HARD RAIN. Perfect for a rainy day

The 1990s were an attempt to bring disaster movies back into favor. Back then we were terrified, with varying degrees of success, by tornadoes, volcanoes, fire, storms, asteroids, epidemics—and also by aliens sweeping across the screen like a storm with equally terrifying persistence, not to mention smaller-scale apocalypses. Somewhere in the midst of this cinematic Sodom and Gomorrah slipped in an action film made in good old VHS fashion—Hard Rain—in which the weather also poses a serious threat. But not the only one. The greatest danger remains man himself, driven by greed, willing to go all the way to the bottom for money.

Paradoxically, the film itself sank as well, recouping only a quarter of its $70 million budget. It became one of the biggest flops of 1998. Perhaps that was due to its release coinciding with the actual flooding of the Ohio River and the famous flood series in Poland, associations that couldn’t be erased even by changing the title. Today, it would probably sit on the shelf for a year or be quietly dumped straight to streaming like some convict. In fact, after flopping in the U.S., it went straight to video in other countries—a medium that was already slowly dying, but still capable of generating a bit of extra income. Even so, on the home market Paramount’s production didn’t fare much better. Critics weren’t impressed, audiences were indifferent, and even the actors didn’t remember the project fondly—mainly because of spending entire days soaking wet. In hindsight, all of that feels undeserved.

Of course, this is no masterpiece, but it’s solid, stylish entertainment that can still impress, even if its impact has waned over the years. At the time, the film could boast the largest matte painting ever created, in an era already dominated by CGI. That may seem outdated today, but thankfully such elements make up only a small percentage of a production built primarily on dependable stunts and pyrotechnics. No wonder John Woo was initially slated to direct Hard Rain, only to switch at the last minute to Face/Off. Hard to say whether he could have done more with the material (though one wonders if he’d have squeezed in his trademark doves). Mikael Salomon’s film—Salomon being the cinematographer of The Abyss and Backdraft, hired specifically for his experience with the elements—lacks for nothing.

The script by Graham Yost (writer of both Speed films and Broken Arrow) is very simple, almost banal, but in that simplicity lies its strength and universality. The story is about a daring heist that Morgan Freeman and his crew attempt during the storm of the century. The rainfall is so heavy that a small mountain town begins to flood, and it’s within its limits that the drama of the money-truck robbery unfolds. Regardless of the weather, everything is supposed to go smoothly. But it doesn’t, because guarding the money is a young boy scout in the form of Christian Slater (still before his career downturn). Naturally, instead of negotiating with the robbers and pocketing a share, he chooses to hide the money and seek help from the local sheriff (Randy Quaid in a surprisingly serious role of authority). The rest of the plot revolves around the criminals’ attempts to recover the loot by force while trying to survive in increasingly harsh conditions.

It sounds like a typical VHS-era action flick, even a B-movie not worth the trouble. But it’s executed with A-movie craftsmanship. The cast isn’t overwhelming, though alongside the already mentioned actors we get Minnie Driver—arguably never looking better—and in supporting roles, veteran Betty White, Mark Rolston (Drake from Aliens, whose James Horner score served as a temp track for Hard Rain), and Richard Dysart from The Thing in his final big-screen role before retirement. Still, it’s not the characters that carry the intrigue—they’re a fairly standard collection of archetypes placed on the map—but thanks to the actors they have personality and charm. What truly counts is the action, the tension, the action, the drama, and again—the action. And all of it is polished to near perfection, with the action always at the forefront.

A lot happens in Hard Rain, and while not always wisely, the spectacle, energy, and dynamism easily make up for it. There’s hardly any room for boredom, and even occasional breaks from the chases and shootouts don’t slow the pace—further amplified by Christopher Young’s aggressive, bombastic score, highlighting the film’s unmistakable western flair (that harmonica!), visible not only in Freeman’s cowboy hat. The creators clearly had fun with genre tropes, keeping the tone light, and the result is a spectacle that, from beginning to end—even in its moments of greatest danger—remains playful and unpretentious, pure entertainment packed into a lean, highly digestible ninety minutes.

Another strength is that the characters are constantly in motion, always doing something (including Minnie Driver, who is by no means a “damsel in distress,” but another counterpoint to modern claims about the lack of strong female characters in cinema). Time is ticking, so there’s no room for even a token romance between the young stars, hinted only in a few glances but unnecessary amid the flood of action. Action that at times goes over the top, even edging toward shark-jumping moments, yet never crossing into outright self-parody. Instead, it thrives on a freewheeling approach to the material and consistently satisfies. Considering the scale of the events, it’s hard to believe it was all filmed practically, in a giant water tank. Thanks to excellent sets, sharp editing by three different editors, and the cinematography of Peter Menzies Jr. (Die Hard with a Vengeance, the remake of Get Carter), the fictional town—brought to life by Huntingburg, Indiana (now home to a small memorabilia museum)—feels alive. And overall, the film simply looks good—if one can say that about a movie that spends nearly all its runtime drowning in torrential rain.

Hard Rain does, of course, have its problems—depending on your attitude, mood, and expectations, you may find plenty of them. But I can’t help liking this film, which at the time of its release gave me exactly what I wanted from a title like this. It’s a solid, self-aware spectacle that knows exactly what it wants to be and sticks to it, never once misleading viewers with excessive ambitions or convoluted plot twists designed to inflate its value. Simple, predictable cinema, but because of that, effortlessly relaxing. Perfect for a rainy day.