Ultimate Target (2000)

Fantastic!

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I waited for years for this movie, only to discover that after a decade it got uploaded to youtube, where I was eager to watch it. I am a hardcore fan of Gary Daniels and various of the action actors is in this film. I waited years for it and finally got to see it, hoping for some amazing action.But I have to be honest, it sucked. Almost as if it was filmed with a handycam and there was no post production. Even for the genre, the movie, story, camera work and editing were pretty bad and the whole thing felt as if it wasn't really finished. It'll be fun if you waste 5 minutes while forwarding to the action scenes, but if you have seen any Gary Daniels movie, than this one is no different.Watch it out of curiosity and because you're a GD/action fan, but nothing more.

Thomas Kane (or is it Cane?) (Daniels) is a hit-man. He works on sort of a "board of directors" of other hit men and hitwomen. These hitpeople are overseen by their boss, a guy named Raymond (Cheung). It's Raymond's job to keep people like Uncle (Madsen) and Johnny (Fralick), among others, in line. Kane gets out of line when he begins double-dealing: he takes money from his intended victims as payment for sparing their lives. When the organization finds out about this, they get mad and send all their employees after Kane, thus making him the ULTIMATE TARGET. The only problem is, his wife Jody (Denier) and his daughter didn't know about his profession and now they're on the run from the baddies. Holing up in yet another dusty ol' town, Kane prepares to take on the dangerous people he once worked with. But will he be successful? We hate to be the bearer of bad news. I mean, we really, really do. It pains us to report that, after fifteen years of waiting to see this quasi-unreleased movie, we found that it was a disappointment. We understand that it was plagued with production problems and was swept under the rug, along with a lot of DTV product of that time (and a decent chunk of Michael Madsen's career), becoming another casualty of the low-budget DTV downturn of the late 90's/early 2000's. It was around this time that the DTV bubble went bust, and items like Ultimate Target make it easy to see why. Not only is it a Tarantino Slog (a term we coined), but, at this point in time, it's safe to say that it's also a Guy Ritchie slog. Let's just say it hasn't withstood the test of time.We were truly excited to see one of our favorite actors, Gary Daniels, team up with Michael Madsen. Even the (unnecessary?) narration from Daniels's character is helped along by his mellifluous voice. This is countered by Madsen's gravelly voice, which is ALMOST enough to keep the movie afloat, but the only problem is that we hear way too much of their voices. In true Tarantino Slog style, this movie is extremely talky. We needed less talk, more rock. Characters gratuitously eat/talk about breakfast cereal, reminding you instantly of Eric Stoltz's character in Pulp Fiction. There's a ton of other yak-yak, and when we finally get to see some fight scenes, they are pulled and stretched in varying combos of slow motion and fast motion. As we have stated before, we really hate fast motion. Another thing we hate, bathroom humor, is also, sadly, here. Maybe the characters talked about everything else there is to talk about and finally reached the bathroom. Not good. Another strike.On the bright side, Daniels is good in the movie and tries against all odds to make everything work. Even when what surrounds him is weak, Daniels always remains watchable. The pairing with Madsen didn't live up to its full potential, but Daniels was reunited with his old Deadly Target (1994)/Fistof the North Star (1995)/White Tiger (1996) co-star George Cheung. We have always admired Cheung and his impressive resume. But this whole outing doesn't FEEL right. Almost like it wasn't fully completed, which perhaps it wasn't. It's all very similar to the comparable Double Tap (1997). In that particular T-Slog, Stephen Rea is the hit-man, and the rest of the cast jabberjaws on about a bunch of needless topics. Please consult that review for a more in-depth analysis of the aforementioned Tarantino Slog.In the end, Ultimate Target (AKA Ides of March, not to be confused with the Ryan Gosling movie of the same name, though it would have been cool to see Gary Daniels in Gosling's role) proves definitively that characters walking in slow motion either with or without sunglasses is not enough to make a complete film. 2000 was just about he moment when the shorthand replaced the substance. Much like Hostile Intent's beloved Pastebucket McWoo, the last thing we as viewers see, if you stick it out all the way to the END of the end credits, is this, and we quote: "2001 Giants Entertinment". Yes, that's right. They misspelled "Entertainment". And doesn't that say it all, really?

IDES OF MARCH (A.K.A. ULTIMATE TARGET) has yet to see an official release – at least in North America – and it's not difficult to see why. Since it was produced, other films have taken several of its tactics and executed them much better, to the point that if this were released today, viewers who didn't know better might assume that it's a cheap homage to KILL BILL. It's an interesting film, though not nearly as much now as it may have been 15 years ago, and is only worth hunting down online for hardcore fans of Gary Daniels.The story: A brotherhood of elite assassins turns against one of its own (Daniels) when an underhanded deal threatens to expose them.Part of what probably stood against the film's release was its rough presentation. As is, the movie gives the impression of being incompletely edited: there's nothing wrong with the audio or video quality, but the narration, the flashback-laden structure, and the frequent use of paused footage looks like something that would be handed back to post-production with a list of things to change. Then again, I have seen plenty of vehicles for Daniels that look a lot worse than this but have actually gotten proper releases, so these imperfections should not make a difference to fans.The screenplay and the performances it inspires make for a very mixed bag. Both offer amusing highs and embarrassing lows on an even scale, making for a thoroughly B-grade presentation. I'm a fan of the varied cast and the fact that almost all supporting characters enjoy a decent level of exposure, weird as they can be. Overacting is the name of the game, and some performers handle it better (e.g. Michael Madsen) than others (e.g. George Cheung). Daniels himself is relatively low-key, which is fine because this goofy, postmodern script needs at least one straight man.Daniels' frequent collaborations with the Alpha Stunts team often disappointed me, and even this movie makes me wish they had done more. Most of the action is martial arts-related, though the film doesn't reach the brunt of it until its final third. Though the five fights have a very pleasing pace and nice choreography, they're oftentimes too short for my liking or have unrelated scenes edited into them. Two good fights – involving John Koyama and a couple of masked ninjas – help keep things bearable, but I was hoping for more than just that.This one may remain simply another casualty of the direct-to-video recession, but no one should feel heartbroken that it never got a release in the Americas.

For the genre this is a very good movie. The story and script are quite strong but somewhere along the way it gets lost. It is almost as if someone took over the film as it went on. It is worth watching for the very good acting by Michael Madsen and the strong script with crisp dialogue and character development by Jim Chadwick, (has he done anything else?) This movie is a notch above the typical film in this genre and my guess would be a director's version would be great, if the original director (Darren Doane?) did it. Worth the time to watch if you can find a copy.