Plot
Set during a massive flood started by a dam accident in a small town, Christian Slater is an armored truck guard who gets robbed by Morgan Freeman...

Release Year: 1998

Rating: 5.7/10 (17,158 voted)

Critic's Score: 36/100

Director: Mikael Salomon

Stars: Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, Randy Quaid

Storyline
Set during a massive flood started by a dam accident in a small town, Christian Slater is an armored truck guard who gets robbed by Morgan Freeman. Slater gets away with all the money and hides it. In a panic, Slater tells the sheriff about the area he hid the money in and the sheriff locks him up. Now Slater has to get to the money and keep himself alive battling the sheriff, Morgan Freeman and his crew and the elements.

Cast:
Morgan Freeman - Jim
Christian Slater - Tom
Randy Quaid - Sheriff Mike Collins
Minnie Driver - Karen
Edward Asner - Uncle Charlie
Michael A. Goorjian - Kenny (as Michael Goorjian)
Dann Florek - Mr. Mehlor
Ricky Harris - Ray
Mark Rolston - Wayne Bryce
Peter Murnik - Phil
Wayne Duvall - Hank
Richard Dysart - Henry Sears
Betty White - Doreen Sears
Ray Baker - Mayor
Lisa Fuhrman - Mayor's Wife

Taglines: Prepare for hard rain.

Release Date: 16 January 1998

Filming Locations: Etobicoke, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office Details

Budget: $70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $8,009,024 (USA) (19 January 1998) (2107 Screens)

Gross: $19,819,494 (USA) (19 April 1998)

Runtime: 97 min  | 92 min (Nordisk Film DVD version FI SE NO DE)

Trivia:
Jim says he used to work "for the Johnstown Company" - likely a reference to Bruce Springsteen's song, "The River" which itself is quoted moments later by Ray. Johnstown, PA, is most famous for an 1889 flood, caused, like the flood in this film, by a dam failure.

Goofs:
Continuity: When Karen is handcuffed to her staircase and Tom shoots through the cuffs, she places the chain of the cuffs on top of the banister. This is a physical impossibility because of the way she was cuffed there.

Quotes:
Officer: You took the money. Didn't you son?
Tom: Yeah I hid it in the cemetery.
Officer: Why you do that?
tom: I don't like to carry around that much cash, ya know?

Something a little different from the norm - 74%

Rating: 7/10

I remember seeing the trailer for this film some years ago and thinking it looked pretty good. Thankfully, the BBC decided to show it last night. Had it been something else, I might have ended up watching "Terminator 2: Judgement Day" on Five. Again. Besides, "Hard Rain" was largely met with disinterested shrugs upon release and that is a shame. Just because it's unconventional doesn't mean it's a load of old rubbish and you'd be a harsh critic indeed to describe this film as "rubbish".

"Hard Rain" stars Christian Slater as a goody-two-shoes employee of a armoured truck firm who, together with his uncle, collect $3'000'000 from a bank in a town that's about to be flooded (phew!). Trouble arrives in the shape of the typically brilliant Morgan Freeman who, with his gang of cronies, are intent on collecting the money for themselves. Throw in Minnie Drive as the damsel in distress and Randy Quaid as the gun-toting' sheriff and what you have is the wettest Western ever made.

Despite some dodgy CGI effects, the film is well worth watching. Freeman is by far and away the best actor on screen, offering depth to a character (if you'll forgive the pun) where most would take the role at face-value, like Minnie Driver. Credit too must go to the rest of the cast, who spend most of the film up to their waists in water which must make the action sequences especially dangerous and thrilling to watch. Leonardo de Caprio and Kate Winslet, take note. Speaking of the action, it is both exciting to watch and original. Highlights for me include a jet-ski ride through a high school, a shoot-out at a flooded cemetery and Slater's escape from a prison cell as the water rises around him. To break up the action, the bickering old couple still trapped in the town offer some genuinely funny moments and the change which comes over the characters during the film makes for a tense finale. OK, so some of the town looks like a model when the water comes crashing down the street and as I said earlier, some of the CGI could be touched up a bit. The church roof, for example, clearly isn't on fire as Slater et al speed away from it.

But the fact remains that this is a highly recommended picture. It isn't the best action film you'll see but it is different enough to warrant your attention and certainly one which you'll enjoy. If you can forgive a little out-of-date CGI, occasional suspect editing and Minnie Driver acting worse than a piece of driftwood then this film could be the one to float your boat.

Comments: