I'm sorry to say this, but the acting in this film is horrible. The dialogue sounds as if they are reading their lines for the first time ever. Perhaps I got the "dress rehearsal" version by mistake. The director over-uses slow motion during special effects perhaps as an attempt to compensate for the poor performance of the actors themselves. The story is pretty well written, and the fight sequences are actually better than I have seen in many action films. The fights seem pretty real. But all of this happens while to two leading actors time and time again miraculously survive incredible amounts of point-blank automatic weapon fire, grenades, morter rounds, and bazookas. The enemy soldiers are definitely some of the worst shots I have ever seen, especially when they have the escaping truck in their sights from about 30 yards, and every bazooka shot is wide by at least 50 feet. Those bazookas need serious site calibration.
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nrichard200030 July 2005At first I was convinced that this was a made-for-TV movie that wasn't worthy of primetime. But after a few minutes of dumb-struck awe, I realized that there was at least comic value in the over-the-top stunts and c-movie acting. This movie would have gotten a 1 if my wife and I hadn't laughed so hard as we watched it in wonder that the actors could keep a straight face. It was like a less-funny spy version of The Big Hit (I laughed so much I actually bought the Big Hit DVD) with even-worse acting. We were disappointed that Nick chose to marry Elena, and not Jim, after all of the hugging and high-fives. A few rum and cokes will definitely help it go down easier.
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hwg1957-102-26570411 March 2023Am not sure I understood the plot of this movie, who the characters are and why they do what they do. It seems to involve plutonium but basically it is a chase movie involving Dean Cochran as Jim and Todd Jensen as Nick. Unfortunately their characters are not likeable. Their buddy banter is quite laughable, as in ridiculous. The villains are not intimidating or memorable and the easy way their footsoldiers, who can't shoot straight, are killed is pathetic. I did like the music score by Steve Edwards which was more exciting than the stumbling narrative and the many location shots of the of Bulgarian railway system.
And how did they get out of the bus? One of several unanswered questions. -
The only redeeming quality of this movie is that it was bad enough to be comedic. Everyone in this movie looks like a porn industry drop out. I have actually seen better acting in low budget porn. I though I had actually rented some kind of gay porn after this classic scene: Jim: Watch your ass Nick: You watch yours (together): I wont leave you behind!
The first action sequence shows how awful the production is, but its really kind of funny: Good guys have transformer weapons! In one scene, they all have fake HK MP5 sub-machine guns. Next scene, AK-47 replicas! And then, to top it all off, they do some weapon swapping between scenes with a couple of M-16s!! I think they had a budget shortage for guns, not enough to go around between the good guys and bad guys. Fight scenes are poorly coordinated and fake as all hell. You have to remove the pin/spoon from a grenade for it to explode on its own. You can't fire a shoulder launched missile of any kind while riding inside a helicopter. Weapons that you throw away don't suddenly re-appear. When a gun is out of bullets, throwing it away is still pretty stupid. Unless you have no idea how to reload them.. Big slow trucks driving around in first gear make for awkward action scenes. I really cant believe movies like this are actually produced. This movie would be hilarious on nitrous oxide or maybe just drunk. -
This was a good popcorn flick given the amount of money spent on the budget. Things explode, people get chased, and by the end all is resolved with a smile. The only thing I say this movie needs more of Dean Cochran fighting. In the film's finale we only get a small glimpse at work he can do with his martial arts background. We need MORE of it. Let him bash a few skulls. Break a few arms. Swing a few jump roundhouse kicks. The more a-- kicking moments, the better.
I'd also like to say two two leads work well together and should do more films. Maybe even have one of the be the bad guy so they have to take on each other in the end. That would be S-W-E-E-T. -
I liked the movie, I'm not really into the whole action thing but my boyfriend got a DVD from someone so we watched it. The movie is good but the main guy Dean Cochran is super (maybe because he looks like superman ;o) - I don't even mean Dean Cain either, he just looks like he should play superman)! He's just got an air of confidence about him and I loved the scene with he and his friend (played by Todd Jansen) at the beginning in Vegas. They just looked like 2 guys having a great time but Dean's got a smile like Tom Cruise. I think he is going to be a HUGE star, in fact I'm going out tonight and renting some of the movies I saw listed for him like Air Marshal. All the action stuff was cool if you like that sort of thing and it was all realistic, not like some of these movies where everyone has unlimited bullets and can do all this stuff or they have 10 minutes to save the world or something.
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swk-116 August 2005Action films usually have a lot of Action and very little acting. Target is the first "Action" film I've seen in years where the actors deserve to be in a bigger budgeted more high profile "Action" movie. They deserve to be on the big screen.
