SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

HOT TARGET is a UK/New Zealand co-production masquerading as an American thriller, although the British accents in the cast and the surroundings will make the viewer soon realise we're not in Kansas anymore, so to speak. This one's a forgotten addition to the short run of revamped film noirs that were popular in the 1980s following on from the success of the POSTMAN RINGS TWICE remake and BODY HEAT.This was put out by Crown International Pictures, so is chock full of nudity and sex scenes used to pad out the running time, as you'd expect from the studio. The characters are thinly-drawn and rather unlikeable, even though there are familiar faces in the cast list, notably the lead Simone Griffeth who was in the B-movie favourite DEATH RACE 2000. The whole of the production has a tired and overly familiar feel to it and the many and involved thriller elements don't really hold your attention, despite all the twists. It's just too cheap for that.

Thin on cogent storyline, thick on gratuitous nudity (which is either a plus or a take depending on your moral barometer), "Hot Target" tells us the story of an attractive American woman (Griffeth) in an unhappy marriage of convenience to wealthy Pom (Marshall) with whom she has a young daughter, living in New Zealand. Her regular dog walks at the park attract the attention of an American stranger (Marachuk) who proceeds to seduce Griffeth into a torrid affair that ultimately leads to murder and financial gain.It's a tired formula given a soft-porn treatment, Griffeth's ample full frontal nudity guarantees the R-rating and is sure to set pulses racing. Marachuk gets in on the act a few times in less detail, but seems to benefit from the situation nicely. It's good to be an actor. Marachuk might be familiar from "Piranha II", while Griffeth has an exploitation film career as long as her legs. Strangely, Marachuk doesn't seem to have any more credits to his name after this film? Marshall is dependable but not nearly as objectionable as he should be to evoke Griffeth's infidelity, and if you blink, you'll miss fellow ex-pat Pom Terence Cooper in a bit part.The film meanders aimlessly from one opportunistic bump 'n grind to the next - in the woodlands beside a cricket match, at a 'borrowed' apartment, on the billiard table - but does pick-up for the final thirty minutes. Then, just as the plot thickens and things get interesting, the film decides to end prematurely, leaving a gaping plot hole and wasted potential in its wake. When a half-dozen climaxes doesn't result in a satisfying ending, clearly, you're doing it wrong.

As has been noted, this is part of a Crown International series, almost all of which contain the same scenes of nudity and lovemaking, all surrounded by ho hum plots. Those were the USA offerings. "Hot Target" is a New Zealand offering starring absolutely stunning Simone Griffeth, an American lass now, with her husband, selling expensive real estate in South Carolina. And, she is a damn good actress. Those love scenes could, and should have been, more abbreviated and it would have appealed to a more general audience - well - not the Pixar enthusiasts. Anyway, all the palaver about the plot is a lot of horseradish. It was easy to understand, the story tight and taut. The acting by all involved was first class. Steve Marachuk, the only other American in the cast, was excellent as the cad. All involved turned in excellent performances. Anyway, ignore the naysayers and, if you can get hold of this, grab it. I guarantee it will keep you involved for at least 92 of its 93 minutes.

Filmed in New Zealand in 1985 but first seen here as an NTSC DVD in the late 1990's, this film is set in the U.K. and features such esoteric activities as cricket matches. Believing it would only have a limited appeal to North American audiences, distributors never released it for theatre showings here . The original DVD was not reprinted, and by now the film would no doubt have achieved almost complete oblivion this side of the Atlantic but for the fact that a couple of years ago the distributor, Crown International, packaged it with seven other thrillers as a dual double sided DVD release marketed at about the usual price for a single film on DVD disk. Clearly this compendium was of considerable interest to IMDb users as most of the eight films suddenly started to become candidates for user comments again.Such packaging arrangements work well for many older viewers who have nostalgic recollections of one of the films featured, and have been waiting for a DVD version to become available. The film which led me to buy this complete set was French Quarter, a film that I would rate above any equivalent current release I have seen so far this year. I commented on it for IMDb in 2005 at a time when no DVD was available, and my comments (still on record in this database) indicated that I would certainly buy a DVD version should one become available. The other seven films were a bonus. All new to me, only two proved to have any interest - Pick-up and Hot Target. Comments so far made on this database.do not fully do justice to either. Perhaps I will pick up the computer to comment on Pick-Up later, now it's time to consider Hot Target which has been described as an inferior English imitation of Body Heat. Technically inferior certainly; with Kathleen Hepburn and Mickey Rourke starring in Body Heat this could be taken for granted:, but it is not an imitation. I felt the story in Hot Target was one which was much closer to real life as most people experience it - making it a film many viewers may find more meaningful and remember longer. 90% of paperback books listed as crime thrillers are about premeditated murders which, thank heaven, almost certainly constitute less than 10% of the serious crimes committed. The same goes for films, most viewers will never carefully plan and commit a murder and this makes it harder for them to identify with the characters in Body Heat In Hot Target we have a wife who feels suffocated by life with an overbearing husband,(SPOILER IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWS)and is therefore a relatively easy prey for the confidence trickster who seduces her in order to take impressions from her house keys whilst she is in the bathroom. Neither of them has any killer urge and this makes it easier to become involved in the story which seems closer to real life than to a lurid paperback novel. Don't get me wrong - I really enjoyed watching Body Heat but, just as with most paperbacks, it's story started fading as soon as I had seen it - Hot Target left me with much more to think about, and in this respect it was a better film.Although it did not have quite the intensity that Hepburn and Rourke achieved, there was nothing shabby about it. Other commentators on this database confirm that Simone Griffeth, Steve Marachuk & Bryan Marshall all gave very competent performances (as did Peter Mc Cauley in a shorter part as the Police Inspector). One viewer even commented that Simone Griffeth sweated in a most convincing way during her sex scene - I would not go this far, most aspiring actors would give a lot to be able to control their sweat glands during moments of stress, but I do not believe many of them have ever mastered this art. It is probably fairer to comment that the make-up department showed more care than is often the case by providing a supply of body oil at the critical moments. Kudos to them! Another reviewer comments that Griffeth's nude scenes are worth all but a cent of the price he paid for the DVD, but that he cannot quite decide whether the rest of the film warrants this last cent. I enjoyed the humour, but this and other comments do give an impression that we are discussing soft-core porn rather than erotic drama. This should be corrected, the nudity is very brief, extending for a total of perhaps two or three minutes of the running time, and is certainly not exploitive. For example during a tryst in a secluded spot at a cricket match, a nipple shot lasting about one second served to show the couple were not discussing the finer points of England's national game. The nudity could probably have been dispensed with, but it contributed to the story so why should it have been? Some may not have been happy with this film's conventional aspect ratio, but all things considered I felt it was a competently made and enjoyable film. If you are considering buying this collection do not let these reviews deter you.IMDb currently rates Body Heat at 7 and Hot Target at 5. Both are good but not great films, I rate them equally at 6, Hot Target is less sophisticated, but it is closer to everyday life and for me this balanced things up. It is easy to make a film more intense when the characters become caricatures, however whether I have become involved with these characters is more relevant to my assessment. Is this not a good basis for judgement? .