Laserhawk (1997)

INTRO: The thought of this movie should be removed from the brain of every person the planet. This movie is so bad that if Barney had his own movie, you'd think Barney was a cultural phenomenon. I have to admit when I got the movie I thought it would be awesome just because Mark Hamil was in it, but I was sadly proved very wrong. Mark's part was very short, he popped up in the middle of the film and died 2 minutes in a very stupid fashen. When I saw him I was sure the movie would get better from then on but I was wrong again. The film gives you some great exsitment and quickly takes it away.PROS: Mark Hamil's acting was good. Surprisingly good special effects. It ended.CONS: Too quickly paced. The story was bad. Seemed like a lower budget moronic version of Star Wars Episode IV.

Laserhawk was one of the $1 specials at a dollar store. Previously I bought old Western's (Bonanza, etc) and some good luck at that price before... I'd never heard of Laserhawk before, but enjoyed Mark Hamill in the Star Wars Trilogy, in 2 episodes of "the Flash" (as the Bizarre Trickster), and other film appearances over the years. Laserhawk seemed potentially promising, so for a dollar - I gave it a shot!I like high tech SciFi films, ones with great story lines, but also enjoy some of the low tech "B" films with often half written plots.This film lies somewhere between. The background music and effects work with the mood of this film. The story line has a lot of quirky twists. It's not a totally predictable plot. And, though not modern high tech effects - think of the classic War of the Worlds (1940's), not state of the art, yet it still works well today! For those who enjoyed the original Star Trek Series - effects are at least on a par with that.3 teens are the main characters. I won't even hint of how Mark Hamill fits in. His part isn't the biggest, but it is critical. (One insider joke easy to miss is when they pick Mark up in "Sunnydale", which is where "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" came from!).If you like the offbeat, this will likely keep your interest, and be entertaining. If you only like state of the art effects and academy award performances - this may not be your film.The introduction of this film announces a great menace to the Galaxy, a 250 million year old alien race. There is an unraveling mystery, drama, suspense and action. It never gets gross or "too" intense. I enjoyed it. Will give this one a "7", for fun and interesting plot twists.

This movie looks like it was made ten years ago. The special effects were horrible. At times, the movie was interesting, but the ending was awful. The story became predictable at times too. Nothing was unique about the movie, it was the same old Alien wants to destroy Earth type of story, and only these chosen few can save Earth. The music was horrible, it made the movie even worse and even more corny.

Although Laserhawk had a promising start with a interesting concept, it rapidly went downhill. The film started slowly and needed to pick up pace but sadly it just petered out into and sorry collection of recycled cliches and over the top acting. Hamill indeed added some depth but the other characters were hamming it up left, right and center. The film ended abruptly after one of the poorest and least exciting space battles known to modern man. The actual action sequences were no better than the those seen in the Eighties series 'V' while the jerky animated aliens were not especially convincing either. It could have been so much better.