Nightwing (1979, Arthur Hiller)

Critics and fans of Martin Cruz’s best-seller were not kind to Nightwing, but I’ve always thought that much of the criticism was unfair. The film is presumably about vampire bats threatening an Indian reservation but the movie deals with a lot of interesting issues. The plight of Native Americans is at the core of the story and its pro-environmental edge adds sparks to the narrative.

Arthur Hiller is a filmmaker with very limited talent but from time to time he has come up with a winner (the comedies The Americanization of Emily and The Hospital are probably his best movies). I think this is one of the best films of his erratic career. He establishes the atmosphere of the Indian reservation very nicely. He also gets some fine performances from a talented cast (Nick Mancuso is good in the leading role, and Strother Martin and David Warner steal a few scenes in supporting roles).

It is when Hiller faces the horror aspects of the narrative that he seems lost at sea. But it is not entirely his fault that the film really doesn’t work as a chiller. The special effects are simply awful. I know this was made in 1979, but movies like Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind made me think that the technology was there to deliver the attacks of the bats convincingly. The work of visual effects artist Carlo Rambaldi (Alien, E. T., etc.) is below average. It’s unfortunate because the cheesy effects are an annoying, unnecessary distraction. Hiller should have kept the bats off the screen as much possible. But the rest of the film is good and the concept is intriguing.

~ by gelpi2008 on Wednesday, April 1, 2009.