History Film / Nighthawks

* TheSociopath: Wulfgar, Wulfgar, '''WULFGAR'''. He is a cold, manipulative terrorist who easily fakes being [[FauxAffablyEvil friendly and charming]], but shown absolutely no real feeling toward anyone, even his comrades.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Discussed and averted. Wulfgar asks for children to be removed from a hostage situation but makes clear it isn't out of compassion but because other groups won't hire someone who hurts kids, a standard he seems [[EvilCannotComprehendGood somewhat baffled and amused by.]] He'd learned this as a result of the bombing he committed at the beginning of the film killing several children, which caused him to be shunned by terrorist groups in Europe, as their deaths would hurt the groups' causes.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Wulfgar. He has Rutger Hauer's incredible magnetism and charisma and uses it to disguise his monstrous nature and manipulate others exceptionally well.

* CassandraTruth: When Pam asks Wulfgar what he does for a living, after meeting him, he says [[SarcasticConfession "I'm an international terrorist."]] She doesn't believe him until she opens his suitcase and he then kills her offscreen.
* ChekhovsGun: There are a few notable ones. Two of them are found in Hartman's lectures, the most notable one being when he says "hesitation kills." Another one is mentioned twice in the examples below. See if you can spot it.
** Hartman tells [=DaSilva=] that he went through the trouble of studying the background of each person on the anti-terrorist unit, and he says that Wulfgar will do the same. Turns out that he's mostly right. The only thing he got wrong is that Wulfgar has ''Shakka'' do the homework instead of doing it himself. He also demonstrates this by insulting [=DaSilva=] in a way that makes him reach his RageBreakingPoint and almost storm out of the organization (by mentioning he's divorced) -- on the climax, [=DaSilva=] uses a recording of Hartman where he talks about Shakka's profile and insults her in a way that makes Shakka abandon the HumanShield group to try to kill [=DaSilva=] in a rage, and this allows Fox to snipe her in the head.

* DisguisedInDrag: [=DaSilva=] has a penchant for this.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Discussed and averted. Wulfgar asks for children to be removed from a hostage situation but makes clear it isn't out of compassion but because other groups won't hire someone who hurts kids, a standard he seems [[EvilCannotComprehendGood somewhat baffled and amused by.]]

* ForTheEvulz: This is pretty much Wulfgar's whole motive for his terrorist actions.

* TheSociopath: Wulfgar, Wulfgar, '''WULFGAR'''.

* CowboyCop: Inverted. In an interesting twist on such films, Da Silva is a fairly by the book cop who is firmly against using lethal force and says he didn't become a cop to kill people. It's his superior, MI6 Agent Hartman, who shoots down the idea of trying to take Wulfgar in like any other criminal and sees Da Silva's refusal to use what he sees as necessary methods as naive.

''Nighthawks'' is a 1981 thriller starring Creator/SylvesterStallone (pre-''Franchise/{{Rambo}}''), Creator/BillyDeeWilliams, Creator/RutgerHauer, Creator/NigelDavenport, and Creator/PersisKhambatta, with appearances by Lindsay Wagner, Joe Spinell as a cop and Hilary Thompson as a flight attendant.

* MagicPlasticSurgery: Averted. Wulfgar goes to a plastic surgeon to alter his face after the French authorities get his picture, but the changes are not that major -- he's able to sneak into the United States with a fake passport, but he's still recognizable enough that A.T.A.C. finds out that he did shortly afterwards, and he depends on Shakka for legwork.

* SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou: Stallone is about to shoot the audience, with a pistol who takes up roughly one-third of the poster space.

* TheWorldsExpertOnGettingKilled: Hartman, he who trains the strike force and constantly warns about Wulfgar's immense preparedness, even warning that if facing off against him or his allies, the best way to survive is to draw a gun and kill them '''immediately'''. He gets blind-sided by Shaka when he's getting ready to get lunch and shot in the head before he can even blink.

* BadassBeard: [=DaSilva=] sports an awesome one throughout the film.

One thing that is interesting to note is that this film was scored by [[Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer Keith Emerson]], who also scored Creator/DarioArgento’s ''Film/{{Inferno}}'', and part of the score for ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars''.

* PetTheDog: Subverted. Wulfgar asks [=DaSilva=] to take a small infant off the tram car holding the hostages, but ''only'' because killing the infant would make terrorist organizations unwilling to hire him, and he wants to find "work."

''Nighthawks'' is a 1981 thriller starring Creator/SylvesterStallone (pre-''Franchise/{{Rambo}}''), Creator/BillyDeeWilliams, Creator/RutgerHauer, Nigel Davenport, and Persis Khambata, with appearances by Lindsay Wagner, Joe Spinell as a cop and Hilary Thompson as a flight attendant.

One thing that is interesting to note is that this film was scored by [[Music/EmersonLakeAndPalmer Keith Emerson]], who also scored Creator/DarioArgento’s ''Inferno'', and part of the score for ''Film/GodzillaFinalWars''.

* Foreshadowing[[spoiler: In the opening scene [=DaSilva=] disguises himself up as a woman to lure out some criminals and at one point in the movie Hartman warns [=DaSilva=] that Wulfgar might try to retaliate by going after his ex-wife. In the climax of the movie Wulfgar does exactly that only to find DaSilva disguise as his wife which leads to DaSilva killing Wulfgar.]]

