Director : Peter Bogdanovich
Cinematographer : Laszlo Kovacs
Genre : Thriller
Country : USA
Duration : 90 Minutes
🔸Targets is a fascinating little thriller because it feels like two very different films slowly moving toward the same destination. The story follows an aging horror movie actor who is becoming increasingly irrelevant in a changing film industry, while somewhere else, a disturbed young man prepares to carry out a violent act. The film spends time with both of them, showing their very different worlds before gradually bringing them together. I liked this simple structure because it allows the movie to work as both a character drama and a tense thriller. It is also interesting to see an old-fashioned horror star facing a new kind of violence that feels far more real than the monsters he once fought on screen.
🔸The most impressive thing about Targets is its understanding of changing times. Peter Bogdanovich uses the contrast between classic horror cinema and modern violence to make a larger point about how fear itself was changing in America. The film was made during a period of major social anxiety, and that atmosphere is present throughout. The older generation is accustomed to fictional monsters, Gothic castles, and cinematic scares, while the newer threat comes from an ordinary-looking person carrying real weapons. That contrast gives the film an unsettling quality. Boris Karloff is excellent as the aging actor, bringing warmth, sadness, and dignity to a character who knows his kind of cinema is disappearing. Tim O'Kelly is equally disturbing because his performance is deliberately restrained rather than exaggerated.
🔸The film becomes strongest when these two worlds finally collide. Bogdanovich builds tension without constantly relying on music or obvious horror tricks. Instead, he lets silence, distance, and ordinary locations create the fear. The climax is especially effective because it turns familiar spaces into places of danger. There are some slower sections in the middle, and the contrast between the two storylines does not always work perfectly, but the ideas behind the film are much stronger than its modest scale might suggest. Targets is part thriller, part Hollywood reflection, and part disturbing portrait of a changing America. It may not be a flawless film, but its central idea is sharp, its performances are strong, and its final stretch leaves a lasting impression.
Verdict : Good
DC Rating : 3.75/5
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