I know the film was made in hard circumstances, on a small budget, and it is only fair to say that the visual elements -- as opposed to the performances -- are skillfully commanded. But it seems to me a fantastically foolish picture.

| Jan 23, 2024

Bogdanovich’s sophisticated, meta cinematic feature debut brings into confrontation Karloff’s era of castle gothic... and a more contemporary, ripped-from-the-headlines realism that is finding its way into the genre, and into films like this one.

| Sep 15, 2023

Far from a period piece, Targets’s contrasting tales capture a still-relevant portrait of America’s uniquely schizophrenic relationship with gun violence.

| May 18, 2023

The endlessly repetitive fusillades suggest that Writer-Director Peter Bogdanovich, in his first film, was really intent on creating the most prolific murderer in Hollywood's long history of violence. Unfortunately, it is a record made to be broken.

| Oct 19, 2008

Aware of the virtue of implied violence, Bogdanovich conveys moments of shock, terror, suspense and fear.

| Sep 25, 2007

A fascinatingly complex commentary on American mythology, exploring the relationship between the inner world of the imagination and the outer world of violence and paranoia, both of which were relevant to contemporary American traumas.

| Jun 24, 2006

Targets scores an unnerving bullseye.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 9, 2005

Targets isn't a very good film, but it is an interesting one.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 23, 2004

An interesting response to the demands of low-budget genre filmmaking.

| Jan 1, 2000