Do any of you remember the epic action/fantasy film from 1980 called Hawk the Slayer?  No?  Starred Jack Palance as Voltan, a scenery-chewing, evil-doing ham and John Terry as Hawk, his heroic brother?  Featured a dwarf, a giant, and an elf on a quest to free a hot nun from Voltan’s dastardly claws?  No?  Here’s the trailer to help recall the memory you’ve long since buried.

You remember now don’t you.  If not, go rent this thing immediately.  Not only is it fantastically cheesy fun, but it’ll prepare you for the just announced sequel due out next year.  Per JoBlo, Jinga Films has put Hawk the Hunter into development with the original’s director returning for an encore.  The biggest surprise, aside from the fact that this is happening at all, is the announcement that Tom Hardy has signed on to the title role.  Hardy is generating a lot of buzz these days for his performance in Bronson.  That buzz could lead to some higher profile roles, and while I’m incredibly keen on seeing this long overdue sequel, I don’t know as this isn’t a role that could stop his career dead in it’s tracks.  On the upside, the CGI budget is reported to be $2 million which while small by Hollywood standards is bigger than the original film’s entire budget.

Hawk the Slayer is one of my dad’s three favorite films.  The other two are Zulu Dawn and Quigley Down Under.