# Hudson Hawk (1991)

### reviewed by
Craig Good

                                    HUDSON HAWK
                           A film review by Craig Good
                            Copyright 1991 Craig Good

I went to see HUDSON HAWK tonight in a generally good mood and with what I thought were reasonably low expectations. Instead of an escapist romp a la DIE HARD, I got a confused, needlessly bloody, overblown episode of THE PINK PANTHER MEETS THE THREE STOOGES. At several points during the movie I felt genuine embarrassment for the cast: not a good sign. I guess seeing names like Bruce Willis, Danny Aielo and Andie MacDowell got my hopes up too far.

The director competes with the script for title of Least Aware of Where We're Going. On one level, the film wants to be a witty, hard-edged caper film about a cat burglar forced out of retirement by agents of the government, the mob and what was supposed to pass for some kind of goofy corporation. But the foul language and blood clash badly with the tongue-in-cheek, cartoony level of reality it tries to set up.

The overall impression is of a movie made by some marketing droid using a color by numbers set. Some of the individual characters in individual scenes are, or are potentially, funny. And the first half of the movie almost sets up an air of mystery capable of maintaining our attention. But as soon as you find out who Everybody is, it runs down hill -- and it started on just a little knoll. We wind up with a mish-mash of cloying dialogue, weak repartee and broadly-drawn characters. The film film wanders aimlessly through a world where the Pope watches "Mr. Ed" in dubbed Italian, and a decapitation is just a setup for a one-liner, and one that feels forced at that.

The whole movie feels forced, and events are driven entirely at the convenience of the plot rather than by any sense of an internal logic. If you're really curious about it, or a die hard Bruce Willis fan, wait for video. It'll be a short wait, I promise.

    --
                    ...{ucbvax,sun}!pixar!good

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