Black Moon Rising - Blast from the Past Netflix Instant Review

         I guess you can call this a High Tech thriller from the 1980’s since you see computers and a car that can go over 250 miles per hour.  Seeing these ancient computers is enough to make anyone smile as they watch the movie.  

         The movie opens with Tommy Lee Jones, who plays Quint, breaking into a corporate office to steal something very important - a cassette tape from a computer storage room.  Somehow Jones gets away from three men who have machine guns and of course they know who he is.  

          Once Quint escapes, he has to decide what to do with the tape.  Since he is in a gas station, he happens to see a black car with a cover on it and he decides to hide the tape behind the back of the license plate.  Just then, the three men who nearly tried to kill Quint show up at the gas station and of course, he gets away again.  

           Later in a restaurant, he sees Linda Hamilton, who plays Nina.  She’s a car thief and has a gang in the restaurant who will go and steal nearly all the cars in the parking lot.  Nina manages to swipe the car that goes 250 miles an hour and Quint is after her, somehow able to keep up with her while dodging cars on a one way street going the wrong way while Nina is going at top speed.  

            In any case, the cars are stored in a building with two towers and we meet the leader of the gang, Robert Vaughn, who plays Ed Ryland.  His sidekick is a viscous killer name Marvin Ringer, who plays Lee Ving.  Jones wants the car back so he can get the cassette tape and the only way he can do that is to work with Nina.  

             I never really knew what was on the cassette tape but it was very valuable to a lot of people such as Bubba Smith, who plays an FBI agent.  Of course, three bad guys are chasing Quint as well because they want the tape back also. 

             The movie has many flaws.  One of the three men who wanted the car back was murdered when Marvin ran him down with his car in the building.  The other men ran away, not going to the police.  

             With the flaws came a tense ending though.  Jones plays the part well and if there was one thing you could say about Black Moon Rising, it was unpredictable.   That is the reason I’ll give this movie 3-1/2 stars.  

Ron Hummer