Roles like Rocky Balboa and John Rambo may have turned Sylvester Stallone into a cinematic icon, but the 1981 thrillerNighthawkswas actually better than any of the sequels in those beloved franchises. Even though he was one ofthe defining actor stars of the 1980s, Stallone has often been the butt of jokes questioning his acting talents and making fun of his over-the-top heroic persona. However, behind the outrageous intensity of theRockyandRambosequels, Stallone was actually an accomplished actor, and movies likeNighthawksprove this.
Thebest Stallone filmsinclude far more than just endless franchise sequels, as movies like Stallone’s directorial debut,Paradise Alley,and compelling performances such asCop Landopposite Robert De Niroshowcase a more serious side to the star. WhileStallone has leaned into the success thatRockyandRambohave afforded him, he’s never rested on his laurels, and films such asNighthawksdemonstrate a dramatic depth that’s often overlooked. As a stylish neo-noir that deserves far more attention,Nighthawksshowed audiences a new side to Stallone.
Nighthawks Is One Of Sylvester Stallone’s Most Criminally-Overlooked Movies
Sylvester Stallone Played Detective Sergeant Deke DaSilva In This Neo-Noir Thriller
Nighthawkswas an incredible action-packed thriller that had a much darker aesthetic and sinister undertones than most of Stallone’s other work. Telling the story of NYPD Detective Sergeant Deke DaSilva, this officer’s days of tackling low-level street crimes were turned on their head when he joined a newly formed anti-terrorist unit, and he’s put on the case to track down a pair of lethal European terrorists. With an outstanding performance from Rutger Hauer as the psychopathic terrorist Wulfgar, a true homicidal maniac responsible for the deaths of hundreds,Nighthawkswas a brutal look at the darkest side of crime.
WithNighthawks, Stallone proved himself capable of tackling complex roles that held real social and political relevance. As a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between Stallone’s DeSilva and Hauer’s Wulfgar, even though this movie has been mostly forgotten by modern audiences, it’s right up there with the most nuanced and heart-racing roles Stallone has tackled in his entire career. While most of Stallone’s time during the 1980s would be taken up with blockbuster action movies andRockyandRambosequels,Nighthawkshints at a path not taken for Stallone that was characterized by more mature roles in adult-centric thrillers.
Why Nighthawks Is Better Than Any Rocky Or Rambo Sequel
None Of Stallone’s Biggest Franchise Sequels Live Up To The Appeal Of Nighthawks
While Stallone’s career will always be defined by roles like Rocky Balboa and John Rambo, the truth is that many of the sequels were of diminishing returns. Even though fights against antagonists like Ivan Drago inRocky IVor the fast-paced intensity ofFirst Blood Part IIhave gone down in cinematic history, many of these follow-up films relied on the strength of their main characters to succeed and didn’t have the same unique appeal as the original films. WithNighthawks,Stallone delivered a standalone story that was better than any sequel in the mainlineRockyorRamboseries.
In 2020, Sylvester Stallone announced thatNighthawkswould be rebooted as a television series (viaComic Book.) The project is planned as a joint-venture production between Universal Television and Balboa Productions and is to be released as a Peacock exclusive television series. However, there has been no up-to-date news on this project for several years.
Part of the reasonNighthawkshas aged so well today is that it embraced a darker sensibility and didn’t have the cartoonish, overly 1980s style of some of theRockyandRambosequels. Instead,Nighthawkscaptured the gritty realism of the New Hollywood movement and felt like a mature performance that was unlike anything else in Stallone’s body of work. While Stallone’s performance as Rocky would eventually take on a more grounded, sinister, and mature sensibility in the later spin-offCreedseries, it wasNighthawksthat stood as an earlier example of Stallone’s incredible talent for more dramatic works.
