Black Moon Rising Review

MPAA Rating: R
Released: 1986

Produced and partially written by John Carpenter, Black Moon Rising stars Tommy Lee Jones as a master thief that has been forced by government agents to steal a valuable data tape from a criminal corporation. When he accidentally trips an alarm during his infiltration, he's forced to ditch the tiny package in an experimental vehicle for safe retrieval later. But as luck would have it that retrieval is delayed when an experienced car thief who is part of a large and ruthless criminal organization takes a fancy to the exotic car and steals it, unknowingly taking the tape with her.

Now the thief must attempt to retrieve the vehicle and tape, all the while being pursued by government agents, the corporation's hitmen and the new criminal syndicate that has no plans on releasing their claim to the car or its contents.

As Black Moon Rising opens we see Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) standing by the cash register of a store and suddenly finding himself in the midst of a stickup by a young amateur. Not in the least bit frazzled at staring down the barrel of a gun, Quint calmly (if not also a bit smugly) points out to the would-be thief that the odds are against him being that he's caught on camera by the store's monitoring system and the wailing police sirens in the background indicate they will be arriving at the store any moment. Although resistant at first, the thief finally breaks and hightails it out of the store, and we're left to savor the aftereffects of a scene that can be defined simply as "cool."

With that neat little scene out of the way, the movie moves forward into the main plot of Black Moon Rising. Quint is a master thief that has found himself in an uncomfortable predicament. He's currently being shaken down by a pair of tough-as-nails government agents that demand he infiltrate a secure corporation to retrieve a data tape that will be invaluable to the government in an upcoming criminal trial. Left with no other choice, Quint does as he's told, but during the theft he trips an alarm before making a sloppy escape.

With the corporations' henchmen on his heels, Quint decides to stow the tape in the rear of a prototype car that can exceed 300 miles per hour while being fueled with simple tap water (the engine breaks the water down and extracts hydrogen to fuel the car). His plan is to return and pick up the package after he has shaken his pursuers off his trail, but the simple plan goes awry when a car thief, Nina (Linda Hamilton), unexpectedly steals the car.

Now Quint's problems are compounded even further, for not only is he being hunted by government agents demanding the tape as well as the corporation's hired killers, he must also devise a way to break into a highly secure skyscraper to retrieve the stolen car and the tape tucked away within. This won't be an easy task since Nina works for Ed Ryland (Robert Vaughn), the head of a criminal empire of his own.

The above storyline combined with star power such as Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Hamilton and Robert Vaughn sounds like a sure formula for success, but alas about one third of the way into the movie Black Moon Rising loses its life and starts plodding along for a good third of the movie. Luckily the final third reintroduces the excitement of the first third, but by then many viewers will have disconnected somewhat with the film.

While the uneven pacing is a significant flaw, there are enough pros to consider adding Black Moon Rising to your movie list. First, of course, is Tommy Lee Jones himself – if you enjoyed his performances in other movies, you'll know what to expect of him here. His charismatic character Quint is cool, calm and collected throughout the film. Hamilton and Vaughn perform their roles well too, but their characters aren't as fleshed out as Quint, so we don't have the opportunity to really connect with them as deeply.

The second thing that impressed me about the movie was how Quint's character was handled. In most action flicks the main star ends up being a one-man army capable of wiping the floor with anyone that stands in his way. Not here. Quint is brilliant with skullduggery, but he's not the most athletic fellow in the world, he's afraid of heights and he's no Rocky Balboa when he's getting throttled. This realism lends a bit more humanity to the lead character, making it easier for us to identify with him.

That's not to say Black Moon Rising doesn't offer plenty of over-the-top action; you'll see enough insane shootouts, hectic car chases through the streets of L.A. and brutal fistfights to serve your needs. You just won't see the main protagonist suddenly become the Rambo of car thieves.

In the end, Black Moon Rising is a flawed film that pulls through due to its solid premise and charismatic actors. As such, if any of the primary participants in this film interest you, or you're an action fan, this is a movie well worth watching.

Movie rating: 6 stars

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