Product Description

A powerhouse cast churns up the action in this thrill-drenched story of an armored car driver battling armed crooks and the rampaging waters of a killer flood. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 04/11/2006 Starring: Morgan Freeman Randy Quaid Run time: 96 minutes Rating: R Director: Mikael Salomon

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15977 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 1998-12-15
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 96 minutes

Amazon.com
It may not be a disaster movie, per se, but this terminally silly thriller is certainly disastrous, and would be pointless without the novelty of its setting in a flooding Midwestern town during a torrential rainfall. Physically impressive but idiotic in every other respect, the movie pits an armored truck courier (Christian Slater) against a smart leader of thieves (Morgan Freeman) and a corruptible town sheriff (Randy Quaid) who are vying for possession of $3 million in cash. A waterlogged game of cat and mouse, the plot is so contrived that even the most impressive action sequences--such as a jet-ski chase through flooded high-school corridors--are robbed of their already tenuous credibility. Before long you'll be yawning as incompetent accomplices are systematically dispatched by their own stupidity, in the kind of movie where the use of power boats inevitably leads to at least one death by outboard motor. What's impressive here is the physical production itself--the effect of flooding was created by building a huge replica of downtown Huntington, Indiana, in a huge, watertight aircraft hangar in Palmdale, California! --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Terribly under-rated action movie that never fails to excite!
This movie worked best in the cinema. It's too bad it flopped because the big screen is where it deserved to be seen. Too many folks have seen and critisized this film from TV viewings that do the scope of the action no justice whatsoever.

The action scenes are incredible and this movie is very well made. The bouncing, shaking, wobbling camera was an innovative idea and if you like the slow-motion fire-fights of John Woo movies but hate the gun pornography of trash like Bad Boys II then you'll get a kick out of Hard Rain.

And the music was just totally awesome too. Chris Young's score is the orchestral sound of violence, mayhem and nature taking over. Seriously, it's great stuff and you really ought to get the score CD.

Christian Slater also makes for a better action hero in this than he did in Broken Arrow. Randy Quaid and Morgan Freeman were very good too but I don't think Minnie Driver did a convincing American accent.

Don't be to hard on this film. It isn't supposed to be Citizen Kane. It's a pure action film with the minimal of plot to get in the way.

It was originally called The Flood and had numerous other characters in it and had many daylight scenes. But because of an abundance of disaster movies at the time it was reshot as an action movie that was set totally at night. And practically in real time too.

Sadly the Region 1 DVD is in Dolby 5.1 and is letterboxed at 2.30:1. It's not the best DVD of the film. If you have a multi-regional player then I suggest that you get the Korean Region 3 box set with a beautiful anamorphic transfer, DTS 5.1 and the script book included.

SOGGY BUT FUN
HARD RAIN is enough to make you never want to see it rain again. Filmed entirely during the horrific storm and with the threatening collapse of the local dam, this movie requires some squinting of the eyes just to tell who's who. Director Mikael Solomon keeps things moving, and if the whole plot wasn't so darn preposterous and absurd, this could have been a classic. There are some great chase scenes, double crosses, etc., etc. It's just not very believable.
Christian Slater's laconic performance is reminiscent of a young Jack Nicholson, but he seems awkward and clumsy as an action hero (ditto BROKEN ARROW), but he's pleasant. Morgan Freeman reprises his bad guy role from CHAIN REACTION and the future NURSE BETTY with his usual grace and precision. Morgan's probably never given a bad performance. Randy Quaid is grim and vile as the sheriff gone bad, and Betty White/Richard Dysart provide some fun comic relief as an elderly couple who refuse to leave town. (Wonder what happens to them though---last we see them they're stuck in a tree?).
HARD RAIN may have benefitted from a more believable lead, say Bruce Willis, but it's entertaining and delivers, in spite of its silliness.

Twisted plot, but still a good movie
Hard Rain might have a twisted plot, pitting an armored truck guard against some robbers who are trying to steal 3 million dollars, but that doesn't really make it a bad movie. All the while, they're surrounded by a massive flood as their main obstacle. Hard Rain has some of the best actors such as Morgan Freeman and Randy Quaid playing the leading roles and they all do great jobs. Hard Rain also has some good action sequences and a lot of suspense throughout the film. It's like a wet and wild goosechase with everybody trying to catch Christian Slater in order to get the money. The special effects with all the water and rain couldn't have been done much better. Hard Rain is just another usual action movie until Morgan Freeman joins Christian Slater and they both team up and try to survive against the other robbers. That's when this movie gets a lot better with all the suspense and action.

If you like good action movies with some suspense added in, you will probably like Hard Rain. The only drawback is the twisted plot, sometimes you might wonder what the movie is really about. But watch it and you'll figure it out without a problem.