# Hard Rain (1998)

### reviewed by
David Sunga

    HARD RAIN (1998)

    Rating: 3.0 stars (out of 4.0)
    ********************************
    Key to rating system:
    2.0 stars - Debatable
    2.5 stars - Some people may like it
    3.0 stars - I liked it
    3.5 stars - I am biased in favor of the movie
    4.0 stars - I felt the movie's impact personally or it stood out
    *********************************
    A Movie Review by David Sunga

    Directed by: Mikael Salomon

    Written by: Graham Yost

Starring: Christian Slater, Morgan Freeman, Randy Quaid, Minnie Driver, Ed Asner

Ingredients: Pouring rain, small flooded town, damn about to burst, bad guys going after millions of dollars

Synopsis: At one point in the story townsperson Karen asks hero Tom what happened to her church. He replies something like: "The church is flooded but at least the floodwaters put out the big fire. Well, the fire wasn't that bad, since, while the church was burning, looters apparently thought it was safe enough to break through all the priceless stained glass windows."

In HARD RAIN a small town is nearly deserted due to flooding. Everyone has had to evacuate because it's raining, and now floodwaters are rising so high that buildings are being submerged and the nearby dam is about to break. Enter a working class smart-alecky new armored car driver named Tom (Christian Slater). Suddenly his security truck carrying over three million dollars gets stuck on the flooded street and is waylaid by armed looters. Tom has no choice but to grab the bag full of money, hide it, and swim for his life. This makes for an action movie full of jet skis, speedboat chases, and gun battles, as Tom tries to evade and outsmart corrupt cops and armed looters until the National Guard can answer his distress call. He is befriended and aided by a spunky churchgoing young woman from town named Karen (Minnie Driver). But unknown to Tom and Karen, the National Guard never heard Tom's initial distress call. Will Tom and Karen survive the natural and manmade disasters?

Opinion: Don't expect thought-provoking issues or dramatics. There's not much more to this movie than hiding, running, swimming, shooting, and saving handcuffed heroes from drowning, but that's what makes it escapist and fun. Relax, take your shoes off, and break out the popcorn.

    Reviewed by David Sunga
    January 16, 1998

    Copyright © 1998
    This review and others like it can be found at
    THE CRITIC ZOO: http://www.criticzoo.com

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