Absolutely Fantastic

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

A Brilliant Conflict

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Had to see this because of love Jason Bateman, Tom Skerrit, and Chynna Philips, and I always like to see Jack Wagner. How could I miss with "Moving Target"? Answer: I didn't. It's actually a good action film. Bateman plays Toby Kellogg, a teen musician with a band whose parents send him to Interlochen Music Camp against his will. Unbeknownst to him, the Justice Dept. is investigating the office where his father (Skerrit) works, and his dad is somehow involved.Toby has chosen Megan Lawrence (Chynna Phillips) to replace him in the group and, while at Interlochen, he sees that they've made the newspaper. Excited, he leaves Interlochen early. When he gets home, the place is empty; his family has disappeared.Toby tries to get info, but there are people after him. One is a mob hit man (Wagner) who wants to kill him, and the other faction is people from the Justice Department who want to help him. He doesn't know that, though, so he's running from everyone.I really enjoyed this film. It's not Citizen Kane but it is entertaining, with a good performances, particularly by the young Bateman.

I liked the 80s vibe here, because I like 80s movies.Don't expect much, but I was impressed with Jason Bateman and he went on to do a lot of stuff.It's your typical teen comes home to find family gone movie, if there is such a genre. Some OK action.Plot is about what you expect from an 80s action movie, turn your brain off or go MST3K on it. But it serves the purpose.Dialog is the weakness here I think, there's no imagination here, no flair.Music is pretty standard 80s synth pop, but hey they actually show the girl playing a Yamaha DX7 synth, one of the most important 80s synthesizers. I would bet that the music in the movie used this same synth as the E Piano sound in one of the songs sounds like the DX& e piano.

Moving Target is basically the epitome of the term of 'enjoyable thriller'. It offers no substance and you won't remember much of it for long after it finishes; but it's fun to watch, and that's the important thing. The film is a made for TV movie, and so doesn't feature any spectacular stunts or heavy violence; and instead relies on the story and suspense to pull it through...which unfortunately doesn't always pay off as director Chris Thomson doesn't succeed in ensuring that the film is always interesting. Anyway, the plot focuses on Toby Kellogg; a teenage kid that gets sent to music school during the summer. He doesn't enjoy it much while he's there, and when he finds out that his band has enjoyed some success in his absence; he leaves the school and sets off home. However, he's surprised when he gets there and finds that his parents have shipped out...along with all the furniture. The next thing Toby knows, he's been hunted down; by both the cops and a mean assassin that drives a Ferrari. Toby struggles against his pursuers while trying to find out what happened to his family.The film very much feels like a product of it's time; and a low quality eighties vibe runs throughout it. This isn't helped by the lead actor. Jason Bateman cuts a rather irritating figure in the central role. He tries to play it as the typical disrespectful kid; but looks too old and comes off looking a bit silly. The film is not overly suspenseful either, and there were many times that I found myself not really caring what was going to happen next; and this is not good in a film that relies on suspense to keep itself afloat. Perhaps most disappointing of all is the way that the chase aspect of the plot is handled; the lead character never really seems to be in a lot of trouble and Jack Wagner's Ferrari-driving villain is more hilarious than imposing. It's all pretty predictable too; and only a rather dark scene that sees a kid killed in cold blood offered any sort of surprise. Still, despite all the negative elements; Moving Target simply offers the viewer a chance to switch their brain off for ninety minutes and enjoy...and it does at least work as light entertainment.

This movie has it all - fast cars, foot chases, girls in bikinis- total guy movie. I give it two thumbs up. I had as much fun watching this movie as working on it! In the "pool party" scene, those are my legs you see walking up the little brick steps. Have been wondering for years if the movie was in circulation, and how I could see it again or buy it.