Hot Target

Thin on cogent storyline, thick on gratuitous nudity (which is either a plus or a take depending on your moral barometer), "Hot Target" tells us the story of an attractive American woman (Griffeth) in an unhappy marriage of convenience to wealthy Pom (Marshall) with whom she has a young daughter, living in New Zealand. Her regular dog walks at the park attract the attention of an American stranger (Marachuk) who proceeds to seduce Griffeth into a torrid affair that ultimately leads to murder and financial gain.

It's a tired formula given a soft-porn treatment, Griffeth's ample full frontal nudity guarantees the R-rating and is sure to set pulses racing. Marachuk gets in on the act a few times in less detail, but seems to benefit from the situation nicely. It's good to be an actor. Marachuk might be familiar from "Piranha II", while Griffeth has an exploitation film career as long as her legs. Strangely, Marachuk doesn't seem to have any more credits to his name after this film? Marshall is dependable but not nearly as objectionable as he should be to evoke Griffeth's infidelity, and if you blink, you'll miss fellow ex-pat Pom Terence Cooper in a bit part.

The film meanders aimlessly from one opportunistic bump 'n grind to the next - in the woodlands beside a cricket match, at a 'borrowed' apartment, on the billiard table - but does pick-up for the final thirty minutes. Then, just as the plot thickens and things get interesting, the film decides to end prematurely, leaving a gaping plot hole and wasted potential in its wake. When a half-dozen climaxes doesn't result in a satisfying ending, clearly, you're doing it wrong.

"Hot Target" comes with several interesting aspects attached to it. For starters, it seems to be an attempt to be a modern day film noir, inspired by films like "Double Indemnity" and "The Postman Always Rings Twice" though having "R" rated elements like nudity and sex. It's also interesting that this film's focus is on the woman, instead of the man. As well, it's interesting that this time around the movie is not American, and is instead an English/New Zealand co-production and set in New Zealand (not England, as some previous user comments have stated.) No doubt this movie had the potential to be entertainingly different, though the actual execution makes it anything but. For starters, while this was made for theaters, it sure doesn't look like it - it has a cheap British made-for-TV feel throughout, and the music score also has this feeling. Second, in several aspects the movie's plot is too close for its own good to another modern day film noir ("Body Heat"). But what really sinks the movie is its weak tone - it never comes across as terribly sexy, terribly tense, or terribly mysterious. And it's capped with an ending that's far from satisfying and raises questions that are never answered. Apparently these filmmakers didn't look carefully at past film noirs to know that you don't just need certain elements - they have to also be well executed.

HOT TARGET is a UK/New Zealand co-production masquerading as an American thriller, although the British accents in the cast and the surroundings will make the viewer soon realise we're not in Kansas anymore, so to speak. This one's a forgotten addition to the short run of revamped film noirs that were popular in the 1980s following on from the success of the POSTMAN RINGS TWICE remake and BODY HEAT.

This was put out by Crown International Pictures, so is chock full of nudity and sex scenes used to pad out the running time, as you'd expect from the studio. The characters are thinly-drawn and rather unlikeable, even though there are familiar faces in the cast list, notably the lead Simone Griffeth who was in the B-movie favourite DEATH RACE 2000. The whole of the production has a tired and overly familiar feel to it and the many and involved thriller elements don't really hold your attention, despite all the twists. It's just too cheap for that.

Hot Target is one of those utterly generic and vague titles that could be applied to a plethora of films, most likely a late 80's effort starring Steven Segal or Jean-Claude Van Damme. So it doesn't really give you much of a clue of what to expect in advance of watching it. When you press play and are then presented with the familiar logo of Crown International Pictures, it would only be fair to say that most will be anticipating a cheap action movie that will be too low budget to even afford Chuck Norris, far less Segal or Van Damme. So, it turns out to be something of a surprise to discover that this one turns out to be a Kiwi erotic thriller. There aren't too many New Zealand set films out there and it's certainly atypical territory for a Crown International release.

Its story focuses on a woman who is unhappily married to a rich businessman. She starts an affair with a stranger she meets by chance one day in a public park. It soon turns out that this stranger has engineered this encounter and has nefarious plans in mind. This film seems to have garnered mostly negative criticism if the reviews here are anything to go by. But I have to say that I found this to be one of the better Crown International 80's efforts. I think the unusual Kiwi setting certainly added a nice unexpected dimension, while the acting and plot line were overall pretty decent. It's no hidden classic of course but it's a good deal better than anything called Hot Target has any right to be.

This movie recently appeared as part of a collection of 8 movies retailing for about $4 (used). So while it's not good, the real question perhaps is, is it worth 50 cents? Well, I'd say Simone "Death Race 2000" Griffeth's generous nude scenes are definitely worth 49 cents. But it's that extra penny that's the real sticking point.

In the movie's favor, it was pretty early entry into the "erotic thriller" genre, a genre which has only gotten worse and worse with each passing year, and it was obviously inspired by "Body Heat", perhaps the ONLY classic erotic thriller. Interestingly, the gender roles are completely reversed here--it's Simone Griffeth's character, an American woman married to an obnoxious British industrialist, who is the naive prey, while the man, a handsome American thief and con artist, is the seductive predator (a homme fatale?). The overall plot though occupies that gray area between uniquely bizarre and completely non-sensical. It's also interesting that it is set in Britain, and aside from the two leads, features an entirely British cast. After all, the Brits are not exactly known for erotic thrillers (or for anything erotic, for that matter). Of course, that doesn't make the movie good or bad, but it is interesting.

But is any of this really worth that extra penny? I don't know--flip a coin.