Review of Hard Rain

Introduction

What is it with Morgan Freeman and "trendy young actors"? I use the term as a sweeping generalisation, as they might not all be so young and trendy any more. He seems to have been continually paired with them, with varying degrees of success. He was lumbered with Keanu Reeves in Chain Reaction, teamed up with Brad Pitt in Se7en (to much acclaim), and also appears here with Christian Slater.

More recently you might have seen him in Nurse Betty, along with Chris Rock. Let`s just hope these younger guys are learning something from him along the way.

Video

Having seen this on VHS my hopes weren`t high. As Rob mentions in his review, it`s almost constantly raning and most of the scenes are very dark indeed. This made the film rather difficult to watch on VHS.

Thank goodness for DVD then! The format copes admirably with the rain and the darkness and you can really see what`s going on during the film. Very sharp and plenty of detail. This applies to both transfers - you`ll find 2.35:1 anamorphic sitting alongside a full-frame pan`n`scan transfer. You should watch the 2.35:1 version of course!

Audio

An excellent DD 5.1 soundtrack which really plays its part in bringing the film to life in your living room. Plenty of shootouts means plenty of gunfire, which means that there are some surround effects. You might get up to check your roof for leaks with all that rain coming down!

Despite all that rain the dialogue is clear and audible throughout.

Features

Here`s where it goes downhill. No extras I`m afraid. And I know for a fact that a making-of documentary exists because I`ve seen it on television! Obviously no-one could find a copy of it.

Conclusion

An under-rated action film that has transferred very well to DVD. A reasonable enough plot, some good action sequences and lots of nice audio and visuals. And for once region 2 gets a better disc than region 1, despite the lack of extras.

An enjoyable action romp that will definitely keep you entertained for 90 minutes. Worth a rental for all you action fans who may have missed it first time around.