Once I found out this was a cheesy movie, the first few minutes of it. I had hoped this would be so cheesy, it would have been worth a laugh. But sadly it was just dull. The worst part is, it had good potential. But that is as far as it went.... If you look at Ladyhawk, same quality of film, sound, and music, yet pulled of a very decent movie.

Hawk the Slayer is a basic story, revenge, magic, swords, assorted villains and one hero sort of the magnificent seven (if you include the sorceress). The acting with a few notable exceptions is wooden, the fight scenes are strained and the resolution unclear. But it works. Maybe it's the nostalgia factor, I was 6 when this was released. Maybe it's Jack Palance chewing the scenery for all he's worth. Maybe it's the amalgamation of Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and the Magnificent Seven. It doesn't really matter. Hawk the Slayer has enough action, enough characters and enough raw concept to still make me smile and reach for the remote whenever it's on television. There have been rumors of sequels in planning for years which shows that the idea works and with some slick production and solid direction could easily fit into the sword and sorcery revival with the Hobbit, a new Conan and more. It does still stand up against the low budget fantasy DVD releases that you see at the supermarket each week and that is not bad for a TV movie over 30 years old. Ultimately it is a great piece of nostalgia, a movie where everyone is clearly committed to the cause and still a lot of fun.

Well intentioned sword and sorcery adventure has a few things going for it but there are far too many shortcomings to overcome.Our hero Hawk (John Terry) has inherited the "Mind Sword" from his father after he is murdered by his other son the evil Voltan (Jack Palance). Voltan has an army behind him while his brother gathers the stereotypical small band of hero's to help him defeat his brother. The small band includes a giant a dwarf and an elf and each gets a suitably stilted introduction.John Terry is ineffective and seems out of his depth at times, the fact he had some subsequent success seems to indicate either; poor casting, the obviously poor dialogue he was saddled with or a lack of direction. The largely British supporting cast is somewhat subdued and while they don't stand out they also don't embarrass themselves, they include; Annette Crosbie, Harry Andrews, Bernard Bresslaw (Carry On films), Roy Kinnear, W. Morgan Sheppard and Cheryl Campbell. Jack Palance as the villain of the piece is way over the top.The film sticks with many fantasy archetypes but strangely flips other on their heads. The result being that when these variations on the fantasy staples occur they are glaringly incongruous.The story is absurdly straight forward and simple as is the structure of the film, perhaps given a better budget it could have achieved more. The special effects are straight out of the era in which the film was made, and having a limited budget means they are somewhat embarrassing especially when they are poorly executed. We get big puffs of smoke to hide things, fairly cheap matte paintings for all the buildings, sped up film and spliced cuts to give the impression of speed.The films score is a very odd mix of orchestral and disco and while it may be appreciated my some it was far too strident and obtrusive to my ear.Despite the problems a true aficionado of fantasy might enjoy the film if they aren't too discerning.

