Masterful Movie

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

New York City detectives Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams track down terrorist Rutger Hauer, who has come to the States from Paris after bombing a London department store. Grim, chilling urban thriller with a tight pace from director Bruce Malmuth (an eleventh-hour substitute after Disney-vet Gary Nelson was let go). The script by David Shaber actually began its life as the third "French Connection" film, but was rewritten after Gene Hackman took a pass. Stallone gives a solid performance, arguably his finest screen work away from the boxing ring. The violent scenario spares us none of the horrors of crime in the big city, yet the final 'surprise' scare is right off the Hollywood assembly line (maybe it seemed more fresh in 1981 than it does today). Lindsay Wagner is lovely yet stuck in the proverbial (and thankless) ex-wife role. Otherwise, it's a tense genre effort, one that was surprisingly underrated by critics and overlooked by moviegoers at the time of its release. **1/2 from ****

"Night Hawks" is an uncompromising, slam-bang action thriller about a couple of street-wise New York cops called Deke DaSilva (Sylvester Stallone) and Matthew Fox (Billy Dee Williams) who are assigned to a special anti-terrorism unit. The main man they are after is a ruthless international terrorist called Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer) who is now believed to be in New York City, after undergoing plastic surgery. That's the first problem that DaSilva and Fox are up against - they don't even know what Wulfgar really looks like now! There are some terrific action scenes in this movie such as the thrilling chase sequence on the New York subway and a nail-biting sequence when Wulfgar and his female partner-in-crime, Shakka, hi- jack a cable car full of VIPs. The excellent cast also includes Joe Spinell as DaSilva's harassed boss, Nigel Davenport as an anti- terrorism expert, and the original bionic woman, Lyndsay Wagner, as Mrs. DaSilva.The acting is also worth mentioning here as well. Stallone himself, leads the cast very well throughout, doing an all around excellent portrayal of main protagonist and NYC cop Deke DaSilva, giving in my opinion one of his absolute best and most underrated performances ever. He really makes DaSilva a very tough, and gritty NYC cop who also has principles and morals, and stays true to who he is, and he goes after crime so intensely and fiercely especially during his pursuit of Wulfgar, and the animosity between those two characters is what really drives the film forward, and that electrifying, psychological edge that they both work off of each other just makes it so compelling. You also got Billy Dee Williams who plays DaSilva's partner Sergeant Matthew Fox who also does an excellent job holding his own throughout the film, and he can be a solid, and very serious cop when business picks up, but he also can be light hearted at certain moments as well. We also have Lindsay Wagner who plays Deke's ex-wife Irene, and of course Persis Khambatta playing Wulfgar's associate Shakka Holland, and also Nigel Davenport is also solid as the British Interpol agent Peter Hartman as well.Rutger Hauer meanwhile, really steals the show here with his cool, yet very chilling performance as Wulfgar. He brings such a nice, cold, and calculating sophistication to this international terrorist who is a firm believer in what he's doing, and what makes Wulfgar more immensely dangerous is that he's not just a random hired gun who does it for money, but he believes in the causes that he's fighting for. There's no question whatsoever that he really has that intensely dangerous, and psychological mind-game that he has going on throughout the film when he get entangled with DaSilva, it suddenly turns into a cat-and- mouse game of wits between the two, and the tension and suspense just builds throughout.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Conservative street cop DaSilva reluctantly agrees to terminate an international terrorist who has demanded media attention. But DaSilva's "at-home" tactics are very much put to the challenge. Nighthawks is one of Stallone's very first action films although it's a crime thriller mostly and it works thanks to his really good performance, Rutger Hauer as Wulfgar in one of his best performances besides Blade Runner of course and Billy Dee Williams from Star Wars and Batman the 1989 classic. What i loved about this film except the acting is some of the very well done shots for example the eye contact between Dasilva and Wulfgar was easily one of the best scenes in the film or when Wulfgar injured his friend and Dasilva started screaming inside the station very powerful sequence. As for the ending although it's a bit over the top it reminds me an old 70's horror film or action film when you saw the guy who shoots the other person and the camera starts shaking and i found that very creative and very well shot it's a movie that is worth your time a lot.

Going to watch this again tonight for the second day in a row, this time with the wife who hasn't seen it. Who could not like an early 80's pre-MTV thriller with a fresh off of EMPIRE STRIKES BACK Billy Dee Williams and a young cool looking Stallone? Plus throw in Rutger Haeur as a deranged (yet handsome) Euro-Villain terrorist and you've got yourself a winner! There's a great scene where they aforementioned duo are looking for Hauer in a NYC nightclub while the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar" is blasting, ultra cool! This film is never a bore and it's before Stallone fully sold out so do yourself a favor and watch it ASAP if you haven't seen it yet!