"Target" stars Dean Cochran and Todd Jensen. Both actors really deliver the goods, but Todd Jensen undoubtedly steals the show. He plays, Nick Carlton, a flamboyant, risk taking CIA agent. Jensen's performance reminds me of a truly contemporary American version of James Bond with more "Balls." He's gritty, tough and believe it or not very funny! This film given a bigger budget would stand up to and surpass the original "Lethal Weapon" buddy picture and we all know how good that film was.
Cochran is the straight man to Jensen's seemingly uncontrollable behavior and what a great job he does. These two actors deserve MORE! MUCH MORE!! In the Action film genre where the last real action heroes are now in their sixties and even governing California, Todd Jensen and Dean Cochran are definitely ready, more than capable and in Jensen's case more than qualified to take the leap.
I hope and pray that all the Hollywood Gods smile and bless these two talented men.
Give them what they need! Give them what we all need!
Give them "A Break!" -
ItchyEyes17 August 2005I picked up this film on a lark at Blockbuster last week, and have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. What was probably intended to be a small, cookie-cutter action flick was carried miles further by its leading men, both of whom manage to inject a great deal of humor into roles that may have otherwise been lost in less capable hands.
I had vaguely heard about Dean Cochran before seeing this film, but upon viewing his work, wonder why I haven't seen more roles filled by him. He boasts classic movie star good looks, the ability to create tension in a scene as well as to make you laugh, and he seems to have a strong grasp of martial arts (he appears to do his own stunts). Can he sing, too?
I had never seen Todd Jensen before, but must say I am impressed with his abilities as well. He has an "everyman" feature to him complimented by this cool throaty rasp in his voice. I'd like to see a series of films with these two working together. They kind of come off as the duo from Lethal Weapon only they fight terrorist bad guys as opposed to regular criminals.
Whoever made this film discovered a couple of hidden gems. Keep up the good work. -
petergoodson888821 January 2005I recently watched the film Target of Opportunity and as far as action films go this one is tops. The 2 guys Dean Cochran and Todd Jensen are terrific. Both stars have great comic timing that really play against the typical boring action type genre. The production value is also very high for a Nu Image film - it looks like these guys actually went out and filmed big action sequences and you can tell it's really the stars doing the stunts. All in all Target was a great movie watching experience and I hope to see more from this team because for once in one of these films you felt like they cared about making a good, fun movie with a decent script and dialogue and weren't just out to make a quick buck with the same rehashed story and actors.
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chief888830 July 2005Target of Opportunity finally announces the arrival of Dean Cochran as a full fledged leading man. The movie itself is pretty good, it's got a decent story, good action, it's fairly well directed, and has a high production value for a Nu Image film; but, the key here is Cochran. I've followed him through his lead roles in Air Marshal and Shark Zone and seen him in supporting roles in films like Phone Booth but Target really marks his arrival. I read that he was cast opposite Chuck Norris in an upcoming movie and think he has a new series coming out. It's good to see a film company take the time to build stars.
Target follows Jim Jacobs as he defies the CIA to go to the country of Ghorna to rescue his former parter Nick (played very well by actor Todd Jensen). It starts out a lot like SPY GAME in that sense but quickly becomes like The Borne Identity as Jim finds Nick has completely lost his memory other than knowing that he has left himself clues about a mission.
It's all pretty well done - now understand, it's well done considering it's a lower budgeted action film but it does more with a small budget than a lot of 40 million dollar films have done with all that money lately. I can only imagine what these guys could do given time and money.
I recommend this very highly for action fans. -
I don't normally comment on the internet about much of anything but I was surprised that this little movie had so much attention. My wife and I usually decide to rent something based on a genre that we want to watch. In the case of Target of Opportunity it was because we noticed it was listed in the top 50 video rentals and it was the only movie (in English) that we hadn't seen so we gave it a try. Now this movie isn't a big budget piece but compared to The Life Aquatic which was 1 space ahead of this movie in rentals they spent their money wisely.
I'm not saying that this is the greatest movie by any stretch of the imagination. Some of the plot could have been developed a little bit better but it was still quite an interesting story. I liked the basic plot although I'm still a little confused as to whether Nick had amnesia the whole time or not. That wasn't very clear but it didn't really matter because the whole point was that these two guys would always be there for each other right wrong or indifferent.
The acting was solid considering the dialogue. Jim (Cochran) had to do most of the talking as Nick (Jensin) was passed out or dazed for much of the movie. Obviously, some parts were edited because Nick starts to regain his memory pretty quickly. The best part of the entire film was the relationship between Jim and Nick. They had a Gibson Glover feel about them, it was fun to watch. I would have liked to have seen a little more hand to hand combat over the shoot em up but what they had was very good. I'm a martial artist myself and it was obvious that Cochran has had training. Jensin was good in his one fight scene and it was a good sequence they had together on the bridge.
