Les Faucons de la nuit

Nighthawks was a gritty, violent, down and dirty thriller which brought out the best in Sylvester Stallone and Rutger Hauer as the two charismatic leads. Underrated on release, it's still well worth the time.

Detective Sergeant Deke DaSilva (Sylvester Stallone) and Detective Sergeant Matthew Fox (Billy Dee Williams) are part of NYPD's undercover Street Crime Unit. Their boss Lieutenant Munafo (Joe Spinell) later notifies them that DaSilva and Fox have been handpicked to join the newly-formed ATAC (Anti Terrorist Action Command) squad spearheaded by INTERPOL British Counter-terrorist specialist Peter Hartman (Nigel Davenport). Their primary task is to take down international terrorist Heymar Reinhardt, also known as Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer) who after bombing a department store in London, has managed to slip through the fingers of authorities and has made his way to New York City. Teaming up with a mysterious woman named Shakka (Persis Khambatta), Wulfgar continues his campaign of terror and vows to bring New York City to its knees and it's up to DaSilva and Fox to take him down.

Sylvester Stallone's career continued to climb following the success of the Academy Award winning Rocky (1976) and it's sequel Rocky II (1979). In Nightwawks, Stallone is excellent as Deke DaSilva who doesn't rely on brawn to get him by but also his brains. Stallone's character shows more of a sensitive side where he is less ruthless and trigger happy compared to many of his previous characters where he has played a policeman in movies such as Cobra (1986) and Tango & Cash (1989). Following a bloody confrontation, DaSilva rethinks his tactics and vows to match Wulfgar on even ground. Billy Dee Williams who is well known for his role as Lando Calrissian in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), is perfectly paired up with Stallone as DaSilva's partner Fox who have been tasked to take down Wulfgar. Dutch actor Rutger Hauer made audiences sit up and take notice by putting in a chilling performance as international terrorist Wulfgar in his U.S. debut where he establishes himself as an actor well known for playing villains in such classics as Blade Runner (1982) and The Hitcher (1986). Director Bruce Malmuth makes his directorial debut with Nighthawks and here he has done a fine job bringing this gritty film to life on screen.

It's hard to believe that today the fear of terrorism is widespread given that the events of September 11 2001 changed the world forever. Nighthawks was certainly ahead of its time.

Though not a box office smash in 1981, it still netted positive reviews and acclaim, with Stallone earning his share of the praise but the standout was Rutger Hauer. Despite how dated it is, Nighthawks is still good viewing.

7/10.

This film stays faithful to itself, and it's premise. It aims to be good entertainment and not much else, and succeeds commendably. Besides a bit too much stress on how great Stallone's character is at the beginning of the film the film flows rather nicely. There is a terrorist, who is a very bad man, which will do anything just to prove himself to everyone else. And there is a cop who likes to do his job clean. But with terrorism it doesn't always work that way, and that is the films meaningful angle. Although it seems like the director realized that entertainment was number one, and nothing should get in its way, therefore the film never stops to ponder too much over the police/baddie similarities, and usually after brief atmospheric tense character scenes it goes back to the action.

The action takes most of the film up, although it's not overdone too much, sometimes you do wonder if they could have run around for a bit less time. The script is the only thing that lets this down, with some of the events being a bit dubious. You do get the feeling from time to time that the scriptwriter wasn't quite sure how to chain some events so they seem a bit forced. But other ideas are kind of cute to make up for it.

Although it is full of cliches, this is not really a downside to the film, which seems to be shouting out that cliches aren't that bad. And being from the early eighties you could always argue that it was actually laying the ground for cliches to become such.

Acting is good, even from Sly, this really is the role he was born to play. He is the Rocky of the NY street undercover police. Hauer rocks in no small way, and Nigel Davenport shouts like no one (you'll see what I mean).

Watch and enjoy. That's all folks.

...Something that I've heard again and again throughout the eighties and nineties. It's only Stallone 's and Hauer's best performances in any movie that I've seen them in. I read a positive comment (which encouraged me to write this) about this film. I was 9 years old when this movie came out: tried to sneak into it when it played in the theaters (failed), saw it a year later on cable, and I LOVED IT! I resembled a little Rutger Hauer and lived in Los Angeles at the time, so I found myself almost relating to this film. But I was so impressed that it wasn't like all of the other dreck that came out that year, too.Now international terrorism is simply a satire in today's films until 9/11. However, I think that "Die Hard" changed the industry forever in a bad way. To them more is better- to me, more is more. This movie does not glamorize violence (like the before mentioned) and shows how serious it is when it hits home. This movie did not play very long in theaters (in 1981), and hardly anyone can recollect it. It was made on a modest budget, and so many films have surpassed it since, it is now been archived.

