Review of Nighthawks (1981) by Geoffrey D — 01 Sep 2009

Nighthawks is the story of an international terrorist known as Wulfgar (Rutger Hauer in his American film debut) who botches us a job in Europe, gets plastic surgery done to his face, then resides in New York City where he continues his reign of terror.

Meanwhile, renegade streets cops Sylvester Stallone and Billy Dee Williams are pulled from the streets and into a special program where they train and learn how to take down Wulfgar until their new found skills are required when Wulfgar finally starts causing trouble.

Nighthawks wound up being a terrific, tense 80's suspense vehicle with an AMAZING American debut from Hauer, who really caught everyone's attention with his dark, villainous performance. It's really no surprise he went on to continue acting in American films AND improving upon them (Blade Runner, The Hitcher, etc).

Stallone puts in another great performance, but it's really downplayed and almost muddled because of having to share the screen with other greats like Hauer, Williams, and Nigel Davenport. The Maniac himself, Joe Spinell, even shows up for a few minutes and turns in a fine performance as the police chief.

Overall, this was a fun suspense thriller. I enjoyed watching it, especially for Hauer.