Ladyhawke is a 1985 fantasy movie directed by Richard Donner, best known for The Omen and Superman. The movie stars Rutger Hauer who is best known for Blade Runner and The Hitcher, Matthew Broderick, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
The story of Ladyhawke revolves around a thief called Philippe “The Mouse” Gaston, who is played by Matthew Broderick, and a knight named Captain Etienne Navarre, played by Rutger Hauer. After escaping from a dungeon, Philippe is saved from the henchmen of the evil Bishop of Aquila by Etienne. Etienne is a powerful and noble knight who carries around a hawk. The reason why Etienne saved Philippe is that he needs Philippe to show him how to sneak into the castle of the Bishop. Etienne wants to murder the Bishop because of what he did to him. Out of jealousy, the Bishop used a monk with magical powers to put a curse on Etienne and his lover, Isabeau d'Anjou, played by Michelle Pfeiffer. By day Etienne is a human and Isabeau is a Hawk, and by knight Isabeau is a human and Etienne is a wolf. Basically “they are always together, but eternally apart.” Can our heroes find a way to break the curse, and get revenge on the Bishop of Aquila? Well, you’ll have to see the movie to find out.
Let me just say that Rutger Hauer’s portrayal of Etienne might be my favorite hero in any fantasy movie. The man looks exactly like a badass knight who carries around a huge claymore sword, and hands out justice by impaling villains left and right. This is an extremely difficult role because the character of Etienne has to balance heroics, vengeance, and heart break. We have to believe that he can kick ass, and we have to believe that he is in a permanent state of sorrow without becoming emo or dislikable. I can safely say that Rutger Hauer nails this role to perfection. It’s right up there with Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Conan. Except that Etienne is more complex than Conan.
At the other end of the spectrum is Matthew Broderick’s portrayal of Philippe “The Mouse”. How I wish that I was exaggerating when I say that Philippe is basically a really annoying version of Ferris Bueller with a silly accent. Not only is the accent unnecessary since most of the other actors speak like Americans (it’s a fantasy movie so I’m OK with that), but it’s a weird mix between English and French. The fact that the accent completely disappears for long parts of the movie doesn’t help either. P.S. Philippe constantly talks to himself. You will want to kill him.
The rest of the cast fill their roles well. Michelle Pfeiffer is strong yet tragic in the role of Isabeau. Although she is not a warrior she can defend herself a bit. John Wood also did a good job in the role of the Bishop of Aquila, although he is barely in the movie. Several of the Bishop’s henchmen are cool in their own right. The cinematography of the movie is also excellent, but that’s to be expected from a Richard Donner movie. The production quality for the movie is what you would expect from a good mid 80’s fantasy movie.
Oh yeah, one more thing, why does this movie have a funky soundtrack?! Take a second, look at images in this review, look at everything that I’ve written, and try to imagine what the score for this movie sounds like. I guarantee that it doesn’t sound anything like the actual film score, and let me tell you that the film score sounds horrible. It’s basically an 80’s electro/progressive rock soundtrack. I fully expected to see a cameo from Rush in this movie. It’s that off. The soundtrack, even more so than Matthew Broderick, kills this movie.
Overall, this movie is very disappointing. It has so many great aspects to it, but a couple of pieces of it are so off that they completely kill this movie. My final rating is a 2 out of 5. If they release a director’s cut with a new score, I’ll change my score to a 3 out of 5.
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