Film: Ladyhawke

Directed by: Richard Donner

Produced by: Richard Donner

Written by: Edward Khmara

Year: 1985

Starring: Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, John Wood, Leo McKern

Reviewed by: The Zombieslayer

Before I review this piece, I must admit to you that this is one of my favorite movies of all time. No, it is by no means a cinematic masterpiece. I just love the genre, and it is one of the few that's decently done.

The 1980s had a slew of sword and sorcery movies, and this was one of the better ones. Since there was no T&A and no cheese, it usually doesn't get lumped in with the rest of them.

Richard Donner directed Ladyhawke, and did a fine job. It stars Matthew Broderick as Philippe "The Mouse" Gaston, a thief who will be hanged for petty crimes; Rutger Haeur, the black knight Navarre and former head of the castle guard, and Michele Pfeiffer as the beautiful Isabeau, a woman so charming that everyone and their dog falls in love with.

Well, as things go, the evil Bishop has fallen in love with her as well and when he finds out that she's already in love with Navarre, he strikes a bargain with the Devil himself and by day, Isabeau is a hawk and by night, Navarre is a wolf, so they're unable to be with each other as humans save the few seconds when they change.

Sounds cheesy? It's actually not. It actually works. Edward Khmara wrote a wonderful script and Donner did a fine job putting it to film. Pfeiffer has shorter hair, but even with short hair, she's still gorgeous. And Broderick's Gaston character has his funny moments. John Wood plays the evil Bishop, and he makes it easy for you to hate his character. And Leo McKern has a small but important role as a drunk monk.

Haeur is okay. Not his best performance, but certainly not his worst.

The sets worked. Filmed primarily in Italy, the film had a genuine medieval look to it. While others complained about the score, it wasn't too bad because the score complemented the film. You barely noticed it was there.

The strength of the movie comes not in the action, but the storyline. If it were a book, it would be a better trash romance novel. As a film, it plays like one. Boy meets girl, bad guy turns boy to wolf and girl to hawk, boy tries to kill bad guy to get the girl back. A romantic tragedy, something that occasionally those trash romance novels get right, but usually you read them once and throw them away. This one you could read a second and a third time. The words won't get any better but the storyline captivates you enough to pick it up again.

Overall, of the 1980s medieval/S&S movies, this, the first Conan, and a handful of others will be the only ones still around twenty years from now. The rest will be footnotes. Hollywood would go on to completely abandon the genre until the 2000s with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, but you rarely see Hollywood put out fantasy B-movie any more. 7 if you're indifferent to the genre, 10 if it's your favorite genre. To be fair, I'll give it an 8

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