Target of Opportunity

Action 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!"

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.

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.

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.

I 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.