The Hawk

A tedious thriller which feels a lot longer than its 88 minutes. Mirren's performance as is solid as you'd expect, but that really isn't quite enough and it's hard to see why this was a film as opposed to a one off TV-drama. I suppose there is something to be said for the fact the film really only let's us experience Mirren's character's perspective and the fact that the audience is kept guessing for much of the movie, but really you can't help feel this could have been a lot better. Compare it to an episode of Cracker or Prime Suspect, and it's nowhere near as dark and brooding as it likes to think it is, and nowhere near as dark and brooding as we know British drama can achieve.

A slight British thriller, with a strong cast, and a different take on the murder-mystery genre. Mirren plays Annie Marsh, who starts to believe her husband is 'The Hawk' a serial killer preying on lone women drivers, who has eluded police capture and is still on the loose. Her mounting paranoia is only exacerbated by a police force who refuse to take her seriously because of her previous history of mental illness, and her own mind, which is cruelly playing tricks on her.

Rather than the conventional narrative of following the police investigation, or the killer himself, the story is told predominantly from Annie's point of view. Mirren's performance holds the film together, and despite it's limitations it still manages to keep you guessing right up to the last minute.

I am not a big fan of British Horror Movies, but this one was a welcoming surprise, i knew Helen Mirram was a fantastic actress, from seeing her in other roles, and she was brilliant in this role, the film is based around a married woman who suspects her husband is to blame for a series of murders, in her home town, the reasons for this are quite simple, as your made to believe that she is completely barmy, due to serving time in a mental home, this plays a big role in the movie, and so makes you believe it is all in her mind, but is it.

A really good movie, and any chance to see Helen Mirram sporting a northern accent is well worth a glance.

This was a rather disappointing movie. The concept of the movie is great thriller material but unfortunately the finished result was a huge letdown. The movie is dull and the story isn't a very believable one.

It really is the story and storytelling that make this thriller a weak one. There hardly is any character development. The story itself also at times doesn't make real sense. The story takes some odd and unlikely turns at times. At times it also takes ages before something interesting happens again. And really, if the police were really that dumb and narrow minded, serial killers must really have an easy job.

Yeah sure, it has still got Helen Mirren in it, which is probably also the only reason why I watched this movie in the first place, but come on, why did she ever agreed to appear in this movie in the first place... And besides, a great actress is never a guarantee that the movie is any good or even a watchable one. She is a great actress but she gets very little interesting to do. Besides like I mentioned before, the character development is quite poor, which is all the more reason why this movie falls flat as a thriller.

You're better of watching a good English detective-series episode. There is more development, tension and mystery present in that.

5/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Not a bad film, but I just watched this and realised the house where Annie Marsh (Helen Mirren) lives is actually the road in Bristol I lived in for 12 years of my life - I was living in this road when The Hawk was being filmed and remember seeing Helen Mirren (although I didn't realise who she was at the time).

Just a useless bit of trivia :)

What do other people think about this film? Did anybody else live in Lilymead Avenue at the time? Does anybody else have a similar experiences? Do you think Helen Mirren should have won the best Actress BAFTA over Judy Dench?