Target Practice

all you Indies out there i would recommend seeing this one. tight editing and good cam work produces a nice action flick. saw it at Burbank and then again last month at a screening. goes to show what can be done with a smaller budget and some talent! if you dig Indies, like action, or you are becoming a filmmaker i would highly recommend seeing this film. for fun or education... good flick. i am glad to see that they are getting a good festival push. latest i heard the film is screening in two festivals Georgia and Honolulu... so good luck to them on those. keep an eye out for one of the stars, good guy and future action star Joey Lanai who has a good performance... director has got a good future in front of him.. hope to see him do some more action films.

I was lucky enough to see Target Practice some time ago and am very glad to know it is out in the wild for all to enjoy. A spiritual sibling of the great male-bonding gone way, way South movie "Deliverance", Target Practice moves the action into a post-9/11 world where the band of bro's out for a fishing trip are faced, not with sodomite hillbillies, but with home-grown terrorists training for all manner of nefarious acts.

Director Rich Riedel steers clear of Boorman's "men have lost touch with their caveman selves" pathos and, instead, focuses on the action. He knows how to frame a shot and edit the hell out of a scene to maximize the tension. The cast is professional across the board and relatively believable while doing all manner of violent acts. The picture is gorgeous to look at and the wilderness setting really pops in high def.

Do yourself a favor. Gather your closest male buddies, buy a couple cases of beer, fire up the BBQ, and watch Target Practice!

Rich Riedel's promising directorial debut should please action fans and art-house connisseurs alike.

Riedel's primary experience is in editing, and it shows. The story is paced expertly to build up the maximum tension possible.

The acting is a bit uneven but there are some very strong performances here, notably from Eltony Williams.

The indie film world doesn't produce a whole lot of action films, so it's important to recognize the talents that do emerge so that they find success. An action film world populated solely by directors who came up through the studio system isn't what anyone needs. Riedel has a bright future.

Directorial Debut of Rich Riedel is a winner. A minuscule budget doesn't hamper the fun as a group of friends head out to the woods for a little r & r and run into the unexpected. Yeah, we've seen this type of story played out before in the action and horror genres (this one , strictly action), but Riedel's version puts a fresh twist on it. He keeps you guessing as the woods seem to be more populated with friends turned enemies turned friends then one would imagine.

For a group of unknowns, the actors deliver believable performances. The camera is always in the right place and Riedel ratchets up the tension effectively.

It seems like these type of straight ahead action pieces are a thing of the past, what with everyone trying to blend genres and "Tarantino" the story lines and dialog (often with unwatchable results). In many ways, Target Practice is a valentine to the action films of yore. He doesn't try to reshape the genre, he just hits all the right beats at the right times. A blast.

This is a terrific picture with great action, suspense, and atmosphere.

Director Rich Riedel not only understands the impact of flashy, noisy gun play, he also gets the importance of silence as an almost unbearable agent of tension. Excellent performances by all of the cast. And a brilliant use of location where he transforms the great outdoors into Hell.

I first saw this picture as an Executive Board member for one of the many festivals that screened it. Board enthusiasm for TARGET PRACTICE was robust and unanimous, and the film was a huge audience favorite. See it!