**POTENTIAL PLOT SPOILER....OR IS POT BOILER?!?!?** Hah! Hawk the Slayer...I recall seeing this film when I was growing up in England, possibly in the late eighties, on the BBC? What can I add that most other reviewers haven't; it's difficult, Hawk the Slayer fails on so many levels, but the potential was there to explore the darker themes and warrior-esquire macho throb of the title with a more cooler originality than any other generic fantasy adaption or concept yet (excluding the sweeping L-O-T-R, we all know that's entirely different), but the misplaced taciturn American actor in the lead is like a early version of the metro-sexual hero with tussled dark hair and an obsession with the enigmatic 'stare-out' before launching his Mind-sword (the last Elfin one of its kind, no less!) into the rather slow, slipshod villains that 'rogue' the woods, like bad warrior versions of a Carry On movie, and string up hapless Ranulf for a game of Tomahawk hair-tweaking! "It's you.. that will be cut down!" baulks one amusingly in typical highbrow fantasy-laden dialog.Still can't imagine, looking back, anyone else playing Hawk than John Terry, so amazed to see him wizened in Lost recently. What happened to our beloved Hawk?!?! Don't get me wrong, I love Hawk for all the reasons other fans do, it's cheese personified in a sword and sorcery (no sandals - no beaches, no Hercules and Italian style dubbing - but dubbing yes!) so you take it seriously at your peril. Visually it's acceptable and the wood-be (lame, I know) premise is potentially excellent, the forest's supposed ethereal concept is a great backdrop for the recruiting of old comrades that have very thinly exposed backgrounds - of course 'Crow's' is the longest, as he's the monotone superstar of the show, can't help but love the guy who can leap into trees and run like the wind (even in slow mo to the sound of highly bizarre folkloric Celtic-esquire music that I find as cheesy and enchanting as the main 'disco' flute absurdity that just adds to the abstract proceedings, more so than any other British made fantasy melodrama)."Crow.....find the Woman!" And then there's a plethora of ham villains, notable a pre "Dalziel and Pascoe" Warran Clarke who probably has cringe inducing moments when he looks back at his "macho-stint" at being a wood-be (can't help it!) opponent for the invincibly static Hawk (great name, shame about the lack of being charismatic). Like the best of the worst, Hawk works as a film because it takes its self serious as an entry and therefore provides us with sporadic moments of borderline genius comedy and entertaining themes and ideas, a good old (totally hackneyed, but 'avant-garde', this ain't..) fashioned good vs.evil plot with some wonky special effects and plenty of scrapping (fair enough, there's a few bit, even if some of it's ludicrous or lost in-fog-translation). The storyline is fairly generic yes; but aspects of this are not (the sandpaper wearing, cyclops crayon-eyed witch-woman and her cavern of colour-changing hula hoop transporting beams are just imaginatively hilarious) of course the symbolic heroes of the genre are present: Giant, dwarf, elf as well as wounded average warrior with the best crossbow in the history of Fantasy and a mysterious eponymous leader with an emblematic fairly wicked weapon (a rather huge green-glowing sword - almost phallic, good job Baldwin didn't have to 'wield' it!!), it has to be said (although the one in Krull maybe just pipped it - how it didn't slice up their fingers I'll never know!) Some things about this film could have really propelled it. For instance Drogo is lame and lasts about 5 mins, killed in less than in a minute after challenging Hawk. He could have been tougher, especially after he bullies that wimp and then treacherously stabs him - oh... evil personified! This battle sequence is I suppose ruined by Crow and Ranulf's rapid fire mowing down (in a frigging Church no less...anyone else think this was highly sacrilegious! Just kidding peeps, we all know sanctuaries make the best decor backdrops for explicit mini-Armaggedon fraught battle fests!) akin to Gatling gun spray-outs! Poor Baldwin hardly gets a look in with his paltry whip, probably slowed up due to his excessive lifestyle in the 'Iron Mountains with buxom wenches and tavern (Fantasy's bar-room hovels) fights. Sounds like Stoke on Trent when the World Cup is on! Also when they ride through the forest who is the creepy looking demon-worshiper thing on the floor, sat with candles....he might have made a good villain, or something...maybe. What d'ya reckon, or did I hallucinate it? In the darkened forest scene, they could have A) had a brawl with some cool looking bandits (not those knuckleheads who Gort dispatches with the ease of a fly spray swipe!) or B) encountered some demonic beasts they had to scrap, not those tepid blob moles that gawp at the screen - scream and then the guys suddenly flee...what the freakin' blazes?! Hawk the Sayer is fairly woeful. However when I first bought a DVD player, this was the DVD I bought first! For a fiver...it had no extras on it but the transfer was good, and the good old days of cheesy adolescent Fantasy and those Steve Jackson and Ian Livingston (I think it was?) series of solve-it Fantasy books came flooding back! Ahhh, the days of having no friends or girls to ask out - pure innocence, pure bliss! "Voltan! You will DIE!! By the sword!" Truly superb, classic 80s fodder and entirely memorable and surprisingly quotable and catchy...and still fairly terrible. But you know you love it....why wouldn't you? WINK! THEY SHOULD REALLY HAVE MADE A SEQUEL...what a total shame....