Monday Retro Review: Hard Rain

For some inexplicable reason, a flick I watched in 1998 in the land Down Under popped into my head the other day, and just wouldn't go away. Damn you, Christian Slater. Damn you, Morgan Freeman. And damn you, Hard Rain. So is the movie any good? Stick with me.

An armoured truck guard finds himself battling rising flood waters, a gang of thieves and a corrupt sheriff when an armed robbery goes bad.

Hard Rain was a big flop when it opened in January 1998, which is too bad given it's actually a pretty good ride. And it's a big movie too. Huge when you think about the technical achievement of pulling off such an ambitious action film.

Problem is, the movie is all concept with precious little going on upstairs. I like a brain dead action movie as much as the other guy, but populating your movie with a bunch of decent actors doesn't give the flick any substance.

The action set pieces are awesome. The technical skill on display is first rate. Minnie Driver is likeable and oddly hot. Morgan Freeman is great as always. Randy Quaid hadn't gone crazy yet. And Christian Slater was just about to disappear into the ether. They are all fine in this movie.

But once Hard Rain was over, it immediately started to disappear from my brain yet again, likely not to resurface for another 16 years. That's not good by Basement standards. In fact, it's Bad. But revisiting it every couple of decades doesn't hurt.

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