Hard Rain

Directed by Mikael Salomon, Hard Rain follows an armored-truck driver (Christian Slater’s Tom) as he attempts to prevent a group of criminals (led by Morgan Freeman’s Jim) from stealing $3 million during a decidedly epic storm. It’s a high-concept premise that’s employed to consistently watchable (if entirely forgettable) effect by Salomon, as the filmmaker, working from Graham Yost’s screenplay, does a strong job of infusing the somewhat episodic narrative with bursts of impressive style (eg the opening shot) – with the affable atmosphere heightened by a top-to-bottom cadre of better-than-average periphery performers (including Betty White, Ed Asner, and Dann Florek). There’s some novelty, too, in the portrayal of Freeman’s central villain (ie he’s far more pragmatic and less evil than one might’ve assumed), while Slater nicely steps into the shoes of a plausible, likeable leading-man-type protagonist (and there’s a certain amount of chemistry present with his costar Driver, as well). The movie’s midsection is, unfortunately, perhaps not as cohesive as one might’ve liked, and it does seem that many of the happenings during this section have been included merely to complicate matters for the earnest central character (ie the whole thing does start to feel rather contrived) – with the frenetic (and fairly underwhelming) climax ultimately cementing Hard Rain‘s place as a less-than-memorable entry within the ’90s thriller genre.

**1/2 out of ****