Plot
In New Orleans, a homeless veteran named Douglas Binder (Chuck Pfarrer) is the target of a hunt. He was given a belt containing $10,000 and was told he must reach the other side of town where he would then win the money and his life. Hunting him are the hunt organizer Emil Fouchon (Lance Henriksen), a businessman named Mr. Lopaki (Bob Apisa) who has paid $500,000 for the opportunity to hunt a human, Fouchon's lieutenant Pik Van Cleaf (Arnold Vosloo), and mercenaries including Stephan (Sven-Ole Thorsen) and Peterson (Jules Sylvester). Binder fails to reach his destination and is shot by two crossbow bolts. Van Cleaf retrieves the money belt.
While searching for her father, Binder's long-estranged daughter Natasha (Yancy Butler) is attacked by a group of thugs and is saved by a homeless man with exceptional martial arts skills named Chance Boudreaux (Jean-Claude Van Damme). Chance is initially hesitant to involve himself with 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. Meanwhile, Chance's homeless friend Elijah Roper is the next to participate in Fouchon's hunt, and is also killed.
Natasha discovers that her father distributed fliers for a seedy recruiter named Randal (Eliott Keener) who has been secretly supplying Fouchon with homeless men with war experience and no family ties. Natasha questions Randal about her father's death, but they are discovered by an eavesdropping Van Cleaf. Fouchon and Van Cleaf beat Randal to punish him for sending them a man with an interested family. New Orleans detective Mitchell (Kasi Lemmons) is reluctant to investigate Binder's disappearance until his charred body is discovered in the ashes of a derelict building. The death is ruled accidental, but Chance searches the ruins and finds Binder's dog tag, which was pierced by one of the crossbow bolts. Van Cleaf's thugs suddenly ambush Chance and beat him unconscious to scare him and Natasha out of town. When he recovers, he offers Mitchell the dog tag as evidence that Binder was murdered. With the investigation getting closer, Van Cleaf and Fouchon decide to relocate their hunting business and begin eliminating "loose ends". The medical examiner who had been hiding evidence of the hunt and Randal are both executed. Mitchell, Natasha and Chance arrive moments later at Randall's office and are ambushed by Van Cleaf and several of his men. During the shootout Mitchell is shot in the chest and killed. Chance kills a handful of the mercenaries and escapes with Natasha. Fouchon and Van Cleaf assemble their mercenary team and five paid-for hunters to continue the chase.
Chance leads Natasha to his uncle Douvee's (Wilford Brimley) house deep in the bayou, and enlists his help in defeating the men. Chance, Natasha, and Douvee lead the hunting party to a warehouse of old Mardi Gras floats, and kill Fouchon's men one by one. Van Cleaf is finally shot to death by Chance in a shoot out. In the end only Fouchon is left, but he holds Chance at bay by taking Natasha hostage and stabbing Douvee in the chest with an arrow. Chance charges him, attacking with a flurry of blows, and then drops a grenade in his pants. Fouchon attempts to dismantle the grenade, but fails and dies in the explosion. Chance, Natasha, and Douvee now make their way out of the warehouse.
Read more about this topic: Hard Target
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