Ladyhawke

I first saw this on video around '88/'89 when my mom brought home a video she'd hired. Now to the average 13 year old guy, 'Ladyhawke' didn't exactly inspire me as a title - I was going to sulk through this one... or was I?

At the start of the film, petty thief Phillipe Gaston, "The Mouse" (Broderick) is on the run, having sprung himself from the allegedly inescapable "Dungeons of Aquila." An attempt to recapture him on the orders of the Bishop (John Wood) is halted by the entrance of a black knight bearing a hawk, Etien Nevarre.

Navarre (Hauer) is the ex-captain of the Aquilan guards, has been a fugitive for two years and is the general thorn in the Bishop's side. He needs to find a way back into Aquila and has chosen escapee Gaston to lead him there. Needless to say, "Mouse" is a tad reluctant.

Having both escaped the guards the unlikely pair flee into the forests. While gathering wood for a fire, Gaston suddenly hears the cracking of twigs as a wolf slowly stalks him. He takes to his heels, running back to the camp, only to find Navarre gone.

In his panic, Gaston takes Nevarre's crossbow and prepares to fire, but he's suddenly stopped by a beautiful woman. She tells him he's dreaming then walks away with the wolf. Now poor Mouse is spooked as well as reluctant.

The following day sees another run in with their pursuers, resulting in the hawk being wounded by a crossbow. Gaston is forced to take the bird to an old priest named Imperius (McKern), who consequently tries to lock him out of the hawk's infirmary. Gaston sneaks in nevertheless and instead finds the woman he saw before, but with the same wound in her shoulder.

Imperius decides to tell Mouse the sorry tale of the damned couple, of how the Bishop's obsession with Isabeau grew into madness and how she rejected his advances due to her secret betrothal to Navarre. When the Bishop learnt of their eloping, he made a pact with hell, which imbued a terrible curse on the lovers. By day Isabeau is the hawk and by night Nevarre is the wolf.

Imperius has also learnt of a way to beat the curse, by way of a forthcoming eclipse. The curse will be broken as soon as the Bishop sees Navarre and Isabeau standing together, assuming they can get there in time.

As the story unfolds, the three have to contend with the ever pursuing Aquilan guards led by Marquet (Hutchinson) and a fur trapper named Cezar (Melina) who is hired by the Bishop to kill Nevarre in his animal form.