Such a frustrating disappointment

Go in cold, and you're likely to emerge with your blood boiling. This has to be seen to be believed.

The acting in this movie is really good.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

I'm not sure but this could of been the acorn that sprouted the idea for the titles in the Conan flicks, bare with me. There was a sequel intended for this film that would have been called 'Hawk The Destroyer' (1981), so you can see the obvious similarities with film titles going on here. Probably a coincidence admittedly but I also think this could of been the first swords/sorcery/barbarian type of film that jump started all the rest during the 80's.This is a hard film to review truth be told, its extremely dated and by the looks of things they didn't have a huge budget to play with. The whole thing is a mixed bag as you would expect being a very old fully British, possibly cheap, production. There's a bit of a Tolkien and Dungeons & Dragons influence about the film if you ask me, the plot is your average sword n sorcery affair with a hero trying to avenge the death of his father and love at the hands of an evil warrior (his brother). The evil bad guy wants the power of the mindstone which his brother (the hero) has power of, so he kidnaps an Abbess to lure him. The hero forms a small band of warrior friends...a giant, a dwarf, an elf and a human peasant, the hero himself being a human of course. Each of these men have unique skills in combat with a big hammer mace thing, a whip, a bow, a crossbow and a sword.When I say a Tolkien influence I only mean as far as the characters and fantasy locations, dare I say a certain Mr Jackson may have pinched some visual ideas for 'Legolas' using his bow at lighting speed from this film?. When you see 'Crow the elf' battling there is definitely a similarity in concept that's for sure, although the visual method used to achieve this in this film is pretty crude naturally. Mind you this elf is so damn fast with his bow and arrow there is virtually no need for any other heroes. Other characters aren't made up with special makeup or prosthetics, the giant is played by Bernard Bresslaw who was a tall man, the dwarf is played by a short actor (not a little person), the elf has a small amount of prosthetics for his ears and that's it. But as far as monsters and dragons etc...this film has none of that, its actually a very grounded fantasy which I think leans more towards old English folklore and possibly a touch of wicca and paganism.The musical score kinda typifies this if you ask me with a very odd mix of styles. At times we get this typical 80's pop fused with electronic synth (I think) that to me sounded like melodies from an Abba album!, needless to say I don't think this score fit the film. Other times there is a much better softer score using more traditional instruments to create this olde worlde fairy-esque sound that would suit an old English fable to a tee.I hate to say it but I couldn't help but snigger at some of the things on display in this film. Like I said the visuals are weak, it looks like they've filmed everything in some local woods and shrublands just behind Pinewood studios. The sets are very obvious, very small and tight and sparse on detail, hair styles are still very much 1970's, some costumes are OK where as others look like they've cobbled anything together and I'm pretty sure they retrace their steps with locations a few times. The only expenditure appears to be the use of that swirly double ring thing that was used in 'Superman' as a force field to trap 'General Zod' and co.The other thing that is highly amusing is the fact the big bad evil tyrannical baddie is played by Jack Palance...and even in this film he's old!. This guy has no special powers or weapons, he's just a badass apparently but you don't really buy it frankly. He has a nasty burn on his face so he wears a nifty helmet but that's it, he doesn't look intimidating at all. Mind you the hero is pretty bland himself, he barely talks, looks boring, but he has the mind power to wield his magical sword combined with the mindstone...not that it makes much difference really, just means the sword can float to his hand.I don't want to give this film a low score because despite the dated visuals, cheesy ass fights and effects it does look like people have really tried to make an effort here. It does come across to me that the crew have done their best with the little resources they had which deserves kudos. It is very easy to just churn out any old loin cloth fantasy crap by just tossing in a few blondes with big boobs to attract an easy male audience and slapping in some blood and gore. But I think effort was made here and it does show. A cult film long forgotten, thou should seek it out.6/10

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.

Hawk The Slayer is one of those movies that looks better through the rose tinted glow of nostalgia than it really is. In fact its a cheap, badly acted, stupid movie with rubbish effects that must have been written, directed and edited by a 5 year old.Jack Palance has some kind of eye patch and tries to make up for the wooden acting of everyone else by overacting to a degree that even the most over the top panto performer would be embarrassed by. Bernard Breslaw plays the giant without any kind of fx to make him look taller, clobbering the baddies with his plastic hammer like a kind of sword and sorcery Timmy Mallett. Wacaday!Most of the cast and the director never did any thing else memorable.Awful movie with a ridiculous soundtrack.

I first saw this movie in 1981 at about 4 o'clock in the morning and I LOVED it. I had some friends staying over at my house for the weekend, we were 12 years old and lived to play D&D. About 2 minutes after the movie ended we all set about creating our own Mindswords and automatic crossbows for our characters. Yes, the acting is truly lame, but in a movie like this, who cares? I've always secretly hoped that there was a sequel made, as they totally left it open for one, but I guess that would be too much to ask for. I have always wanted to find the movie on DVD so I can show it to my nephews, who thanks to me, are also D&D players. The greatest cult fantasy movie ever!