Hawk - Guardian of the Magic Sword - DVD

Movie: After the power-hungry Voltan (Jack Palance) kills first his father and then his fiancée, his brother Hawk (John Terry) sets out to recruit a band of devoted warriors with whom to go into battle against Voltan. With the help of a magical sword bequeathed to him by his father before his death, the battle against Voltan's reign of terror is to be won. But the tyrant is of course not so easily pushed from the throne.

Hawk - Keeper of the Magic Sword floated along on the great fantasy wave of the late 70s and early 80s, combining influences from literary works such as Lord of the Rings with quite a few set pieces of adventure and fantasy films. The result is an entertaining journey into a world full of giants, dwarves and magic, which after more than thirty years may seem trashy here and there, but has hardly lost any of its entertainment value. John Terry, who in recent years was seen as Christian Shepard in the cult series Lost, makes a convincing hero, and Bernard Bresslaw, known for the popular Is Yes Mad films among others, is an extremely likeable sidekick. Oscar-winner Jack Palance doesn't deliver the best performance of his career, but even in heavily scaled-back mode he's still great as the villain.

The effects are severely dated, and the odd unintentional comic mistake makes itself felt. But it is this that creates a certain charm, which is enhanced by the catchy score and the subtle use of humour. Surely, who grew up with great effect works of the last years, will hardly be able to make friends with this rather stale adventure film. But especially children of the 80s will be able to indulge in pure nostalgia for 90 minutes with Hawk - Guardian of the Magic Sword. Nice that the fight of the two unequal brothers, the battle between good and evil, after all these years has found its way to DVD. Recommendable!

Picture + Sound: For a production more than thirty years old, the picture is quite decent. While there are always minor smudges and blurs, the coloration and at times the sharpness of detail consistently leave a good impression. The audio is heavily front-heavy and a bit muffled, but the dialogue and great soundtrack are mixed with good intelligibility. Overall, the old-fashioned charm of the film is also underlined by the technical realization, which is why the whole thing deserves a Good despite clear weaknesses!

Extras: The best extra on the DVD is a nearly 25-minute Making of, which was filmed for British television during the filming. This documentary exudes pure nostalgia and is absolutely worth watching, especially for fans of the film, despite its obvious promotional nature! The trailer and a picture gallery round off the bonus package. Not much, but good extras.

Conclusion: Hawk - Keeper of the Magic Sword is an entertaining fantasy adventure from the early 80s, which from today's perspective may seem arg trashy, but exactly from this also draws a certain charm. Considering the age of the source material, the DVD is technically well made and comes with an entertaining making of as a bonus. For lovers of 80s fantasy B-movies therefore absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp