7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 4.3 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
An escaped thief, Philippe Gaston, is befriended by the fugitive Captain Navarre, former commander of the Bishop’s guard and now suffering under a curse that transforms Navarre into a wolf by night. The same curse transforms Navarre’s true love, Lady Isabeau, into a hawk by day, so that the lovers can never be together in human form. The curse was the Bishop’s revenge when Isabeau spurned him. Navarre asks Philippe’s help in seeking revenge against the Bishop.
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Rutger Hauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Leo McKern, John Wood (I)Romance | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A wolf, a hawk, crumbling medieval castles and an American-sounding thief with a French name who occasionally affects a bad English accent—these are the chief ingredients of the unlikely fantasy cult classic, Ladyhawke. Matthew Broderick, who plays the thief, received top billing over Rutger Hauer and Michelle Pfeiffer, because in 1985 Broderick was better known, thanks to the success of WarGames. Hauer's iconic status for Blade Runner would not solidify for several years, and Pfeiffer's career was just getting started, her most visible role to date being Al Pacino's coke-addled beloved in Scarface. Ladyhawke was a passion project for producer/director Richard Donner, whose name is more often associated with big-budget franchise pictures like the original Superman or the Lethal Weapon series. But Donner has a quirky side, and no film has expressed it more directly than this magical fable set in the Middle Ages with a comic sensibility that is strictly modern. The odd mixture sometimes suggests another Eighties storybook film, Rob Reiner's The Princess Bride, but Ladyhawke doesn't bother with the kind of devices invented by screenwriter William Goldman to provide an ironic distance on the story's fantastical elements. Donner's film has no present-day grandfather reading to his grandson, no suggestion that the story is all invented by an author, no sense that the imaginary elements are just playful entertainment for the child in all of us. Everything about Ladyhawke is presented literally, even its moments of magic. The film demands a much greater effort on the part of its audience to suspend disbelief, but the rewards are worth it. Ladyhawke received a mildly favorable critical reception in 1985, but it was a box office failure. Its reputation has been sustained over the years on home video, despite problematic presentations on VHS, laserdisc and DVD. The Warner Archive Collection is releasing the film in a Blu-ray presentation that is a substantial upgrade over all previous versions, thanks to restoration work by the wizards at MPI.
Ladyhawke was shot by three-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Vittorio Storaro (The Last Emperor) in the format known as "Technovision", an anamorphic competitor to Panavision that Panavision later acquired. The transfer used by the Warner Archive Collection ("WAC") for its 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray was originally prepared by Fox, which owns the film's international distribution rights. Upon review of Fox's master, WAC decided that additional work was needed and called upon the services of Warner's on-site facility, MPI. MPI proceeded to do substantial additional color correction and grading, as well as major cleanup. The result is a new presentation of Ladyhawke that is unique to this WAC release. It is a revelation. The details of the Italian countryside, the city of Aquila, the country inn where the travelers stop to rest, the crumbling structure where Imperius lives and the cathedral interior where Navarre confronts the Bishop are all finely rendered with a clarity beyond anything I have ever seen on a home video display. The blacks, densities and contrast are all impressive, but even more so is the intensity of the colors, especially the all-important reds of the sunsets and sunrises and the intense blues with which Storaro floods the nighttime sequences. So vivid is the image that even the opticals used to render certain key effects do not noticeably distract. An obvious and important example of MPI's cleanup work can be seen (or, rather, not seen) in the film's final reel. All previous widescreen versions with which I am familiar showed two spots, one dark and one light, that disappeared and reappeared, depending on the shading of the background. The dark spot occupied the right half of the frame, and the light spot was positioned farther down in the left. Apparently these were flaws in the negative, and they quickly became permanent distractions during the film's emotional conclusion. Working frame by frame, MPI has removed these spots. Screenshots 28 and 29 offer a comparison between the Blu-ray and the DVD to show what was erased. (Warning: Since this is the end of the film, some might consider this image a spoiler, which is why I have placed it after the menu screenshot.) On the DVD, the dark spot is visible against the second hooded figure to the right of Pfeiffer, while the light spot stands out to the left of her against the stone floor; both reappear throughout the film's ending, but on the Blu-ray they have (finally) disappeared, as have many other small flaws in the source. (Note that the DVD was not enhanced for 16:9, which is why the image is windowboxed.) The film's natural grain pattern is finely rendered, and WAC has followed their usual practice of encoding at a high average bitrate, specifically 35.00 Mbps, ensuring that no fine detail had to be rolled off or filtered away. The opening credits are windowboxed. This appears to have been Fox's choice, and WAC has retained it.
Ladyhawke was released to theaters in Dolby Stereo, and there was also a six-track mix for 70mm blow-ups. When Warner released the film on DVD in 1997, the soundtrack was remixed for DD 5.1. The same mix is presented here in lossless DTS-HD MA, and, with a major caveat discussed below, it sound terrific. While rear channel effects are limited, stereo separations are clear, particularly with the sounds of the hawk's cry as it flies, the wolf's distant howl and the beat of horses' hooves. The clang of swords against shields and armor is distinctive, especially when it echoes inside the cathedral in the final sequence, and Philippe's escape from the dungeons involves numerous sounds of water, as he navigates the city's drainage system. Dialogue is clear and mostly locked to the front center. Ladyhawke's score is well-reproduced, but the score itself has been controversial almost from the moment the film was released. Like Dune and Flash Gordon, the film is a prime example of an Eighties trend to experiment with using pop musicians to score fantasy cinema. In this case, the composer was Andrew Powell, the chief arranger for The Alan Parsons Project, to whose music Donner was reportedly listening while scouting for locations. (Parsons served as the score's producer.) An unusual combination of progressive rock, orchestral performance and Gregorian chant, Powell's score has been criticized for not suiting the material and, more recently, for being dated. One critic has called it the "worst soundtrack ever composed". I'm not going to defend Powell's score as an underappreciated gem, because parts of it are definitely odd, but other parts are haunting and beautiful. Besides, this is the score Donner wanted, and Ladyhawke wouldn't be Ladyhawke without it. If you find the film moving, as I do, then you accept its peculiarities as part of the experience.
Other than a trailer (480i; 1.85:1, enhanced; 1:33), the disc has no extras. Warner's 1997 DVD was similarly featureless.
Fans of Ladyhawke will want to grab this Blu-ray immediately. It is the finest presentation to date and the first truly great version ever offered. Those new to the film should proceed with caution, because Ladyhawke is not for everyone. It is, if you'll forgive the phrase, a strange bird, but an endearing one. WAC has done it proud.
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