Retro Review: Hard Rain (1998)

Disaster movies and action movies can be big business at the box office, so it only made sense someone would combine the two ideas into one high-concept package.

That someone was screenwriter Graham Yost who, back in the 90s, was riding the gravy train of his successes with Speed and Broken Arrow. So taking his script, casting then popular Christina Slater, who starred in Broken Arrow, and bringing in Morgan Freeman fresh off the hit Se7en seemed like a slam dunk.

Well, no. The movie cost $70 million to make, grossed just $19 million, and sunk faster than anything threatened by the movie's flood.

Too bad, as Hard Rain isn't that bad. The idea of a heist gone wrong during a flood is a good one, and offers ample opportunities for action. The cast, which also includes a pre-crazy Randy Quaid and a young and hot Minnie Driver, is excellent. The whole film is good, cheesy fun.

You like action? There's lots of it, including a very cool Jet Ski chase inside a school. Yup, inside a school. Plus a shootout inside a church, and a fistfight in a sinking house.

I couldn't watch Hard Rain over and over again, but as a look back at a very different era of action film -- one that wasn't overly dark, or took itself too seriously -- this is still worth a watch. A Good for me.

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