Ladyhawke (1985)
Ladyhawke (1985), directed by Richard Donner.
A fine-looking medieval fantasy filmed in Italy. A new, lushly romantic fairy tale plot. Not as comical as Willow (1988) or The Princess Bride (1987), which is both good and bad. Good because comic mugging doesn't always wear well, bad because what seemed serious then tends to be emotionally drippy now.
More good features:
The romantic leads. Rutger Hauer is a great knight, holding close his honor and quest for vengeance, but losing hope of love. Michelle Pfeiffer's exotic beauty fits the story well and she has the more enduring faith.
Fine supporting players, especially Leo McKern as the monk who is semi-crazed by guilt, seeking redemption. John Wood is pretty freaky as the bishop who made a bargain with the Evil One, and Ken Hutchison and Alfred Molina are good villains.
Great settings and photography, with an interesting mix of realism and fantasy costuming.
Not so good:
I don't think Matthew Broderick ruins the story, but I would have used someone else. On the one hand his wisecracking and sneakiness are what you would expect from a petty thief, but on the other he has an unavoidably contemporary persona.
Fans seem to be split on the music. Count me as one who would have the film rescored. It isn't all bad but the synthesizer action music has a cheap and frivolous tone that hurts the story. My regrets to Alan Parsons.
The ending. I don't mind the big romantic finish, that's inevitable and appropriate. But good grief: too much syrup is gagging.
It would be churlish to complain about astronomical errors in a movie about people turning into hawks and wolves. Filmmakers never get it right anyway.
The NTSC DVD is very old and the encoding ugly. It is a flipper disc with 4:3 pan & scan on one side and 4:3 letterboxed widescreen on the other, both single layer. The region 2 PAL DVD is anamorphic dual layer and a good upgrade, including better color. But it is still nothing to write home about and we need a hidef version. I'm sure there is a fan base large enough to support a Blu-ray edition. Blu-ray imports are available. [Later: A North American Blu-ray appeared].
