Hudson Hawk (1991)
Directed by Michael Lehmann
Eddie Hawkins, called Hudson Hawk has just been released from ten years of prison and is planning to spend the rest of his life honestly. But then the crazy Mayflower couple blackmail him to steal some of the works of Leonardo da Vinci. If he refuses, they threaten to kill his friend Tommy.
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What critics compared Hudson Hawk to
Baby Diver is also such a curious blend of heightened comical world building and legitimate tragedy and danger that it's been easily compared to both the zany Hudson Hawk and the grimly violent Drive.
And “Uncharted” feels in line with the comic nonsense that failed to connect in the infamous Bruce Willis failure “Hudson Hawk.”
But other efforts to coalesce colorful ensembles into multi-pronged action set pieces — Joe Carnahan’s Smokin’ Aces, for example, or even Bruce Willis’ misbegotten Hudson Hawk — more often than not fell into incoherence.
Because it is a film that is trying to skewer audience expectations for a wildly expensive big-screen extravaganza (even as it tries to market itself as just such a thing in order to attract viewers) by offering them a self-conscious spoof and because it features an enormously popular actor trying to subvert his on-screen persona by doing something more off-beat than his typical output, I suspect that many of the negative reviews for “Hancock” will cite illusions to two other films that tried to do just that and were widely reviled by critics and audiences for their efforts--the Bruce Willis vehicle “Hudson Hawk” and the infamous Arnold Schwarzenegger epic “Last Action Hero.”
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"Rambo" gave way to "Tango & Cash," "Die Hard" begat "Hudson Hawk," "Commando" became the appropriately titled "The Last Action Hero," and compared to the self-aware hipness of Tarantino, action stars and their bloated vehicles appeared bombastic, arrogant and embarrassingly stupid.
…the Hudson Hawk of swashbuckling action-adventure that almost survives on the gorgeous, talented leads.
Much like his outlandish role in Hudson Hawk (1991), the actor revels in his character’s obnoxiousness with remarkable exuberance.
Trading off the same sub-Willis impersonation that he used to equally dubious effect in " The One ", Statham's latest attempt to recast himself as a hard-man action hero is more "Hudson Hawk" than " Die Hard ".
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Unlike such failed attempts as Hudson Hawk and Last Action Hero , however, True Lies is a big, grandiose movie that has an immense amount of fun while never taking itself too seriously.