Bullet Points: Moving Target (1996)

If a movie stars Michael Dudikoff and it is easily accessible, there is a 100% chance that I will watch that movie.

If a movie stars Billy Dee Williams and it is easily accessible, there is a 100% chance that I will watch that movie.

So that means there was a 200% chance that I’d watch 1996’s Moving Target starring Michael Dudikoff and Billy Dee Williams…

• Bounty Huntin’ Ain’t Easy: Michael Dudikoff plays Sonny, a second generation bounty hunter. We get to see Sonny in action and just how tough a bounty hunter’s job as the movie begins. Sonny is trying to bring a big muscle head named Jorge in. If being overmatched physically wasn’t enough, Sonny also runs into a guy outside of Jorge’s apartment building that he had previously brought in… a guy that apparently is holding a grudge. Sonny does end up getting his man, but has his Danny Glover “I’m getting too old for this shit” moment too.
• A Bun in the Oven: Sonny’s fiancée, Casey (Michelle Johnson, Slipping Into Darkness) may not believe Sonny is too old for bounty hunting, but she does think it is too dangerous… especially since the couple is expecting their first child. In Casey’s perfect world, Sonny would transition to the administrative end of the bounty hunting game working in the office with his boss Murray. But even though he is getting pressure at home, Sonny finds himself railroaded into taking a gig by an elderly Russian couple who come up to Sonny on the street and give him a sob story about their no good son Jonish, who skipped bail and is hiding up at the family’s cabin. If Jonish doesn’t return and stand trial, the couple will lose everything they’ve worked for since coming over from Russia.

• The Setup: Sonny finds Jonish Kukoc (Patrick Gallagher) up at the cabin just like he was told, but that’s when things start getting messy. Jonish tells Sonny that his parents have been dead for years and immediately suspects that this visit from Sonny is part of a setup, but with a gun to his head he is going to do what Sonny tells him to do. Plus, a veteran bounty hunter like Sonny has heard every excuse in the book, so he’s not buying Jonish’s story… but that quickly changes when Sonny and Jonish are pursued by two snowmobilers and Jonish is shot dead and Sonny nearly meets the same fate.
• Better Off Dead?: Sonny may have a fate worse than death, he is now wanted for the murder of Jonish Kukoc with the only silver lining being that his friend, Detective Don Racine (Billy Dee Williams, The Empire Strikes Back) is in charge of the investigation. After Murray bails out Sonny, Racine makes it pretty clear that Sonny needs to keep his nose out of the investigation, but I think we all know that’s not going to happen. Sonny and Racine’s mutual friend, Jake (a former cop) is much more supportive of Sonny’s independent investigation and ends up helping Sonny out on more than one occasion. Which is good since Sonny is going to need all the help he can get to find out the identity of Jonish’s killer, especially after he finds out that Jonish was Tuzla’s nephew and Tuzla raised Jonish as his own son for years. Who the hell is Tuzla you may be asking yourself? Tuzla is a powerful Russian mob boss, who is willing to give Sonny a chance to prove who the real killer is because Tuzla knew and respected Sonny’s father. However Tuzla’s hot head son, Danny, does not share his father’s feelings on the matter and wants Sonny dead.

For most of the world Moving Target would be looked at as a below average action thriller. But if you are a fan of Michael Dudikoff and/or Billy Dee Williams like I am, you are going to probably view things a little differently.

Moving Target is far from one of Michael Dudikoff’s best action films, in fact if I had one major complaint it would be that there could have been more action in the movie. But the Sonny character and the story that unfolds allows Dudi to display more of his charm and personality… something that probably would not have happened if the action content was higher.

Billy Dee Williams is one of those actors who makes whatever he is in a little better… he is not stealing the show in Moving Target, but he does give it a boost in the right direction anytime he appears on screen.

Now let’s give this review a boost with some Bonus Bullet Points…

• If You Ever: …wanted to see Michael Dudikoff inadvertently knock on the door of a dominatrix while she was with a client, then Moving Target is the movie for you.
• The Name Game: Not to be confused with the 1988 TV movie Moving Target starring Jason Bateman and John Glover or 2000’s direct to video Moving Target starring Don “The Dragon” Wilson.
• Favorite Quote: “You’re the district attorney’s number one with a bullet suspect!” – Detective Racine to Sonny
• If You Ever: …wanted to see Michael Dudikoff pose as a pizza delivery man, then Moving Target is the movie for you.
• Familiar Face: Michael Bernardo played Boris, one of Tuzla’s henchmen. I’ll always remember Bernardo for his work in Shootfighter: Fight to the Death and Shootfighter II. Fans of the syndicated series WMAC Masters may remember Bernardo as Turbo.
• Name That Tune: There is a song playing when Sonny is summoned to the strip club that Tuzla owns and it seemed very familiar to me. It is the same song that is playing when Richard Norton, Cynthia Rothrock and Patrick Muldoon enter Club Fire, the hottest discotheque in all of Indonesia, in Rage and Honor II.