it was only on this "rewatch" that i realized i had probably never seen this film the whole way through before. it was one of those '80s fantasy films that was always around, circling the zeitgeist, but somehow never quite captured me like the more overt 'boy's adventure' type films of dragonslayer or the 'heroic fantasy' of beastmaster. this is very much in that vein of 2nd-tier fantasy though, a film nobody needs to seek out unless they're a big fan of the genre. maybe because of the title, i had remembered this film as being sold on a kind of weird, sexy narrative...images of a hawk flying in to a barn, then changing into a beautiful naked lady. or said lady (young michelle pfeiffer!) transforming into a hawk when sunrise came, leaving a gown to slip off in a haystack as she does. none of those shots are really in the film, despite my memory of them. they would've been typical for the way fun/exploitation elements are often worked into fantasy/sci-fi as a selling point, but they're just not really here. to the film's detriment, i say. i also had this image of a black knight who changes into a fearsome black wolf at sunset. in my head, the knight was a tremendous fighter, and the wolf tore through evil foot soldiers and terrorized the land. this is also not in the film. the wolf hardly attacks anyone, and the fights with the knight are mostly kind of slow and measured affairs. like actual guys actually lifting 20 lb. broadswords and getting tired by the fifth swing. the violence here is as toned-down as the nudity and sex, leaving this as a fantasy-adventure film without much of what typically makes those movies classically-imprinted on your '80s tween/teen brain. so what is in this movie? well, a whole lotta matthew broderick. he's playing a young man named "the rat" and he's about that heroic. i think if i'd been his age when i saw this, i might've liked his sort of cynical '80s humor being placed onto a role that should probably be played by a sweaty, groveling timothy spall. but it honestly seems mostly out of place when i watch now, and i watched a fanedit that cut much of the worst elements. the real main point of the fanedit though, titled "ladyhawke rescored" was to swap out the divisive synth score by alan parsons and instead use something a bit more conventional. the faneditor chose all music from elliot goldenthal, and it worked quite well! other trims were made to de-emphasize dated humor and cut back on the most egregious suggestions of a love triangle between the rat, the hawk, and the wolf. it's a better way to rewatch this film for sure, but it can't add what's not there. there's simply not enough world-building here and not enough character development for me to get very invested. rat is built up, but i didn't like him or identify with him too much. the wolf is ably played by rutger hauer, but simply isn't given much depth. pfeiffer is lovely as the hawk, but the film isn't interested in giving her much agency or hardly anything to say. john wood digs in as the evil bishop in a gratifying way, and leo mckern chews scenery as a friendly country priest. there's something there to say about the corruption of religion and the nature of a bishop using an old-fashioned curse, but the movie doesn't explore it at all. it's all just very superficial. whenever i see a film like this, i'm amazed at the times dick donner managed to work in wildly-different tones in his movies and still have everything hit. he loves making the action suddenly get a little graphic, the comedy suddenly go a bit overboard, the drama suddenly get really sincere. the tones jut up against each other and it's a really hard thing to have one character being sincere while the other is chewing scenery but make them both play. goonies is very funny and sweet and kind of scary all at once. lethal weapon fires on all cylinders. scrooged is darkly hysterical. but then there are films that are as problematic as you'd expect. as i grew up, i came to realize that gene hackman is a horrible lex luthor for a serious superman movie. mel gibson's genuine trauma in conspiracy theory never quite gets the room it needs to breathe. and similarly, in this film, the drama and the comedy work against each other, never allowing either to truly land. this film somehow comes off as less than the whole of its parts. i wasn't very moved, i wasn't very amused, i wasn't excited or titillated. i feel like there's something here, a basic concept with real appeal, but it needs a script that digs in. and it needs to have a lot more fun with the concept! make this a real pg-13 film at least. and if you don't want to have people making "guywolfe" jokes, better find a different title.