Black Rain

So what do we have here? Michael Douglas' first film since Wall Street, which we've been waiting 2 years for. Music by Hans Zimmer, Oscar nominations in the categories of Best Sound and Best Sound Editing. And yet it's such beautiful eighties trash. Clouds of genre stereotypes, everything is beautifully tough, black and white, and relaxed. Motorcycles purr, the women have perms... The narrative even returns to a Japanese revenge for Hiroshima. Today, however, it can't be taken seriously. (09/03/2024)

An excellent and gritty crime film perfectly directed by Ridley Scott, which typically symbolizes the 1980s and 90s. A gang of tough fighters, pumped-up visuals, plenty of murders and shootouts, and other necessary attributes. The exotic setting is a very good idea and some camera shots or whole sequences can remind you of Scott's opus Blade Runner. Hans Zimmer composed a fairly impressive electronic score with a hint of the Orient, and the name of the cinematographer (Jan De Bont) is definitely worth mentioning. The screenplay is not groundbreaking, but that is not a novelty for Scott. (01/12/2005)

One of Scott’s worst films, because it’s the most boring. Ridley Scott is still a master who can conjure up beautiful images, here supported by the charm of Japan's exotic setting, but it also displays the typical malaise of much of his work, a lousy script. Without Scott’s magic this is just a below-par, forgettable crime drama. (13/04/2003)

From beginning to end, it's an obvious product of action-crime of the eighties. I don't quite understand why the former superstar Douglas teamed up with Ridley Scott for such a mediocre subject that couldn't enrich their careers in any way. But I cannot just criticize, Scott is too skillful of a director who plays with atmosphere and most importantly, he is lucky because Hans Zimmer (not for the last time in his career) saves the whole film with his composition. (26/05/2007)

A fairly watchable crime drama from the late 1980s. Mike Douglas is on form, Andy Garcia is likable to the end, and Ridley Scott does his job without any special flourishes. (13/03/2009)