Verdict
Summary
It’s got so many uncorrelated ideas and concepts going on that it almost plays like a greatest-hits of spoofs and action blockbusters from the 1980s and ’90s, and while it never coalesces properly, it’s still amusing if you just submit to it.
Plot:
A cat burglar is forced to steal Da Vinci works of art for a world domination plot.
Review:
On the day world famous cat burglar Hudson Hawk (Bruce Willis at his peak) is released from a 10-year stint in prison, he’s shoehorned into doing another major heist of a priceless Leonardo Da Vinci sculpture that has one of three pieces of a prism within it. His partner Tommy (Danny Aiello) gets in on the game when Hawk is kidnapped by an ultra secret branch of the CIA and forced to work with a megalomaniac (Richard E. Grant) to steal two more Da Vinci masterworks to complete the prism, which is an alchemist tool to turn lead into gold. Hawk and Tommy are stuck in Italy with a beautiful nun (Andie MacDowell) and try to survive the explosions, pratfalls, and general sense of mayhem going on all around them.
A gigantic vanity project produced at the height of ’90s Hollywood overkill and excess, Hudson Hawk was a titanic flop that might be the zenith of zany misfires of the era (Last Action Hero would probably be #2). It’s got so many uncorrelated ideas and concepts going on that it almost plays like a greatest-hits of spoofs and action blockbusters from the 1980s and ’90s, and while it never coalesces properly, it’s still amusing if you just submit to it. Michael Kamen did the score, Joel Silver produced it, and you can see millions of dollars just burning up on the screen. Michael Lehmann directed it.
Mill Creek just released a blu ray of this title, and while it doesn’t contain any special features, it comes in a retro-style VHS package. The high definition transfer is okay, but nothing incredibly special. It beats my DVD copy, so there you go, and it’s affordably priced to own.
