The Hard Way (John Badham, 1991)

by Elena Lazic

It is always painful to realise what a brilliant actor James Woods is, considering the kind of person he has become. Interestingly (or not), he is really good at playing very unpleasant characters, and The Hard Way is no exception. His John Moss is a brutal NYPD cop whose work has turned him into an emotionally unavailable loner. Opposite him is Michael J. Fox, bringing his eternally beloved screen presence to the film and tweaking it by playing a caricature of himself: his Nick Lang is a huge Hollywood star, famous for playing an Indiana Jones-type hero and second only to Mel Gibson in the hearts of film fans everywhere. Bringing together these two very distinct personas, each situated at opposite extremes of the likeability spectrum, could already be fun enough, but the film goes one step further and complicates both characters in interesting ways. As awful as he is, Moss genuinely wants to find a way to let his new love interest Susan (Annabella Sciorra) into his life, while Lang’s popularity masks an arrogant, narcissistic opportunist ready to do anything for fame.