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The Target
The Target shifts the viewer’s gears in so many different directions with so much confidence that we are helpless to do anything but allow it to lead us by the hand. In some ways, it is a suspense thriller with plenty of exciting action sequences. But at its heart, it is a powerful human drama that updates Christ’s Prodigal Son parable and places it into the world of organized crime. Because of the masterful way that the movie weaves its characters through their personal revelations, not to mention the conviction of the cast and breathtaking locales, I find myself giving this film my highest recommendation, despite some obvious faults from the filmmakers. Set to the gorgeous backdrop of South Africa, The Target is the story of crooked lawyer Robert Nile (Dennis Hopper), who has been asked to testify against the recently arrested South African crime lord Christo (Simon Najiba). Nile is one of the richest and most influential men in Cape Town, though his personal life is a mess. An alcoholic whose business is soaked deep in corruption, Nile is a widower who suffered from a bitter marriage. In addition, his estranged daughter Erika (Diane Kruger) stays an arm’s length from him, openly billing him as the despicable old cuss that he is whenever he attempts to reason with her. Nile is prepared to testify against Christo, but even in jail, the kingpin’s influence reaches far enough for Nile’s life to be in danger, and the lawyer eventually enlists European professional hit man Alex Laney (Christopher Lambert) to be his personal bodyguard, who has a troubled past in Cape Town. As Laney is introduced into the film, he is mercilessly dispatching some riffraff somewhere in Europe, though it becomes clear that this hit man is not without sympathy and charm. Much like Jean Reno in Luc Besson's Léon, Laney separates his killer-for-hire profession from his personal life. For the most part, he is a shy, timid man who would much rather stay uninvolved in people politics and simply keep to himself, playing his piano in his dimly lit apartment. Nevertheless, he does his job well, and returning to Cape Town and getting involved with Robert Nile opens up skeletons in Laney’s closet that force him out of his private world and into the lawyer’s personal life. Plot twists abound that I would not dare to give away, but I will reveal that eventually, Laney turns from indifference and comes to respect Nile beyond his paying him well to make sure he is kept alive. Although the main actors are in top form and the scenes are directed with finesse, there has not been much up to this point that separates The Target from any other standard action movie. We are given a fairly routine action plot with a cardboard villain and some characters essentially from stock footage who are given lines that borderline plagiarism (“You saved my life today. That’s not something that a man like myself easily forgets.”). By the time Erika is kidnapped by some of Christo’s men to set a trap for Niles, I found myself glancing at my watch. As the first act comes to a close, the movie takes an unexpected turn. Erika is successfully rescued, but Laney is wounded. Nile stuffs his injured bodyguard and Erika into a stolen car and they drive off into the unknown South African terrain. Nile drives them to a tiny native village where he grew up, where he has not ventured since childhood. Evidently he was raised by the entire African community that is led by a jolly old fat woman known only as Momma (Ruth Cele). Here, Laney’s wounds are treated and Nile begins a psychological journey into his past, in which he recalls the joy-filled innocence of his youth. Being surrounded by his old way of life and his childhood friends forces Nile to wonder where he went wrong in life, and he seeks to reconcile with his old village, his daughter, and himself. At this point, The Target doesn’t just pick up, it sky-rockets into a masterpiece of character study and human drama. As I watched the scenes of Nile in his old village , I came to understand why the first third of the film created the clichés that it did: The first act was invented only to be torn down by a smarter film that followed. Writer Brad Mirman and director Jean-Pierre Roux have taken a standard action/thriller story and placed a thinking brain into it. The film introduces a routine scenario with character situations that bathe in cliché—from the crime story to the dysfunctional father/daughter relationship, and asks what if these run-of-the-mill characters were actually interesting people? What if someone made a movie that placed stock-characters in a scenario in which they had to consider their lives? What choices did they make in the first place that turned them into clichéd characters? When the movie returns Nile to his childhood home and shifts into a character study, we suddenly find ourselves caught off guard and sympathizing with this man. As Niles finds his innocence restored, daughter Erika and hit man Laney make changes of their own that goes against every cliché that was established in the first act. Because the film makes such a dramatic, well-written change, we forgive the film’s beginning. We have to, because we realize that these scenes were necessary to prove the movie’s point: that even stock-characters in standard action movies can be interesting with the right writer and director behind the project. When Christo resurfaces in the film’s third act and the final showdown takes place, we continue to forgive the clichés, because we already understand that these scenes have to play out in order to show that while the film’s basic premise has remained the same, the protagonists have all gone through dramatic changes so that they are now thinking outside of the routine world that they live in. Never mind that Christo is never anything beyond a lifeless, paper-thin villain. This is not a movie about him, and he needs no meat for his role. He exists merely to move Nile’s story along, and he succeeds. This film could only work as well as it does with strong actors in the leads. Dennis Hopper, Christopher Lambert, and Diana Kruger prove to be up to the task. As Nile’s daughter Erika, Diana Kruger begins the film loud and bitter towards her father, but as the movie progresses and he begins to change, she becomes strong, silent, and supportive. In the last act, she isn’t given much to do, but she doesn’t have to do much for her character’s strength to shine. That she even sticks around and supporting Niles after they arrive in his hometown shows enough. As