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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
remains to be to provide you, the entertainment community with
the latest dvds and movie reviews. It will continue to be your
link to the most popular dvd movies. |
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“Nighthawks”
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Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Action |
| Video: |
1.85:1 Anamorphic
widescreen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
Surround 2.0 |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English,
Spanish |
| Length |
100 minutes
|
| Rating |
R |
| Release Date |
6/8/04 |
| Studio |
Universal
Home Video |
| Commentary:
|
None |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
None |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
Trailer |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
None |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Sylvester
Stallone, Billy Dee Williams, Lindsay Wagner, Persis Khambatta,
Nigel Davenport, Rutger Hauer |
| Written
By: |
David Shaber
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| Produced
By: |
Martin Poll
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| Directed
By: |
Bruce Malmuth |
| Music:
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Keith Emerson
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| The
Review: |
Follow me down the rabbit hole back
to the day when people danced till dawn underneath glowing
disco balls, men wore jackets with ridiculously wide labels
and flared bell bottom pants and women borrowed their make
up tips from coloring books. It’s the early 80’s and life
was good, AIDs had just begun to rear its ugly head and the
most people had to worry about was the Evil Empire. Detective
Deke DaSilva (Stallone) and his undercover partner Matt Fox
(Williams) get drawn into the hunt for an international terrorist
known as Wulfgar (Hauer in his American debut) on the run
from European authorities. Both detectives end up working
with Interpol agent Peter Hartman (the marvelous and underrated
Nigel Davenport) because of their military backgrounds and
form part of a counterterrorist group formed in New York where
Wulfgar is hiding out. Wulfgar continues his destructive ways
announcing his presence with a bombing the city. Wulfgar takes
a personal interest in DaSilva and his partner; he begins
stalking DaSilva’s estranged girlfriend Irene (Lindsay Wagner).
***
While the story is a bit routine,
the sharp direction by Bruce Malmuth and performances by the
cast breathe life into the film. Stallone gives one of his
more accomplished performances as DaSilva. The late Persis
Khambatta (“Star Trek: The Motion Picture”) looks stunning
and does a nice turn as Wulfgar’s bad girl. Lindsay Wagner,
sadly, has her talents wasted in another routine role. ---
|
| Image
and Sound: |
“Nighthawks”
looks solid overall. The digital remaster looks far superior
to the version Goodtimes Video put out (which was in full screen)
5 years ago. The picture does appear a bit soft at times. It’s
clear that the soundtrack has been tampered with as the music
in the disco scene of the film has a different sound from other
scenes in the film. The Goodtimes Video version of the film
has the original songs that were pulled and replaced with generic
sounding dance music. |
| The
Extras: |
We get
the theatrical trailer but nothing else. ---
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| Commentary:
|
None. Even
if someone had something to say, “Nighthawks” fared so poorly
at the box office that it’s unlikely anyone will go back to
pay for a commentary track to be added. --- |
| Final
Words: |
An energetic
if somewhat dated thriller, “Nighthawks” suffers from many of
the shortcomings that mar much of Stallone’s work—the writing
is subpar and the plot is pretty unimaginative despite the potential
for a great set up. If the writer of “Nighthawks” had shown
the creative flair evident in “Die Hard” and other films with
somewhat similar ideas, it might have it could have been a contender.
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