all through its production and into the early days of its initial , aborted pre-release publicity , hard rain bore the appropriate moniker of the flood . ultimately , however , paramount pictures , nervous that this movie would be confused with 1996's other , underperforming disaster films ( dante's peak , volcano ) , changed the title and shifted the release date by nearly a year . but , to paraphrase the bard , swill , by any other name , would smell as rank . <NEG> no number of name changes can help this picture </NEG> . it's not just about a disaster , <NEG> it is a disaster </NEG> . hard rain is the case of a movie that <NEG> gets progressively worse </NEG> with every passing minute . the best shot occurs during the opening credits , as the camera pans over the streets and byways of huntingburg , indiana as the water level slowly rises . the community , protected by an overworked dam , is being evacuated as the rain continues to pour relentlessly from the cloud-choked skies . from that moment on , <NEG> it's all downhill </NEG> . whatever initial entertainment value the film possesses has long since drained away by the halfway point . <NEG> it takes forever </NEG> to get to the end credits -- this is one of the longest-seeming 95-minute motion pictures i have recently endured . basically , hard rain is one <NEG> extended , dull chase </NEG> sequence punctuated by occasional shoot-outs . there's a lot of water , broken glass , gunfire , and explosions . <NEG> it's all very routine and uninteresting </NEG> because <NEG> there aren't any real characters </NEG> and the plot <NEG> only occasionally makes sense </NEG> . the film's conclusion is so <NEG> preposterous </NEG> that it's almost worth watching for the sheer masochistic enjoyment of seeing the <NEG> monumentally idiotic </NEG> way that the film makers decide to resolve the myriad subplots that are floating around . action films are supposed to become progressively more invigorating as they rush towards a conclusion . graham yost , the writer of both speed and hard rain , surely understands that principle . <NEG> unfortunately </NEG> , neither he , nor cinematographer-turned-director mikael salomon ( a far off place ) , applies it . the action in hard rain <NEG> grows tedious through repetition </NEG> . we see the same kinds of things -- speedboat chases , flood damage , shoot-outs , etc . -- <NEG> over and over again </NEG> . the movie <NEG> constantly recycles </NEG> about twenty minutes worth of material <NEG> to pad the running time </NEG> out to an acceptable movie length . the storyline gives us a number of <NEG> paper-thin characters in contrived circumstances </NEG> . there's tom ( christian slater ) , the one- dimensional action hero who works as a security guard driving an armored car full of cash . he and his partner , charlie ( edward asner , tv's " lou grant " ) , get stuck on a street that's rapidly turning into a river . a group of men , led by jimmy ( morgan freeman ) , arrive on the scene not as rescuers but as robbers . after charlie is killed in a shoot-out , tom hides the money , then runs . as he swims and boats his way through huntingburg's roads , he encounters some of the locals : karen ( minnie driver ) , a would-be love interest ; a bickering old couple ( richard dysart and betty white ) , who are on hand to provide comic relief ; and the easily-corrupted sheriff ( randy quaid ) , whose seeming helpfulness hides sinister ulterior motives . there isn't any real acting in this film . christian slater utters <NEG> a few lame one-liners </NEG> and does a lot of mugging for the camera . tom is easily one of <NEG> the most lifeless characters </NEG> the actor has brought to the screen . randy quaid sneers a lot , and is <NEG> totally unconvincing </NEG> . morgan freeman and minnie driver both attempt to give legitimate performances , but <NEG> they are defeated by the script </NEG> . freeman , one of the best cinematic thespians working today , <NEG> looks suitably embarrassed </NEG> to be here , but i suppose everyone needs a good paycheck from time-to-time . following in the wake of twister , this is yet another natural disaster movie that doesn't trust nature's fury as the chief engine of conflict . as a result , we are saddled with an <NEG> idiotic </NEG> good guys/bad guys story that <NEG> effectively ruins any potential </NEG> that the flood tale could have had . titanic proved that there can be a wealth of drama in a movie where everything goes under water . hard rain successfully demonstrates that the opposite is equally possible . thus far this year , hollywood has already subjected us to its unique brand of <NEG> moronic mayhem </NEG> by fire ( firestorm ) and water ( hard rain ) . fortunately , there are only two elements left .