Alex Laney, Christopher Lambert brings just the right note into his performance. After so many films playing ancient warriors and brooding cops, it is refreshing to see Lambert in a role that doesn't play against his quiet coolness and meek spirit. A private man haunted by his painful past, Alex Laney remains quiet and attentive throughout, and eventually progresses from a calculative killer to a more easy-going, sympathetic character. Through the course of the film, Laney’s attitude clearly changes from a “this is only a job” mentality to a deep respect for Nile, and Lambert and Hopper work well together to successfully establish this complicated relationship. Though I would never go so far as to say that they build a friendship, Nile’s kindness to the hit man moves Laney enough to remain with the lawyer and to even volunteer to face Christo when everyone else in the town has fled. The subtle relationship between Nile and Laney is crucial to the film's final revelation, which works as a brilliant anti-climax that ends The Target on a perfect note eclipsing all of the film’s themes. Through all of these shifts, Christopher Lambert never looses grasp of his character; his performance is quiet, thoughtful, and captivating. The Target is Dennis Hopper's movie in the end, and he dazzles us with a performance that hits all of the right keys. Nile's progression from crooked-lawyer-stock-character to human being is a careful one, and Hopper plays Nile as if the lawyer is just as surprised with the direction the movie takes as we are. In one particularly effective scene early in the second act, he is warmly welcomed back to his hometown by some old chums (played by the great South African singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, in cameos) who sing to him and invite him to join in their nightly-dance in the streets. At first, Niles hesitates, but as his friends dance around him and laugh, he eventually succumbs and begins to let loose. As he does, his character loses his hardness and begins his transformation into a human being. Later, Hopper sparkles with emotion as he finds an old pouch of trinkets that an old man had given Nile as a child, which he had buried as hidden treasure. He breaks down emotionally as he recalls his lost innocence. We are never given an explanation of why or how Nile fell from grace, and we do not need one. How he fell from innocence is irrelevant to the fact that he fell, and his journey home has made him rediscover what he's lost. Never mind that these old relics offer no revelation about his past or give insight to why he left this delightful little town to pursue lofty vanities. They are simply old memories that remind him of who he used to be, and that's all they need to be for purposes of developing his character. Robert Nile is easily Hopper's best performance in years, and there is not a single scene in which the actor doesn't understand his character. A special mention should also be given to the cinematographer Larry Smith. I have never seen South Africa look so surreal and beautiful cinematically. Besides giving us shots that will make any landscape painter want to take out his canvas, Smith successfully captures the change in the narrative as it comes. In the first act, as the film begins deep in corruption, we are shown mostly shady offices and hot, depressing nights. As the film moves to Robert Nile’s hometown, Smith gives us caves that shine with the sun’s light and open prairies that are glorious to look at, symbolizing Nile’s emergence from his gloom. In addition, Smith effectively uses the black Africans so that they are simply not extras in the background but rather real, breathing human beings whose refreshing presence is pivotal for Nile’s return to innocence. The Target doesn’t get everything right. There are some problems, mainly with the editing. In the film’s first act, we are given so many interchanging scenes between Alex Laney and Robert Nile that it is difficult to tell who the film is about. This film was released in some countries as The Piano Player. I am happy that the title was eventually changed, as Laney is the piano player and the film is about Christo's target Nile. Still, for the first twenty minutes it is nearly impossible to decipher the main character from the supporting role. It would have helped if they trimmed down some of Lambert’s scenes, particularly the conversation in the strip bar where Laney has a pointless meeting with an informant. I fail to see what the relevance of this segment is, except to show gratuitous nudity that is both unneeded and inappropriate. Some of the splicing together of scenes also could have used some work. It is difficult to determine some of the scenes that are flashbacks, as we are given no transitions that indicate a change in time. There is also a particular flashback into Nile’s childhood that concerns an older man that didn't quite piece into the plotline. In addition, the director has an odd tendency in action sequences to crosscut the denouement of the scene with the buildup, and play them as if they are happening at the same time. The editing in these scenes gets quickly confusing. Make no mistake—The Target is not a perfect film; however the flaws simply cancel out when held up to what’s right with the picture. If director Jean-Pierre Roux and writer Brad Mirman occasionally lose their narrative footing, the power of the premise and the strength of the characters still manage to turn The Target into an enchanting cinematic experience. They have created a character in Robert Nile who has to make decisions about his life's journey that are poignant and beautiful, in a movie that draws us into his brain to experience his flawed humanity. When sitting down to write this review, I was first planning to give The Target a three or three-and-a-half star rating. However, as I assess the movie now, perhaps the fact that this film can so successfully overcome its own faults is a tribute to its ingenuity. Whether the film makers intended it or not, the flaws manage to prove the film's message. Indeed, The Target is a grand character study and a rare gem, and it has rightfully earned the title of one of the year's best films. AKA: The Piano Player Cast: Artisan Entertainment presents
a Splendid Pictures release of a film directed by Jean-Pierre
Roux. Written by Brad Mirman. 94 minutes. Rated R for violence,
brief sexuality/nudity, language, and drug abuse. Released on
DVD July 22, 2003. Questions? Comments? E-mail me: danel_the_tinman@hotmail.com |
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