The Owl

I just saw "The Owl" on TV, and man, what a bad flick. Did we need another vigilante martial artist? Marvel Comics should sue the TV company for plagiarism, the Owl is a dead ringer for The Punisher.

I voted 5 because I didn't want to influence the overall average. I haven't seen the movie but I read the original novel and was sorry to hear the film being savaged so. I would have hoped for a better treatment of the film by its author but apparently, from what other people have said, he was not trying to translate the novel on to the screen so much as he was trying to create a salable product and get a series going. Too bad! The novel was highly readable. It had a rough, crude vitality. Sure, it was unnecessarily violent but it was not the sort of book one picks up to read for its literary qualities. It was the sort of book one buys from a bus station paperback rack. It was fun, and best of all, the main character was memorable. He wasn't believable, he had no redeeming qualities, but he was memorable. Oh, well, another opportunity for good entertainment sacrificed on the altar of the desire for fame and money.

Based on a novel by Bob Forward, this had all the trappings of something interesting. Sadly the movie was poorly executed for reasons I'll go into later, and it is easy to see why it did not get commissioned as a TV series. All the better for its star, Adrian Paul, it seemed. Not long after he was picked up for Duncan Macleod in the extremely successful HIGHLANDER: The Series. You could argue this was a good canvas for Paul's talents and later casting as the Scottish Immortal, if anyone had bothered to see it. I don't know if the Producers of Highlander watched The Owl, but Paul's natural agility and martial arts experience shines through here and was one of the most interesting aspects in the film. With long, drawn out scenes of Paul working out spliced between flashback segments of his former life, the movie is drawn out instead of getting on with the story. What is more, it tells us very little of what we want to know. How did he become The Owl?

A word on the music. Moody and atmospheric, you could say no more from Sylvester Levay (Airwolf)

The cast. I have to say, the Wooden Spoon Award must go to the awful rapping bad guy, Cool Ice. He's just plain silly. His stringy haired henchman are no better. Brian Thompson makes a worthy appearance as Bobby B, the bar keeper of a backstreet bar The Owl frequents. He is L'Hiboux's confident and informant. Patricia Charbonneau plays a cop, and L'Hiboux's on and off girlfriend. Hutchins, played by Alan Scarfe was obviously meant to be the recurring nemesis of The Owl. He seemed like a great foil, but sadly we'll never know what might have become of it.

Bob/Robert Forward wrote two Owl books. I confess I have not read them. What put me off is that they are written in first person, i.e from the character's perspective, which is a good idea to get into the head of the character, but so often doesn't work. I must try them, as reviews of the books are generally very good. Maybe they might throw some light on how L'Hiboux got to be The Owl. The movie makes little attempt. Again, maybe they left this to be revealed as the series progressed. In summary, this movie is worth a shot. It's very hard to get hold of though which doesn't make the job easy. In Australia it was called "Night Owl"

this film was truly awful, it was a mess, I can see why it was credited to Alan Smithee, the fictional name of a director of a film when no one wants to take responsibility for a film.

main character, the Owl, you are subjected th flashbacks which went on for up to 10 minutes, replaying the car explosion that killed his wife and daughter....we got it the first time, yes we know why you're tortured and out for vengeance.

these flashbacks also include scenes of him doing his martial arts training....again they laboured the point.

One of the baddies is a rapping gangster who gets one of his henchmen to play his ghetto blaster so that he can rap his dialogue...and truly awful rapping it was.

And you hardly see the real baddie, except in this repeated flashback scene when he is driving away from the explosion

the little girl...typical american girl....you want her to die...

it went on for way too long...

and you find yourself watching it to see how bad it can get, and it never disappoints you...

For lovers of bad TV and film this really pushes the boundaries of what a human mind can take.

I shall not attempt to describe the full indignity of the film - rather a few select moments, in particular the two 10 minute montages of a silent Highlander Man (adrien Paul?) working out/watching his family dying/stalking the streets (all to a terribly bad, sub-yann hammer synth soundtrack). So bad that by the 6th time you see his wife and daughter get blown up, you wish you had been with them, if only to save the sweet misery of seeing the Owl re-live his dull montage again and again.

Indeed as we cross the half-hour mark, humour turns to revulsion as we realise that this is a serious piece of work, so bad that the director removed their name from his hateful and yet unintentionally hilarious movie.

I mean the central villain 'raps' all of his dialogue for god sake!! How could I sit through this? How will you sit through this? Well, like some horrible accident once you begin to watch it you won't be able to take your eyes from the screen.

However I warn you, the Owl is not for the casual viewer - if it comes on TV and you can survive the full hour then you can consider yourself one of the lucky ones, as many will have fallen where you now stand (probably weeping).