Ladyhawke

Michelle Pfeiffer, still emerging as a dazzling screen siren in 1985, is easily the most captivating thing about Ladyhawke, which is saying something considering the sumptuous landscapes and grand castles of northern Italy that serve as backdrop for this peculiar sword-and-sorcery tale. Master cinematographer Vittorio Storaro captured the sights for Hollywood hitmaker Richard Donner, but their combined expertise don't always overcome a discordant tone that tries to blend humor, pathos, modern vernacular, and medieval fantasy. Pfeiffer is Isabeau, the titular babe/bird, cursed to switch back and forth between forms with the sun and moon, while her lover, Navarre (Rutger Hauer), makes a transformation from gallant knight to ferocious wolf in opposing circadian rhythm. The jealous, godless bishop (John Wood) who conjured the spell to keep them “always together, always apart” is also the chief jailer of the walled city's dungeons, which is where Matthew Broderick's wisecracking thief Gaston comes in. After a daring escape, Gaston falls in with Hauer's hunk/beast, and is thereby bound to help facilitate a magical man/woman reunion that can happen only if sun/moon intersect (cue the eclipse!) and the devilish clergyman is vanquished. Thirty years later, Ladyhawke still charms with its appealing young performers, while its outsized visual splendor sparkles on Blu-ray. Recommended. (T. Fry)