Before we talk about the indie film Target Practice, I first want to recall a big-budget action picture from this past summer called The Expendables. The Expendables had a great deal going for it: major studio backing; every big-name action star of the last 30 years; several A-list actors in major roles; a multi-million dollar budget; and a huge marketing campaign. So why was the movie so flat? Perhaps because the actors were sleepwalking through their roles. Or perhaps because the film used so many clichés it was predictable from the opening scene. Or maybe I was just tired of watching overpaid actors portraying cardboard cutout characters bumbling through a lame plot while huge explosions try to pull my attention away from all the flaws in the film.
Before we talk about the indie film Target Practice, I first want to recall a big-budget action picture from this past summer called The Expendables. The Expendables had a great deal going for it: major studio backing; every big-name action star of the last 30 years; several A-list actors in major roles; a multi-million dollar budget; and a huge marketing campaign. So why was the movie so flat? Perhaps because the actors were sleepwalking through their roles. Or perhaps because the film used so many clichés it was predictable from the opening scene. Or maybe I was just tired of watching overpaid actors portraying cardboard cutout characters bumbling through a lame plot while huge explosions try to pull my attention away from all the flaws in the film.
Enter director Rich Reidel and his debut feature film Target Practice. One camera, a handful of dedicated actors, strong writing, and almost no money. And yet Target Practice is easily the grittiest and most intense action film of the last decade, far superior than the dreck that Hollywood churns out year after year.
The set-up is simple: five friends take off into some rugged mountains on a weekend fishing trip only to stumble into the middle of an Al Qaeda-backed terrorist training camp. While two of the friends are killed outright, the others scatter into the woods, desperately trying to figure out how to escape as the terrorists track them and use them as "target practice." Along the way, director Reidel manages to avoid the clichés and singlehandedly turns the action genre on its ear.
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