Hudson Hawk – Special Edition (DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: B-     Extras: C-     Film: D

 

 

Some films are so bad, they become funny later, but others are so bad, they get worse with age.  After Michael Lehmann had an offbeat independent hit with the overrated Heathers, Bruce Willis, Joel Silver & Sony/TriStar trusted him with the big budget comedy heist project Hudson Hawk.  Willis plays the title character who gets out of prison, only to be the target of many old enemies (gangsters and authorities) interested in him and his talents to steal things with ease.

 

Miles away from The Saint, Lone Wolf or Hitchcock, Danny Aiello co-stars as an old friend from his peak heist days and the convoluted plot including three of the actual Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpieces (including his flying machine that did work, as we see in the phony opening pre-credit sequence) and that is the beginning of 100 minutes of a true torture test,

 

Willis in particular just walks through this and all I could think about was his notorious TV ad campaign where he sang about wine coolers, because that is how flatly this is written and shot.  Also wasted along with any viewer’s time is that of Annie MacDowell, Richard E. Grant and the late, great James Coburn.

 

Maybe they could release it under a new title: The “DUH” Vinci Code!

 

 

The 1.85 X 1 image is softer than it should be for using a high definition master as the back of the package says.  Lighter scenes work a little better and color is consistent, but depth is an issue and whatever money is on screen will need Blu-ray to bring it out.  Not even Director of Photography Dante Spinotti, A.I.C., could save this mess.

 

Not only was the film originally issued in advanced analog Dolby SR (Spectral Recording) theatrical sound, but was a 4.1 digital release in the brief-lived Cinema Digital Sound format.  It included films in 5.1 and 4.1 mixes, but this one was with less tracks.  This sounds more like the digital tracks and unlike the first DVD that only offered Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with Pro Logic surrounds (like the PCM on the old 12” LaserDisc) and the improvement is the default highlight of this disc.  Extras include several previews for this and other Sony DVD releases, several making-of featurettes, a trivia track and audio commentary by Lehmann so absurd, it is the most bizarre such undertaking since the director fop Commando did his.

 

Since this bomb, Lehmann has made nothing but junk.  You think after this, Hollywood would have learned its lesson.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo