Black Moon Rising starts in Nevada in Las Vegas where professional thief for hire Sam Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) is on a job for the US Government, Quint has been hired to break into the Dollar Corporation headquarters & steal certain tax records on a tape that will implicate the company in tax evasion & other criminal activities. Quint breaks into the Dollar Corporation building but sets off the alarms, Quint manages to steal the tape & escape but head of security Marvin Ringer (Lee Ving) & his guards are hot on his tail. Needing to get back to Los Angeles to deliver the tape Quint stops off at a gas station & hides the tape inside a futuristic car capable of speeds in excess of 300mph called the Black Moon that is being driven to Los Angeles to show potential investors, however things become complicated when the Black moon is stolen by car thief Nina (Linda Hamilton) who works for mobster Ed Ryland (Robert Vaughn). On the run from his Government employers, Marvin & his men Quint must get the car & tape back the hard way...
Directed by Harley Cokliss this supposed hi-tech action thriller was probably made because of screenwriter John Carpenter's new found success with films such as Halloween (1978) & The Fog (1980), Black Moon Rising was in fact Carpenter's first script that he ever sold but it remained unmade until he had several hits under his belt & although the finished film apparently has little resemblance to his original script (Qunit was going to be a Vietnam Vet for instance) he also takes an executive producer credit here as well. Although often billed as a hi-tech thriller & even named after the hi-tech car the Black Moon the script surprisingly ignores the super futuristic car for the majority & has it sit idly in Ryland's compound doing absolutely nothing until the final fifteen minutes. Between the start & end it's a fairly plodding thriller as Quint plans a daring raid on Ryland's tower's to steal the car back as well as the subplot about the race to get the stolen tape back & an expected blossoming romance between leading man Tommy Lee Jones & leading lady Linda Hamilton. At almost 100 minutes long the pace is decent enough & there are a few entertaining set-pieces but the lack of Black Moon super car action doesn't help, also the script is rather predictable with all the heroes & villains identified early on. There aren't any twist's or turns or major revelations the way the plot unfolds & for a thriller that is sort of lazy. The character's are alright, Quint is a likable enough hero although strangely he never gets to meet the main villain Ryland. A few poorly written subplots muddy things a bit, the associate that Ryland has killed, the car stealing racket goes nowhere, the two tower's & Ryland's plans are briefly mentioned but never developed neither are Quint's relationship to Marvin or Iron John & the death of the deaf guy is barely mentioned again after it happened.
Maybe the popularity of the TV series Knight Rider (1982-1986) also helped get Black Moon Rising into production & made, the sleek looking black car isn't a million miles off Kitt in appearance although I don't get why it doesn't have any doors & any driver's & passenger's have to climb in through a hole in the roof! Also it has a turbo mode that makes flames shoot from the exhaust, would flames shooting from the exhaust really make any practical difference in terms of speed? Or maybe the makers just thought it looked cool. The Black Moon car is very 80's actually & quite angular & clumsy looking with a red 'go faster' stripe that runs right around it's body. There are a few decent action set-pieces including a car chase through Los Angeles, a scene in which Quint uses a rope to get from one high rise tower to another from the roof, various other car stunts & some good fights & brawl's. There's not much violence & the sex scene is quite tame.
Probably shot on a fairly decent budget the production values are nice enough, the special effects are good as is the stunt work. The acting is alright too, apparently Jeff Bridges, Don Johnson, Tom Berenger & Richard Dean Anderson were all considered for the leading role that eventually went to Oscar winning actor Tommy Lee Jones who at the time was an unknown. Fresh from The Terminator (1984) Linda Hamilton puts in a good performance here actually.
Black Moon Rising is an entertaining enough way to pass 100 odd minutes, it looks a little dated & the lack of action involving the Black Moon car is surprising but it has it moments without ever being brilliant.
Directed by Harley Cokliss this supposed hi-tech action thriller was probably made because of screenwriter John Carpenter's new found success with films such as Halloween (1978) & The Fog (1980), Black Moon Rising was in fact Carpenter's first script that he ever sold but it remained unmade until he had several hits under his belt & although the finished film apparently has little resemblance to his original script (Qunit was going to be a Vietnam Vet for instance) he also takes an executive producer credit here as well. Although often billed as a hi-tech thriller & even named after the hi-tech car the Black Moon the script surprisingly ignores the super futuristic car for the majority & has it sit idly in Ryland's compound doing absolutely nothing until the final fifteen minutes. Between the start & end it's a fairly plodding thriller as Quint plans a daring raid on Ryland's tower's to steal the car back as well as the subplot about the race to get the stolen tape back & an expected blossoming romance between leading man Tommy Lee Jones & leading lady Linda Hamilton. At almost 100 minutes long the pace is decent enough & there are a few entertaining set-pieces but the lack of Black Moon super car action doesn't help, also the script is rather predictable with all the heroes & villains identified early on. There aren't any twist's or turns or major revelations the way the plot unfolds & for a thriller that is sort of lazy. The character's are alright, Quint is a likable enough hero although strangely he never gets to meet the main villain Ryland. A few poorly written subplots muddy things a bit, the associate that Ryland has killed, the car stealing racket goes nowhere, the two tower's & Ryland's plans are briefly mentioned but never developed neither are Quint's relationship to Marvin or Iron John & the death of the deaf guy is barely mentioned again after it happened.
Maybe the popularity of the TV series Knight Rider (1982-1986) also helped get Black Moon Rising into production & made, the sleek looking black car isn't a million miles off Kitt in appearance although I don't get why it doesn't have any doors & any driver's & passenger's have to climb in through a hole in the roof! Also it has a turbo mode that makes flames shoot from the exhaust, would flames shooting from the exhaust really make any practical difference in terms of speed? Or maybe the makers just thought it looked cool. The Black Moon car is very 80's actually & quite angular & clumsy looking with a red 'go faster' stripe that runs right around it's body. There are a few decent action set-pieces including a car chase through Los Angeles, a scene in which Quint uses a rope to get from one high rise tower to another from the roof, various other car stunts & some good fights & brawl's. There's not much violence & the sex scene is quite tame.
Probably shot on a fairly decent budget the production values are nice enough, the special effects are good as is the stunt work. The acting is alright too, apparently Jeff Bridges, Don Johnson, Tom Berenger & Richard Dean Anderson were all considered for the leading role that eventually went to Oscar winning actor Tommy Lee Jones who at the time was an unknown. Fresh from The Terminator (1984) Linda Hamilton puts in a good performance here actually.
Black Moon Rising is an entertaining enough way to pass 100 odd minutes, it looks a little dated & the lack of action involving the Black Moon car is surprising but it has it moments without ever being brilliant.