I suppose every movie, no matter how good or bad, has a chance to be someone’s favorite film. So I am sure that somewhere out there, a person has director Mikael Salomon‘s 1998 action heist flick Hard Rain at the top of their list. If that’s you, hello. Also, I’m very sorry, but I don’t feel the same. I know you believe it’s a quality experience, with lots of action, big set pieces, and cool effects, and I don’t want to take that away from you, you’re most likely a very nice person with otherwise very reliable taste, but really, if you look again, this is a minor disaster that has very little to recommend. I still hope we can be friends.
Paramount Pictures
Set in a small town in Indiana, Tom (Christian Slater) is new to the armored car business, looking to change his life. He’s partnered with ol’ timer Uncle Charlie (Edward Asner), collecting large sums of cash from local banks because of massive flooding in the area. Filled with millions in the back, they are suddenly trapped when a rush of water leaves them with no where to go. Along comes a group of robbers, led by Jim (Morgan Freeman), who attempt to steal the loot, but after a brief gunfight leaves Charlie dead, Tom’s grabs the cash and goes on the run, trying to stay alive as the waters rise and the bad guys draw near.
It’s an interesting premise, with Graham Yost‘s story packed with plenty of potential. However, what we get is a schlocky mess with bad dialogue and ham-fisted action. And that’s the good stuff. Slater, who is a particular type of actor, is not right for the everyman stuck in a dangerous twist, always too cocky and too and snarky to make it feel authentic. Freeman, who is the quintessential good guy, is even more miscast (exactly why test audiences forced a reshoot)1. Then there’s Randy Quaid as the disgruntled sheriff and Minnie Driver as an art restorer fixing the stained glass windows at the church. She’s the love interest because of course she is.
Paramount Pictures
The central problem is tone. There is no consistency in whether this is supposed to be a taunt heavy-hitting thriller or a tongue-in-cheek action comedy. It’s like half the cast were given one set of directions and the other something opposite. So that leaves actors and entire scenes languishing in this weird middle ground where it’s hard to know what to take from it. Add in Betty White in a wildly erratic performance that is the very definition of this tonal problem, and you see where I’m going.
The production works hard though, given the budget and state of technology. This is real water they’re splashing about in and it all looks rather unforgiving, even as it also appears to be expertly controlled and fully staged. There is never a single moment of the flooding or effects that don’t come across as manipulated. So while it looks impressive when great waves of water crash through stuff, you can’t help but look at it and know after “cut” was called, it was reset and marked for another take. That’s disappointing because there should be a rawness to movies like this, where nature remains the greater villain, unpredictable and always ever-present.
That’s not the case here as double crosses and triple crosses among the few players is the name of the game with pointless shootouts (especially a lengthy one at the end where all I could think was, “Just how many bullets does Freeman have in that gun?”) and often laughable dialogue. Poor Minnie Driver as Karen is the victim of most of this mistreatment, made to look foolish throughout most of it. Someone, a cop for goodness sake, even tries to rape her. I mean, come on. What is that?
So, what’s to like? Freeman of course comes out on top. While clearly stuck in a movie he has no business being in, he has that ‘Morgan Freeman’ quality that makes him fun to watch. I liked the opening set up and even some of the visual effects in the early stages, this sense that something bad was coming later involving the levee (hey, I just wrote about another movie with a busted levee). I was impressed with the church set, and even as it felt stagy was a cool place for a showdown.
Paramount Pictures
I hated the part with Quaid, a character that at the start had the makings to be the kind of hero you need in a film like this but is ultimately and unnecessarily written into a corner in service of a bad ending. Such a dreadful mistake, and you can see it in his own performance. This guy signed on for something different.
Should you watch Hard Rain? I say no, but as I said, this is someone’s favorite movie, and maybe it could be yours, too. It’s got cheese all over it and that might be the flavor you’re after.