CHINA MOON

Madeleine Stowe and Ed Harris 

CHINA MOON (1994). Director: John Bailey. 

Kyle Bodine (Ed Harris of National Treasure: Book of Secrets) is a detective working with a younger partner, Lamar (Benicio Del Toro of The Wolfman), and sort of showing him the ropes. Kyle meets an attractive woman named Rachel (Madeleine Stowe of Blink) and is at first unaware that she's married to an abusive and controlling husband, Rupert (Charles Dance of Alien 3). Kyle and Rachel begin a relationship, but there's a serious speedbump when Rupert winds up dead. Kyle risks his career by going to bat for Rachel without disclosing the affair to his superiors, but he doesn't realize that he is being seriously played by someone close to him.

Harris, Charles Dance, Del Toro

It's a wonder that China Moon ever got made. Its plot is over-familiar and whatever surprises it contains are not that jolting. The characters are one-dimensional, and the dialogue is flat. Although Charles Dance and Benicio Del Toro give effective and committed performances, I'm not certain what to make of the leads. I can be polite and say that Harris underplays, or was simply uninspired by the script -- no wonder -- but he's mediocre, as is Stowe. I'm not surprised that Stowe never had a major theatrical career as her presence is strictly small-scale, and works much better on television (in the TV series Revenge, for instance). If you're going to play a femme fatale, then play it for all it's worth, but Stowe never pulls out the stops. Her too-deep, unfeminine voice is no asset, either, although some people might have found it sexy. 

Verdict: Some films should never get beyond script stage. *1/2.