Black Moon Rising

John Carpenter wrote the story for this stylish exciting action film from 1986, although the film seems to have a rather low budget, must be because it was made through Roger Corman's old company, New World Pictures. In any rate, Tommy Lee Jones is great in one of his most exciting roles, before he became a major star. Jones plays Quint a man who steals from the government. He steals a certain disc and hides it in a 21st century car built by a former NASA agent. However, the problem is, he is being tracked by government agent Johnson (Bubba Smith) who relies on his famous line "don't **** with the government!", which I truly enjoyed. Quint also falls in love with a young woman named Nina (Linda Hamilton) who just so happened to steal the car that has the discs in it. It becomes a fun filled, action packed chase in the end, and the action scenes in the LA skyrise buildings are awesome. The supportive cast is topped off by Robert Vaughn, playing his usual villian role, while Richard Jaeckel, Lee Ving, William Sandersen, Nick Cassavettes and Keenan Wynn occasionally steal the scene. Black Moon Rising is a fun filled little action film, which I liked.

Sometimes even movies released into regular circulation from the major studios fall through the cracks. This is definitely one of those. Tommy Lee Jones as the industrial spy is as cool and calm as he's ever been. Linda Hamilton is as good as she's ever been and Richard Jaekel turns in another steady performance. The plot is clever and tight enough to satisfy most and the directing by Harley Cockliss (whatever happened to him? This seems to be his only outing) is tight and well paced. The first twenty to thirty minutes of the film were surprisingly good. The story opened briskly, there was some very sharp dialogue (some of it written by John Carpenter, who had originally been hired to direct), and one solid (and underrated) car chase between Jones and Linda Hamilton. This is just a good action thriller, and it has one of the best fist-fight scenes ever.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Ho hum, another 80's supercar movie... no wait, that's Tommy Lee Jones. And Linda Hamilton. And the car doesn't get all that much screen time! Wait, could this be a (gasp!) real movie? Yes!

The car (an aircraft-composite alternate-fuel vehicle named "Black Moon") doesn't get much in the way of road time, as it's the target of some ne-er-do-well car thieves early in the flick. But Tommy Lee's got to get something he dropped back... and it's in the car. And what's this? The car theft ringleader (Robert Vaughn) is a white-collar corporate type who's not about to just let it be driven away? Hrmm... this isn't sounding like our usual crash-em-up plot here. Lots of intrigue, quite a bit of steamy interaction between Jones and Hamilton, and some wonderful stuntwork (including jumping a car from one skyscraper to another). Definitely worth a couple of bucks at the video store for a few nights.

The FBI hires professional thief Quint (Tommy Lee Jones) to steal some data tapes. But he's caught in the act and has to hide the tapes in a prototype super car called the Black Moon. But then the Black Moon is stolen by a car thief (Linda Hamilton) working for big bad guy Ryland (Robert Vaughn). Entertaining popcorn thriller directed by Harley Cokeliss from a story by John Carpenter. Tommy Lee Jones drops one-liners and attracts babes like a true Carpenter hero. Linda Hamilton is great as sexy car thief Nina. She gets the most character attention of anybody in the film. She's also lovely to look at, with her full lips and big '80s hair that she rocked so well. Robert Vaughn redeems himself from Superman III with a nice hissable turn as a villain here. Lee Ving and Bubba Smith appear as thorns in our hero's side. An underrated movie and a fun one.

I remember seeing Black Moon Rising on the shelves in the video store when I was just a little one, digging through the dusty cassette covers in the kung fu section. It had caught my eye with that awesome looking car on the front, along with the hilarious Supervan!

And even though it was the eighties, where video stores were a little more lax on ratings, it was still something I never really jumped at hiring.

Moving on 25 years and as both a fan of eighties movies, and as an independent film director, I have been going back to those films of my childhood that I was never lucky enough to see!

I recently picked up Black Moon Rising in my local Poundland, and couldn't wait to get it on screen. As an actor, I think Tommy Lee Jones is fantastic! Yet, at the same time, I find him very hard to watch... I think it's that accent. To me, it seems exaggerated for the most part. But in BMR we have a younger Jones who is a little more appealing.

In a nutshell - John Carpenter's story and screenplay isn't Oscar winning, but it is a hell of a lot better than most eighties flicks, and is highly entertaining! Action, twists, plenty of stars and some chuckles help fill out this adventure thriller that is worth the watch!

In my opinion - Anti-hero Quick (Mr Jones) pulls off his role of a professional thief with such calm and coolness rarely seen in today's cinema. Because of this, he comes across as a much more likable character than usual. Anti-heroine of the hour, Linda Hamilton, squeezes as much of her big hair and cheekbones out of every scene, jumping in on the action as much as her co-star does as the ultimate car thief who falls for her victim.

BMR hardly drags anywhere in its running time, with the excitement kicking off from the get-go mixing car chases with tense escapes, dark murders with great stunt work leading to a fun end showdown that ties it all up nicely!

Black Moon Rising is well worth the watch and still entertains almost 30 years later...