Review of Black Rain (1989) by Compi24 — 12 Aug 2018

Hidden within the dark and forgotten corners of the late 80's lies a movie within the filmography of Ridley Scott that I think many people have come to forget. And, though it did make a decent amount of money back when it originally came out, I think it can be said fairly confidently that whatever impact "Black Rain" impressed upon us back in the day has now faded and left.

That doesn't mean, however, that an exhumation isn't worth the old college try, so to speak, and after watching this pulpy, gritty, and dark army crawl through the filth that is the Osakan underbelly, I can say that my efforts were rewarded -- at least partially.

"Black Rain" often doesn't make any attempts at masquerading as some kind of complex, higher thematic study on "what it means to be a cop," or even "what it means to be an outsider in a strange land.

" But what it does do is latch on to some very simple ideas -- friendship, honor, justice -- and run with them. And though, because of this, some of the film's less action-packed scenes do suffer from a palpable lack of depth, it doesn't erase some of the more universally entertaining aspects at hand here.

Scott and cinematographer Jan De Bont, for one, make the steamy, neon-lit streets of Osaka look brilliant and almost Blade Runner-esque at times. The synth heavy score from composer Hans Zimmer is terrifically nostalgic and fun.

And the set piece design all throughout is engaging, with the use of setting within said set pieces also representing a high mark of creativity on the parts of the powers-that-be. Again, I can see why this particular project sort of "came and went.

" It's very simple. It's very breezy. It's very flashy. Almost like a plain chocolate bar. It's inoffensive, exactly what you're expecting, lacking in any kind of surprise or complexity. But, hey.

It is chocolate.