Sunday 18 March 2012

Full Eclipse

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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Year:1993
Country of origin:USA
Director:Anthony Hickox
Genre:Cops with real teeth
Starring:Mario Van Peebles, Patsy Kensit, Anthony John Denison
Rating:4/5
IMDB link:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106980/
Tagline:There's a new police force on the streets... and they only come out at night.
Favourite line:"Wanna see something really scary?"

A cop buddy movie with quite a difference.

The plot:
Max Dire (Mario Van Peebles) and his partner Jim attend a hostage situation. Being the adventurous sorts, they opt not to wait for backup. Squeezing through ventilation pipes, a dropped gun gives their presence away, and Jim is cut down in cold blood whilst still inside his pipe.
You following?
Jim’s in his own pipe.
His blood is everywhere.
His own pipe is covered with blood.
Enraged, Max slays the culprits.
Now, despite the bullets, Jim isn’t dead. In critical condition, a mysterious figure creeps into his room at night and injects him with an equally mysterious liquid.
It looks like piss, but I don’t think it was.
Before you can say ‘lupine superpowers’ Jim’s up and about, though he seems altered, more energised, more reckless.
Could Jim have been transformed into something more than human?
Do Patsy Kensit’s bullet-like nipples have anything to do with it?
And will Max himself succumb to the lure of the moon?

Daft as a dusty grape, this simply screams cult movie at you, which is never a bad thing. Van Peebles is something of a hunk of meat, with just three facial expressions: intrigued, upset and vacant. He’s quite the muscular sort, though, and does wander around for portions sans shirt.
Eh, ladies?
Starting out as a fairly straight cop movie, it takes quite a while to figure out what is actually happening, so that keeps the interest levels up.
With some stupendously over the top gunfights, plenty of wirework and explosively gruesome gunshot wounds to keep the ghouls happy, this is more violent than it is out and out gory, and somewhat straddles the line between cop movie and horror flick.
Think Lethal Weapon, only Mel Gibson and Danny Glover occasionally sprout fangs.
Indeed, the final showdown actually takes place at the LA docks, just as in Lethal Weapon 2.
Coincidence or homage?
I think the latter.
“Diplomatic lycanthropy…..has just been revoked.”
Excessive, nonsensical, wilfully ludicrous, this has more going for it than against: hot werewolf action, a decent cast, some stunningly 80’s style SFX and Patsy’s beautiful, beautiful teats.
I don’t care.
I liked it.

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