I enjoy movies that weren't expected to do much and succeed like this one has. Obviously they left it open to do a sequel and I look forward to seeing if they can expand on the characters a bit and come up with an interesting follow-up storyline. Again it's great to see the little engine that could come through. -
JohnOsteen3 August 2005I feel this film rates about a 7.5 but due to some people rating it low for no good reason I am rating it a 10. I know film, particularly those in this genre. One thing that has to be considered is the amount of money that is generally spent on lower budgeted action features compared directly to the amount of production value that they got out of this motion picture. Had Target of Opportunity been shot anywhere in the United States it would have cost them a minimum of 15 million dollars and that's not paying some "stars" to play the lead roles. Danny Lerner is a good producer and in the 3 films that I have seen of his as a director he has gotten significantly better in his craft with each one. Les Weldon is also a talented writer who knows this genre well and made for a compelling storyline. I have seen Todd Jensen over the years in various action-type films and this is certainly his best work. He brought something to the character and avoided the obvious traps that exist for his role. I am also familiar with the other lead in the film. Ironically, I saw him play Hamlet years ago and have wondered what he had moved on to do. Cochran was a wonderful Hamlet playing the role with gusto and zeal. Again Hamlet is a role with many traps and he deftly avoided them in his performance. In Target of Opportunity he brings a very strong character to the screen but one in which he is not afraid to show some vulnerability in. I was quite impressed with his work as I see some others were as well.
Target is a solid bit of film making for this group and I look forward to seeing what they put together in the future. -
I'm with the guy who said that the movie as a whole rated around 7.5, but I feel I have to compensate. I suppose some folks just feel better when they are hyper-critical.
I knew when I picked this movie up at the rental store that I was getting a straight-to-video movie. What I wasn't prepared for was a movie that I found fun and could easily recommend to others. I liked the concept of the movie, but I would have liked to have seen a punched up script with a little more character development. But this was an action movie and the action delivered IMO. The fight sequences were totally realistic and the karate moves didn't make me think they were completely scripted as some movies do. I think Dean Cochran was outstanding (especially given some of the script shortcomings), and I think we'll be seeing a lot more of him. He's got the whole package -- great looks, an easy manner with duologue or comedy and he's an action natural. I'd like to see him in a movie with a big budget. I could easily see him in roles that have gone to Matt Damon, Keanu Reeves or Eric Bana in recent years.
Todd Jensen did very well too and I'd like to see more of him. He seemed very natural in this role. I could see him having a long career as a character actor. -
you2areforfree23 August 2005Yeah, so I saw this movie because I thought the box was pretty cool at Blockbuster and it turned out the movie wasn't bad either. I read on here that people liked the story and stuff and that was pretty rad. The guys were hot and could kick some (bleep) and the stunts and stuff were pretty cool. Someone said they are making another one so I'll see it. Some of the words were a little hard to stand because some bad guys had bad accents. The best part was that there were funnier parts to go with the heavy stuff and explosions. I liked it better than the Born Identity 2 because more happened and it had a faster pace and Matt Damon is kinda wimpy.
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bcagackle20 August 2005I saw this movie and I liked it. I don't have much more to say than that but I understand that you have to write a bunch of words in order to submit your opinion here. I like spy movies and I like a good fight in a flick so this movie was tailor made for me. I know it didn't star Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise or that fella who married the girl from Alias and I'm darned glad too! It's about time that they started putting other people in movies instead of just using the same dang people over and over and over. I don't need to tell you too much about what the movie is about, it's a spy movie so you just need to sort of follow along so you don't get confused. There's one good guy, one guy who you don't know if he's good or bad, and a whole lot of bad guy's chasing the 2 of 'em. Somewhere in there they threw in a cute little Russian girl and a whole lot of fighting and blowing things up and still managed to have a coherent story in there. I saw that awful Red Eye last night and for all the money they spent on that garbage this movie killed it. So there you go, that's got to be 1000 words. I liked the movie.
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tarbosh2200026 February 2006"Target Of Opportunity" is a fantastic action movie! There's no need for a plot synopsis, because it's just non-stop action! This is one of best movies ever. No Joke. Finally Nu-Image films are going in the right direction. If they put up a good budget and not rely on stock footage, they can knock it out of the park.
Of course, the acting and writing are mediocre (think 80's action film) but who cares! Rent it or buy it today. You definitely won't be disappointed.
You also have to support First Look Home Entertainment for putting this out. They have been releasing some other good films including: "Direct Action", "The River King", and "Chrystal".
For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com -
babydolphin813 April 2020In my own opinion viewing the trailer aesthetically it seems more an mid or late 1990's film.