Customer Reviews

Hawk the Slayer [VHS]

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Somebody needs to inform the official Amazon reviewer that this movie came out about 8 years BEFORE Willow and 3 years BEFORE Krull. Willow and Krull would have to be big budget reflections of Hawk the Slayer, not the other away around. Hawk came out even before the Conan movies.

It's a shame that B-budget films don't get the credit they deserve. Hammy acted Hawk the Slayer set a lot of standards for the 80's sword and sorcery genre. The idea of an assorted group of D & D like characters getting together under the guidance of a mysterious magical woman became an 80's cliche. But coming out in 1980 it's literally impossible that Hawk copied the others.

To any teenage kid, that machine gun crossbow was a fascinating toy. The movie was a vehicle for showing fantasy elements that later became trite, and often seen, but were interesting at the time.

A dreadful script, terrible dialogue, awful directing, bad acting, lots of Ham, silly special effects, overused locations, no plot whatsoever - I can't think of anything bad to say about this film. With the exception of John Terry (here playing the hero as a large plank of wood) no-one is taking this nonsense remotely seriously - as well they shouldn't. Being pros however, they serve the (cough) script well with some superb ham acting. There are umpteen British character actors you've seen before, all of whom give it the works- delivering dreadful lines and non sequiturs with the just the right amount of strait-laced portentiousness. Jack Palance's Voltan is equally entertaining, wheezing and overegging his way through every scene, assaulting nuns, villagers and loaves of bread. In fact, the whole film is merely a race against time to prevent him carrying out his initial threat of slicing every leavened or unleavened loaf in 'the land'.

An excellent way to hang the brain out to dry for a while, while you drink beer and laugh until you choke.

Sure, it's difficult to watch now, but this movie was pivotal in my formative years, having fuelled my love for fantasy as a pre-adolescent in the early 80s. I will forever champion it in a slagging match, and can't fully understand why some have turned on it as they've matured.
In its time it was GOD, and one can plainly see the inspiration it had on the modern Lord of the Rings films, at least on Legolas' character. Crow, the elf in this film, and his rapid-fire bow work was quite an original concept regardless of how badly it was portrayed. Nowhere in LOTR does Tolkien refer to any of the fast paced archery skills as represented in the LOTR films, so somebody clearly took the quick-shooting elf concept from Hawk. As cheesy as it is here, it is still cool to watch, even though his robotic Vulcan-like performance is dreadful.
For trivia buffs, Annette Crosbie, who plays the Abbess in Hawk, also gave the voice to Galadriel in the 1978 Bakshi animated Lord of the Rings.
Don't misunderstand: I am certainly not comparing Hawk to Peter Jackson's LOTR films. NOTHING compares to those. All I'm saying is that I'm sure this film has given some inspiration to other fantasy filmmakers, with its unquestionably original take on certain concepts.
Many of the actors here are plainly better than the script allows them to be, but Jack Palance is ridiculous as Hawk's older brother (he looks as old as their father), and his casting was completely ludicrous. Also, the film could do without the dwarf, and his demise is proof of that. It was chiefly directed at the Dungeons & Dragons audience, and probably succeeded in winning them over
Ultimately, as with Jackson's LOTR saga, the elf steals the show with his poorly editted dexterous bow work, which is always interesting to watch.
I for one will never call this a "bad" movie, even though it's sorely lacking in many categories. It's actually closer to "Dungeons and Dragons" than the Dungeons and Dragons movie was! For its time it ruled, and I will always have a soft spot for it. Hawk the Slayer has a certain charm, in its attempt to take itself seriously, which cannot be denied. My rating is primarily based on sentiment rather than the film's place in history.

If only the clever folks at MST3K could have secured the rights to this flick. Oh, the possiblities! Ah, so be it! Grab an earthen mug of your favorite brew, munch a few 'Turkels' and enjoy this 80's cheese classic!