I wish Stallone returned to this kind of role: he's so enamoured with John Rambo, Rocky Balboa, every other action-hero-cardboard role that he lost credibility. Hauer went down a separate but equal path in demonstrating his difficulties with other directors, he's a strait-to-video icon.

To this day, I still remember the lines "...I do not enjoy killing-- but it's my job!" and "...now this is for the press...Now you may drop the child, but don't drop this..."

Why can't people watch this instead of Steven Segal movies? I guess Serpico's out, Marky-Mark's in...

Long before terrorism was on the minds of most Americans, NIGHTHAWKS tackled the thorny topic. Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams are decoy cops -- that is, they venture into rough neighborhoods to bait muggers and other forms of scum -- assigned to track down the cold and calculating Rutger Hauer. It seems the devious mastermind has landed in the media capital of the world, New York City, to try and regain his place among the terrorist elite.

Although it's a fairly decent action/suspense effort, NIGHTHAWKS is difficult to recommend unconditionally. The performances are certainly solid; in fact, it's hard to remember Stallone, here sporting a thin beard, being so effective outside of boxing trunks. The action is crisp and exhilarating, with one pursuit through subterranean New York deserving of a place in the Chase Hall of Fame. The story is original and much of the plot intriguing. And Hauer, in his American film debut, is a suitably hateful villain, with his motives all to familiar to contemporary audiences.

Yet NIGHTHAWKS is not quite as good as the sum of its parts. Even though the film starts out with a bang -- literally -- there's somehow too much build-up and not enough execution. The movie has not aged particularly well, and despite its 1981 release date has the feel of a '70s period piece. And as good as Hauer is, his character is a little too incredible to believe as he pulls off massive acts of terror with little or no sponsorship; what should take a team of experts is accomplished by one man wanted by countless law enforcement agencies.

In the end, NIGHTHAWKS is a movie you're bound to like -- either a little bit or a lot. Considering the high ratio of garbage that has and will continue to spew out of Hollywood, I guess that's not such a bad thing.

Remember a day when Rutger Hauer starred in good movies that actually saw wide theatrical release? No. Hmmmm. Hauer is one of my favorite actors and stars in two of my top ten favorite movies (Blade Runner and The Osterman Weekend), so it's hard not to already be slightly biased about the movie. I remember first hearing about Nighthawks on the Headliners and Legends biography of Stallone and how it was not as well received as his Rocky and First Blood movies. For shame, because Nighthawks does manage to be a top notch thriller most of the time. I could go into the plot, but I believe in telling people what I liked and disliked instead of parroting the plot details like almost every other review. (See, a movie to me is more fun when I only know a little about the story, instead of the first hour or so, because someone felt that they had to readers digest the entire film.)

Anyway, now that I've ranted, I have to admit that I enjoyed it for the most part, with the exception of the initial pacing. It continues to drag in places towards the middle, and takes a little over an hour to set up the crucial players backgrounds. The only real problem is that every time the film stops to focus on DeSilva (Stallone) and Fox (Williams), it spends twice as much time focusing on Wulfgar. Wulfgar is certainly a well crafted maniac, but when the movie is over we know almost nothing about Fox and only a little about Dee DeSilva. Still, the movie does succeed in making you care about our two main characters, by thrusting them into danger and having them do what is morally right (i.e. Towards the beginning of the film the two are in a drug raid, and refuse to take bribes from the perps who had apparently already paid off the cops from the first raid on their operation.

They're good cops, and it's their good guy image that endears them). I guess it would have been nice also to see a little more of Stallones relation to what's her name. (sorry, I haven't seen this in a about a month now.) I was interested in the prospect of a hero who was torn between the relation with his ex (who he was trying to re-ignite the flame with), and his duty. But, alas, she was just a narrative device who the writers have decided is only important in the last 15 minutes or so.

With all these cons, why did I still like it? Sudden scenes of high impact, good cast and acting all around, a villain who wasn't just a cardboard cutout, and Stallone's bitchin' beard, and a wholly convincing scenario.

The bottom line: This film is more akin to The French Connection than it is to Rocky. Methodical and often stylish, NightHawks deserves to at least be rented and watched with an open mind.

8 Stars out of 10