* KarmicDeath:[[spoiler: Shakka's fate in the movie. Earlier in the film she killed Hartman and later on in she is tricked into exposing her self in the opening after [=DaSliva=] plays a recording of Hartman insulting her which in turns leads to her getting killed by Fox. To add to that she is shot in the head which is exactly the way she had killed Hartman.]]
* KillOnSight: Most of the drama between Hartman and [=DaSilva=] is that, even if they are working on the same side as members of a law-enforcement initiative, Hartman insists that terrorists in specific (and Wulfgar in ''very'' particular, especially because he's a hard-core murderous madman) have to be taken out immediately, and [=DaSilva=] explicitly says that he didn't signed up to be a cop so he could become anybody's assassin.
* MagicPlasticSurgery: Averted. Wulfgar goes to a plastic surgeon to alter his face after the French authorities get his picture, but the changes are not that major -- he's able to sneak into the United States with a fake passport, but he's still recognizable enough that A.T.A.C. finds out that he did shortly afterwards and he depends on Shakka for legwork.
* MoodWhiplash: Quite a few. The most tragic of these is perhaps when Hartman dies. One moment, he's talking to [=DaSilva=] about getting chinese food, and then he sees Shakka at the top of the escalator he's on. It doesn't end well for him.
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Wulfgar is obviously based on Carlos the Jackal -- his introduction where he shoots dead several police sent to arrest him resembles Carlos' 1975 shooting of two unarmed DST agents and an informant in Paris.

* PetTheDog: Subverted. Wulfgar asks [=DaSilva=] to take small infant off the tram car holding the hostages, but ''only'' because killing the infant would make terrorist organizations unwilling to hire him, and he wants to find "work."
* SarcasticConfession: When Pam asks Wulfgar what he does, he flat-out tells her he's an international terrorist and a ladykiller. Given he's chuckling while doing so she assumes he's joking... except he's not.

* UnflinchingWalk: Wulfgar's EstablishingCharacterMoment is walk into a cosmetics shop, place a bomb inside while falsely flirting with a saleswoman, and cross the street without slowing down or flinching (or reacting with more than a preventive ear covering) as the bomb goes off behind him to make a call on a public phone on the other side, giving a political statement to a news service.
* TheWorldsExpertOnGettingKilled: Hartman, he who trains the strike force and constantly warns about Wufgar's immense preparedness, even warning that if facing off against him or his allies, the best way to survive is to draw a gun and kill them '''immediately'''. He gets blind-sided by Shaka when he's getting ready to get lunch and shot in the head before he can even blink.

* Foreshadowing[[spoiler: In the opening scene [=DaSilva=] disguises himself up as a woman to lure out some criminals and at one point in the movie Hartman warns [=DaSilva=] that Wulfgar might try to retaliate by going after his ex-wife. In the climax of the movie Wulfgar does exactly that only to find Dasilva disguise as his wife which leads to Dasilva killing Wulfgar.]]

* TheSociopath: Wulfgar, Wulfgar, '''WULFGAR'''. Where do we even begin? When he takes over the Staten Island tram on the climax, he refuses to even let kids go (a regular sign of good will by hostage takers), instead pointing out the gun he's carrying and telling [=DaSilva=] that if his demands are not obeyed, he will kill the kids ''and'' go "blame [=DaSilva=] for this!". His EstablishingCharacterMoment is blowing up a restaurant by means of a bomb concealed in a baby carriage.

* BulletsDoNotWorkThatWay: A close-up of [=DaSilva=]'s partner Fox chambering a round in his sniper rifle is ruined by the fact that it's clearly a blank cartridge.

* Foreshadowing[[spoiler: In the opening scene DaSilva disguises himself up as a woman to lure out some criminals and at one point in the movie Hartman warns DaSilva that Wulfgar might try to retaliate by going after his ex-wife. In the climax of the movie Wulfgar does exactly that only to find Dasilva disguise as his wife which leads to Dasilva killing Wulfgar.]]

* KarmicDeath:[[spoiler: Shakka's fate in the movie. Earlier in the film she killed Hartman and later on in she is tricked into exposing her self in the opening after DaSliva plays a recording of Hartman insulting her which in turns leads to her getting killed by Fox. To add to that she is shot in the head which is exactly the way she had killed Hartman.]]

* KarmicDeath:[[spoiler: Shakka fate in the movie. Earlier in the film she killed Hartman and later on in she is tricked into exposing her self in the opening after DaSliva plays a recording of Hartman insulting her which in turns leads to her getting killed by Fox. To add to that she is shot in the head which is exactly the way she had killed Hartman.]]

* Foreshadowing[[spoiler: In the opening scene DaSilva disguises himself up as a woman to lure out some criminals and at one point in the movie Hartman warns DaSilva that Wulfgar might try to go after him by going after his ex-wife. In the climax of the movie Wulfgar does exactly that only to find Dasilva disguise as his wife which leads to Dasilva killing Wulfgar.]]

* CassandraTruth: When Pam asks Wulfgar what he does for a living, after meeting him, he says "I'm an international terrorist." She doesn't believe him until she opens his suitcase and he then kills her offscreen.

* TerroristsWithoutACause: Wulgar in a nutshell--he's a "for-hire" mercenary, so ruthless [[EvenEvilHasStandards that other groups start to stay away from him]]. So the best way to solve this? Go to New York and terrorize it to its knees in order to attract employers.