MovieChat Forums > Black Rain (1989) Discussion > Has not aged well.

Has not aged well.

posted 18 years ago by johnmorley44
67 replies | jump to latest

This is a movie I have not seen for a few years. I remember quite enjoying it so when a the R1 SE came out I bought it.

Just watched it...and for me this is one of those movies that comes from Ridley's 'style over substance/dumb action movie' period, such as films like Someone To Watch Over Me and GI Jane.

Though it seemed ok back then, the concept of a hard-nosed, motorbike-riding, official-hating cop constantly under investigation by internal affairs, divorced and with money problems is very dated now.

Also dated is the stranger in a strange land/fish out of water aspect, and the buddy pairing of Douglas and Garcia, with Garcia as such a likeable character you just know he is not going to last until the end of the movie.

I can't say it's a bad film, but the conventions have been seen in countless movie since and are now cliches.

And boy, did Ridley love his smoke filled rooms, blue lighting and cityscape vistas.

Oh, and talking of cliches...why do all western made movies set in Japan, despite picturing people getting on planes and actually flying to Japan, and having a caption on screen telling them where they are, have to have that plinky-plink music just to hit the point home? It's like this is Japan...another country...not America, ok got it? No? OK, then we will have to play even more plinky-plink music... (I don't know what the instrument is, someone on here will know the name I am sure).

[–] franzkabuki 12 years ago

These cliches the OP is talking about were already cliches in 1989. It´s always been a tired piece of witless macho posturing.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] zerowing-1 12 years ago

Very few movies from the '80s have aged well, especially action movies.

[–] arksun1 11 years ago

The OP criticises the soundtrack for sounding 'plinky plonky' in Japan? lol
Well forgive Hans Zimmer for actually using a traditional Japanese instrument in a film set in Japan. I actually think this is a stunning soundtrack by Hans, great blend of ethnic and western styles.

[–] SausagePourVous 11 years ago

It's a bit uneven and it has aged less then awesome. Still,Garcias last scene gets the suspense,panic,hopelessness and dread just right. The scene haunted me as a kid,does a bit still....but his fate isn't cliche in this story,he is sort of presented as a minor second lead and it happens too soon....time has made the buddys ---- cliche,not Scott.

The scene was a bit....what?? No! Even back then in the stoneage....but the one Ridley that looks more like his brothers work.

[–] aminhawk 11 years ago

You should not drink and post.

[–] tyrexden 10 years ago

I don't think its fair to judge a film for being cliche'd, 30 years after it was made. particulary for the fact that when it was originally released it had invented some of those cliche's.

[–] bass-player-blues 10 years ago

I think it's more a matter of taste than anything else. I personally love all the things you dislike about this film. When so many movies strive to be "timeless", I find overtly dated films to often be refreshing depending on the mood.

[–] karnevilelp 9 years ago

Someone said the defiant cop with personal problems thing has been overdone since this movie, but that doesn't say anything about this movie. It says a lot about the movies that have been made since. It wasn't a cliche back then, it just is now.

The "defiant cop with personal problems" was a cliche by the early 1960's! Look at any number of 1940's - 1950's film noirs, that's a stock character. Tons of westerns with the "defiant sheriff with personal problems who has to fight the gang of bank robbers/cattle thieves/land thieves that have ridden in to town" thing. The good guy who gets gunned down before his time is a tired cliche (see most war movies), so is the hooker/woman of loose morals (Capshaw's character) with a conscience.

I just watched this, it looks great, has some good action scenes, but it could be set in Italy or Germany or China or India, during any post-WWII time frame and it wouldn't be much different except for the specific cultural details that Scott and the scriptwriters added. The score dates it terribly, too.

[–] rockmail 9 years ago

Spot on.

[–] Druffmaul 8 years ago

I just saw it for the first time since probably 1992, when my friends rented it. I recall I didn't like it at all back then. I definitely like it more now. But I would agree it's surely among Ridley Scott's weakest. I never guessed he'd bother doing a fairly rote cop flick.

[–] residentevil6901 8 years ago

Movies don't age, they're immortalized on film forever. Only a person and their perspective changes. This movie is just as good today as it was then. If you liked it then but not now it points to you and the way you think or feel today compared to then. Nothing about the movie is different. The movie gets old with time but nothing about the movie changes with that time. I get a kick out of all the people who think a movie ages. A movie never dies, people do.

[–] Druffmaul 8 years ago

If you honestly can't acknowledge that some movies fare the test of time better than others, then you need to pull your head out.