FILM / Critical Round-up

HARD TARGET

'Woo (the director) and his scriptwriter raise suggestive ideas about the haves and have-nots in American society, only to brush them aside in the rush to maim, shed blood, and appeal to the audience's worst instincts.' Geoff Brown, Times

'Giggles seem as appropriate as shocked gasps. For this film has nothing to do with real life or real violence . . . Rather, it is a near- abstract riot of derring-do in which visible injury is set firmly aside for visible ingenuity.' Nigel Andrews, Financial Times

'A lot of Woo's favourite devices, like the pregnant one-liners accompanied by reaction shots and balletic, slow motion action shots, look almost comic when translated into Hollywood terms.' Derek Malcolm, Guardian

AMONGST FRIENDS

'A botched attempt to make a Mean Streets for the suburbs . . . Weiss (the director) observes his prey with some skill, and the performances are good . . . But the whole structure is a mess and there's a strong sense of been- here-before about the project.' Derek Malcolm, Guardian

'Weiss meant his film to be noticed, although the kinetic surface energy barely hides the vacuum within.' Geoff Brown, Times

'A truly numbskulled use of violence.' Nigel Andrews, Financial Times

IP5

'There isn't a more beautifully shot film in town at the moment than Jean-Jacques Beineix's IP5. Which, you may feel, is tantamount to saying that it isn't very good in other directions. But it has one more bull point - a performance from Yves Montand . . . that's even more notable than the elegant framing of the scenery.' Derek Malcolm, Guardian

'Instead of building a viable story, Beineix creates a magic space where characters and landscapes flaunt their wares. If his cast were weak, the film would sink. Luckily . . .' Geoff Brown, Times

'. . . Has all the schmaltzy plot gimmicks in place to bait the Tinseltown hook . . . Beineix specialises in a grandiloquent glossiness that masquerades as art.' Nigel Andrews, Financial Times