Roles like Rocky Balboa and John Rambo may have turned Sylvester Stallone into a cinematic icon, but the 1981 thriller Nighthawks was actually better than any of the sequels in those beloved franchises. Even though he was one of the defining actor stars of the 1980s, Stallone has often been the ʙuтт of jokes questioning his acting talents and making fun of his over-the-top heroic persona. However, behind the outrageous intensity of the Rocky and Rambo sequels, Stallone was actually an accomplished actor, and movies like Nighthawks prove this.

The best Stallone films include far more than just endless franchise sequels, as movies like Stallone’s directorial debut, Paradise Alley, and compelling performances such as Cop Land opposite Robert De Niro showcase a more serious side to the star. While Stallone has leaned into the success that Rocky and Rambo have afforded him, he’s never rested on his laurels, and films such as Nighthawks demonstrate a dramatic depth that’s often overlooked. As a stylish neo-noir that deserves far more attention, Nighthawks showed 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

Nighthawks was 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, Nighthawks was a brutal look at the darkest side of crime.

With Nighthawks, 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 and Rocky and Rambo sequels, Nighthawks hints 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 in Rocky IV or the fast-paced intensity of First Blood Part II have 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. With Nighthawks, Stallone delivered a standalone story that was better than any sequel in the mainline Rocky or Rambo series.

Part of the reason Nighthawks has aged so well today is that it embraced a darker sensibility and didn’t have the cartoonish, overly 1980s style of some of the Rocky and Rambo sequels. Instead, Nighthawks captured 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-off Creed series, it was Nighthawks that stood as an earlier example of Stallone’s incredible talent for more dramatic works.

Source: Comic Book