Official Synopsis:
“Sylvester Stallone and Rutger Hauer star in this riveting story of suspense and intrigue that starts in London, continues in Paris and reaches its chilling conclusion on the streets of New York.
When Europe’s most feared terrorist (Hauer – The Hitcher) explosively announces his presence in Manhattan, two elite undercover cops (Stallone and Billy Dee Williams) are assigned to stop him before he strikes again. But the ruthless terrorist has other plans for the city – and the detectives.
This edge-of-your-seat thriller, directed by Bruce Malmuth (Hard to Kill), also stars Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman), Persis Khambatta (Star Trek: The Motion Picture), Nigel Davenport (The Island of Dr. Moreau) and Joe Spinell (Maniac).”
If ever there was a film plagued by problems and behind the scenes drama, Nighthawks is one of them. What is most fascinating about this, though, is how they somehow manage to pull off a decently entertaining film despite the replacement of the director, writer, and a re-write of the entire script by Stallone to make the film center around his character.
Nighthawks has some great performances, namely from Rutger Hauer. His character of Wulfgar is cold, calculating, and an overall interesting villain, perhaps one of the most interesting characters in the film. Thanks to cuts of pretty much all B-Story lines related to Stallone’s character, we don’t get a clear sense of his background or what makes him tick, only brief exposition such as he was in the army, he’s divorced but trying to get back with his wife, for some reason he doesn’t like guns anymore, and he dresses like a woman on multiple occasions. Despite this, he and Billy Dee Williams have great chemistry on screen, giving us several entertaining buddy-cop scenes.
The cinematography really stood out as well. It’s dark, gritty, a telling representation of the theme of the film. Taking place in New York, mostly at night, the city itself is a character in the film, as all the vile and despicable things about the city thrive and our characters navigate through it.
Nighthawks has its moments as a great crime-thriller, but the story definitely suffers from the drastic transformations the script went through. Shifting the focus from Rutger Hauer to Stallone may have seemed like the smart decision and probably was, but the time wasn’t taken to build the characters into something we could relate to or even understand. Although the majority of Stallone’s filmography doesn’t require great mental capacity, Nighthawks comes close to the potential of being a important commentary on terrorism but falls slightly short. If all you’re looking for is Stallone being Stallone with his dead-eyed stare into the bad guy’s soul, and you can get past the VERY dated style, then Nighthawks is right up your alley.
Video
Nighthawks is presented in 1080p High Definition Widescreen 1.85:1. The transfer here isn’t the greatest, as there are numerous scratches noticed throughout the entire film. With the majority of the film taking place at night, these scratches and grain are much more noticeable.
Audio
The audio is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. For a Mono track, it sounds fine. The levels seem fine, though the synthesizer main score can be a bit overpowering at times.
Special Features
At first, I was a bit disappointed that none of the main people involved in the film contributed to the special features of the disc, but as soon as I began watching I soon knew why. All the interviews discuss the problems on set one way or another. Although they are all a fascinating watch, the synthesizer score plays on repeat during every interview, which is a bit mind numbing.
NEW Lights, Camera, Action! – An Audio Interview With Producer Herb Nanas
NEW Nighthawks: The First Draft – An Interview With Writer Paul Sylbert
NEW We Gotta Shoot This! – An Interview With Director Of Photography James A. Contner
NEW A Sign Of The Times – An Interview With Actress Lindsay Wagner
NEW Not The Other Girls – An Interview With Actress Catherine Mary Stewart
NEW It Was Hell – An Interview With Technical Adviser Randy Jurgensen
Theatrical Trailer
Radio Spots
Still Gallery
Although the film had its problems, both structurally and behind the scenes, Nighthawks still manages to entertain in a action/crime film that you might expect from Stallone. Not quite the caliber it could have been, Nighthawks is still worth a look.
Oh, and if you don’t get the chance to pick this up, everyone should have the opportunity to watch Stallone chase bad guys in a skirt.
