silly, explosion-dependent action thriller in the Jean-Claude Van Damme oeuvre.

[61] In 1995, Van Damme said "Hard Target was a bad script, but we had some great action scenes, and John Woo made me look like a samurai with greasy hair.