I remember seeing this on Showtime so very long ago. I was thirteen and Dungeons and Dragons was at its zenith. Fast forward 24 years later and yeah,I may have aged and my enthusiastic appreciation of this film may have gone the way of my AD&D Player's Handbook, but I found myself enjoying it despite over two decades since I last saw it. Others before me have given ample references to the plot(Or something that resembles a plot) the actors(Jack Palance, 'nuff said, baby and some solid British character actors that save this film from being COMPLETELY insipid!)

So if you are like me, a kid who played D&D in the 80's, watched every sword and soccery flick that came out, crafted D&D 'modules' in black composition notebooks and never quite grew up, get it. C'mon, you know you want to. You're an adult now. And you have a credit card.............

I gave this five stars not because it's some kind of Oscar-worthy achievement, but if you are a fan of the quirky, B-grade fantasy genre that had its heyday in the late seventies to late eighties, then this film is a must. "Hawk" offers hilarious jump-cut editing, dialogue that is spectacular in its badness, and probably the most memorable elf character ever put to film.

For all that, the film is also remarkable for its innocence, in a time when cheesecake T&A fantasy like "The Sword and the Sorceress" and the infamous "Deathstalker" series were the norm, "Hawk the Slayer" keeps it clean, and is all the funnier for it.

If you have the right sort of friends, then snap this gem up, invite them over for beer and pizza, and have a go. It's more than worth it.

I was eleven going on twelve in the 7th grade when I caught this movie on Showtime. My sister, who was eight, fell immediately in love with Hawk played by John Terry. No man had ever looked so good in leather. Because of our crush, we fell hook, line, and sinker for the cliched drama and action and comedy relief. But now as a mature 34 year old, I still find Hawk very handsome but I also enjoy the action, music, and goofiness this movie offers. It's just good clean enterntainment about the age old good vs evil plot. If you like sorcery, medevil movies, cheesy special effects, and chorographed fight scenes with swords--this movie is for you!

The acting was a little over the "top",But if you are a Fantasy action fan, you would appreciate the scenes, the characters, and just the way it was done.It brings on a devote sensation that you will always remember.Not a bad cast.The music sounds like it was a last ditch effort to bring back the 70's.That's not bad thing though. The music was good.

This is one of the cheesiest, corniest, cliche'-ridden B-movies out there. I loved it. :) A piece of my childhood come back to life. And for a B-movie, it avoided some of the typical earmarks of a Cheesefest: No nudity, no chicks in chainmail, and no rubbersuit monsters. I know what you're thinking, "How can a B-movie be worth it's cheese without those?!?". Well, it worked in Hawk the Slayer.

So one fateful Christmas Eve, it was not a family movie about Rudolph that my family watched. No! We found Hawk the Slayer playing and couldn't keep our eyes off it! Now 20 years later, I'm snapping the DVD up because this is still a great movie. I have never seen a more over the top villain performance than the one of Voltan (Jack Palance). And all the ensemble British actors added their own memorable moments to this movie. I mean, have you ever called someone, "bag of dirt??" And the dwarf's story of Turkels? What about the whispering wizard woman and the gathering of the heroes portion? And when Voltan grieves for his son ("Drogoooooooooooooooooo!"). The one handed man and his machine gun crossbow. Oh and the battles with all the quick lightning firing by the robotic talking elf and one handed man (these are hilarious! You literally see 20 - 30 guys die over the sound of arrows whizzing in about 5 seconds). Oh yes, and when Voltan threatens Hawk outside the church with his angry hate speech. There are so many hilarious moments, they should all add together to make a truly awful film. I mean the soundtrack is a strange disco + moody ditty thing, yet I can hum it 20 years later.

Somehow this movie transcends an obvious fate of oblivion. It has a character all its own and it really really fun to watch. Try and watch it with friends. You will love this movie, just don't laugh too loud so you can't hear what's happening next....

Ok first of all this film is old and the acting is quite wooden at times but it has a great bunch of charaters that wouldn't be out of place in the Lord of the Rings. It also has the best Elf character in any movie of its kind. Retro, cool and very similar to the old Clint Eastwood Cowboy movies of yesterday. The sound track is also retro. If wizards and warriors is your thing then this movie is well worth a look. If this movie had been made for today using blue screen special effects it would well deserve a 5 star rating.