Film Review: Full Eclipse (1993)

By early 1990s crime in urban America rose to such level that some measures, not only extreme, but not actually belonging to this world, were needed to fight it. At least this is the premise of Full Eclipse, 1993 horror action film directed by Anthony Hickox. Protagonist, played by Mario Van Peebles, is Max Dire, police detective who is very good at his job of handling increasingly vicious and violent criminals on the street of Los Angeles. The job, however, has taken a terrible toll on his marriage to Anna (played by Victoria Rowell), and even worse toll on his partner Jim Sheldon (played by Anthony John Denison) who killed himself after miraculous recovery from near-fatal wounds received during spectacular mission. Max is asked to attend the meetings of police officers with similar problems at the residence of Adam Garou (played by Bruce Payne), leader of special unit within LAPD. He learns that the support group is cover for elite squad tasked for taking out the worst of criminals. Adam wants Max to join it, but Max is reluctant, so Officer Casey Spencer (played by Patsy Kensit), one of the female members of squads, seduces him. Max soon learns that Garou and his squad take special drug that not only gives them superhuman abilities, but actually transform them into werewolves.

Full Eclipse was directed by Anthony Hickox, British film maker specialised by horror genre while the script was co-written by Richard Christian Matheson, son of famous writer Richard Matheson. General audience is, however, most likely to pay attention to the main star Mario Van Peebles, who is actually very good in playing troubled protagonist with the look typical of 1980s action heroes. He is very well matched by Bruce Payne, British actor who has specialised in playing villains. Payne here plays character who is both menacing and seductive, delivering one of the most impressive performances of his career. Hickox’s direction is also solid, especially in the beginning when he effectively establishes Los Angeles as such cesspit of crime and depravity that vigilante werewolves can be seen as a force for good. Action scenes give strong influence of John Woo and his Hong Kong classics, but the best among them, that takes place in night club taken over by psychopathic hostage takers, is used relatively early in the film and everything else in the film looks weaker and anti-climactic in comparison. Scenes where Garou and his squad take out criminals are somewhat disappointing and that includes final showdown. This could be, to a certain degree, attributed to Full Eclipse being a HBO production during times when cable television still lacked budgets to truly compete with feature films. Hickox tried to compensate problems with special effects by creating strange atmosphere through great use of close ups and musical score by Gary Chang, but those efforts are only partially successful. At the end, despite large amounts of violence and gore, Full Eclipse looks too much like television pilot for the series very much like those we might see on Netlix today. However, despite its flaws, this film can still be recommended both to fans of horror and action genres.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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