Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
When one of Europe's most lethal terrorists shows up in New York, an elite undercover cop is assigned to take him down by any means necessary.
Nighthawks is a competent early-80s action thriller elevated largely by Rutger Hauer's menacing villain performance and a gritty New York atmosphere, but it follows a fairly standard cat-and-mouse formula. The plot hits familiar beats of the elite cop vs. international terrorist genre without much surprise or depth. Cinematography captures the grimy NYC streets effectively but nothing particularly distinctive. The ending feels somewhat abrupt and unsatisfying given the tension built. Novelty is low as the premise, while executed reasonably well, is largely derivative of the cop thriller genre of the era.