When US government really wants something, complicated legal procedures are discarded for the sake of cheaper, more direct, more efficient and little bit shadier alternatives. This is the premise used in the plot of Black Moon Rising, 1986 action film directed by Harley Cokeliss. Protagonist, played by Tommy Lee Jones, is Sam Quint, former thief who now works as mercenary and gets hired by US government to steal tape containing incriminating evidence against Las Vegas-based corporation. Quint obtains the tape, but he is chased by goons led by his old acquaintance Marvin Ringer (played by Lee Ving). He decides to hide the tape in Black Moon, experimental hydrogen-powered car which has been developed by Earl Windom (played by Richard Jaeckel), inventor who wants to present it to potential investors in Los Angeles. There Quint’s plan goes terribly when Black Moon happens to be stolen by well-organised gang of car thieves, which includes beautiful woman named Nina (played by Linda Hamilton). Quint follows her and discovers that she brought that and other cars to Ryland Towers, skyscraper owned by powerful and well-connected crime lord Ed Ryland (played by Robert Vaughn). Desperate to obtain the tape, Quint joins forces with Windom and they develop plan to steal Black Moon from Ryland Towers. As he devises plan, Quint keeps seeing Nina and two of them get romantically attracted to each other.
Made with relatively low budget and based on the script originally developed by John Carpenter in 1970s, Black Moon Rising looks like a film that could have been something special with only a little bit polish. Relatively complicated script is presented well and director Cokeliss does solid job in presenting car chases and fights, but his approach makes this film look a little bit too generic. This happens even with soundtrack being provided by famed composer Lalo Schifrin, which actually doesn’t add a lot of style to the film. The good impression in this film is brought by very capable and inspired cast. Tommy Lee Jones, one of the most iconic Hollywood actors, is here very good in one of his rare appearances as action star. Linda Hamilton is also good as his female counterpart and handles her sometimes thankless role very well, despite annoying details like obligatory sex scene (which seems like carbon-copied from The Teminator) and her reportedly not liking Jones on the set. Robert Vaughn is again great as villain, although that character, who controls Los Angeles like feudal lord from medieval castle, look little bit too cartoonish at times. That and sometimes unnecessary violence (like in the scene when Ryland gets his problematic business partner taken care of or the scene when Ringer’s goons mercilessly beat Quint) make Black Moon Rising look cheaper than it actually is. However, it is still a decent and sufficiently entertaining action film and the more knowledgeable cinephiles will probably enjoy seeing it as an inspiration for future action classics, most notably Die Hard.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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