Director: Joseph Merhi
Screenplay: Jacobsen Hart, Dayton Callie
Starring: Michael Madsen, Roy Scheider, Keith David, Angie Everhart, Dayton Callie, Kathy Christopherson, Gareth Williams
Country: USA
Running Time: 95 min
Year: 1997
Swiss distributor Fokus Media continue to raid the filmography of PM Entertainment, with Joseph Merhi’s 1997 star-studded action movie, Executive Target. I’m supposed to be taking a break from reviews, but chances to catch these underrated genre movies on Blu-ray are few and far between, so I couldn’t turn down the opportunity.
Executive Target sees former stunt car driver, now prisoner, Nick James (Michael Madsen), broken out of prison in a violent attack by terrorists. However, not knowing why he was freed or by whom, Nick races off without his ‘saviours’.
The terrorists, led by Lamar (Keith David), soon catch up to him and take Nick and his estranged wife, Nadia (Kathy Christopherson), hostage. They force Nick to be the getaway driver as part of an audacious plot to kidnap the President of the United States of America (Roy Scheider).
With Executive Target, PM Entertainment seemed to be making a concerted effort to go big. They often hired an ageing or out-of-favour star to help sell a film, and here they’ve done that with Roy Scheider but then doubled down by bringing in Michael Madsen as the lead. He was at the peak of his fame at the time, just as he was beginning to take any role coming, leading to a dwindling quality of output following this. Keith David’s involvement is not to be sniffed at, either, even if he was never a huge star.
These big-name actors aren’t phoning it in, either. Granted, they’re not the sort of memorable or powerful performances the trio would deliver in films such as Jaws, Reservoir Dogs or The Thing, but they fit the roles and deliver the goods. David seems to be having a lot of fun as the villain, in particular. He hams it up a little, but in the best possible way.
It wasn’t just through the cast that PM were upping their game, however. It’s also in the scale of the action. When you’ve got a character who’s a former stunt car driver, you want to see some decent car chases and jumps and, wow, this does not disappoint. Roy Scheider is noted as being in a couple of the best car chase films of all time – The French Connection and The Seven-Ups, but I’m going to be bold and say that there’s a third to be added to the list. Executive Target is not as strong an overall film as those two 70s classics, but when it comes to car chases, it gives them a run for their money.
There are three car chases in the film, and each one features eye-popping jumps, flips, collisions and explosions. All done for real, of course. The sequences are nicely shot and edited too, with some exceptional camera-car tracking shots.
There’s a wonderfully crude line in the film which sums up its intentions after Keith David watches one of the car chases on his web of CCTV cameras, “Now tell me that doesn’t get you a hard-on.”
Away from the car chases, the film jumps back and forth between generic and ridiculous. The central premise is pretty daft, not only in the decision of the terrorists to force a third party to be their driver, but also in how David seems to be seeking revenge on the President after his funding got cut (or at least that’s the impression I got. It was never quite spelt out).
The narrative is functional enough to keep you watching, though, and some of the characters are fun. Angie Everhart’s assassin/goon character is given a little more depth than usual, and Nick’s perverted friend Bella (Dayton Callie) adds a little levity to proceedings.
So, whilst a bog-standard action movie at heart, Executive Target is raised to another level by some fantastic car chases and a decent cast. Genre fans will love it.
Film: 
Executive Target is out now in a 2-Disc Blu-Ray/DVD Collector’s Mediabook Edition, available with two different covers, released by Fokus Media (you can order it from the Fokus Media website or you might be able to find it on various import sites). The transfer is, for the most part, very impressive, with a detailed image and natural textures and colours. However, there is a section in the middle of the film that looks soft, as though it’s an SD upscale, for a few minutes. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks, though these have been compressed.
Below is an example from the short soft section of the film.
You get a choice of German or English language audio (both 2.0 stereo). I opted for English, and I thought it sounded good throughout.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
– Interview with Michael Madsen
– Interview with cinematographer Ken Blakey
– In Memory of Michael Madsen (photo montage)
– In Memory of Roy Scheider (photo montage)
– Original trailer
– Image Gallery
There’s a 22-minute interview with Michael Madsen, which isn’t actually listed on the back of the case, whilst an interview with writer Jacobsen Hart, which doesn’t appear on the disc, is listed. The interview with Madsen is great, though. The actor is open and entertaining, talking about his life and career. Whilst he doesn’t talk about Executive Target itself, he does discuss his love of cars, which might explain his interest in the project.
There’s also an interview with cinematographer Ken Blakey. He was particularly proud of his work on that film, as it was one of the biggest-scale PM productions. As such, he talks enthusiastically about it and has some stories to tell about its stars. It’s only a short interview, at roughly 5 minutes, but it’s well worth watching.
You also get a booklet included with the package. This is in German, but you can always use Google Translate or similar if you can’t read the language. It’s nicely illustrated too.
Overall, Fokus have released another PM gem and given it the treatment it deserves. Fans should certainly pick it up.
Disc/package: