When Black Rain came out in 1989, director Ridley Scott was already a decade removed from Alien, the movie that became his first calling card. Scott has had a long and circuitous career that included plenty of strange detours, but also periodic reminders of why he is one of the world’s best living filmmakers.
When it was first released, Black Rain seemed like one of the more forgettable Scott movies. In the decades since, though, it’s only become more and more worth appreciating. Telling the story of a pair of NYPD detectives who are assigned to take a Yakuza gangster back to Osaka, Black Rain is probably better than you remember it being. Here are five reasons it’s worth checking out.
It was an innovative look at life in Japan
Being interested in Japanese life and culture was still fairly new when Scott and Michael Douglas set out to make Black Rain, and that’s part of the reason the movie feels so different from most action fare.
This isn’t a fish-out-of-water comedy, exactly, but Black Rain makes Japan its central location, and in the process gives us some perspective on what life was like there in the late 1980s, which was when many in the U.S. feared that it was becoming the new industrial capital of the world.
It was part of a hot streak from Michael Douglas
Few actors had a better 1980s than Michael Douglas, and the actor is firmly in the pocket of his movie stardom on Black Rain. Crucially, the film does not go out of its way to make Douglas’ central character likable.
He’s under investigation by internal affairs in New York, and he’s also behind on his alimony payments. Douglas was willing to play these kinds of complicated, flawed men, and the movies he made were better for it.
Few directors know how to film on location better than Ridley Scott
Especially in this period of his career, Scott was one of the best directors in the world at building atmosphere. And because this movie is set in Osaka, Scott got to capture atmosphere that had largely remained untouched by Hollywood cameras.
The movie’s neo-noir elements shine through beautifully, and with cinematography from Jan de Bont, Black Rain feels incredibly moody from the minute you see the first frame.
The plot mechanics are interesting, but secondary
The actual story of Black Rain is fairly standard-issue crime movie stuff, but the movie seems to recognize that the mechanisms of its story are not the reason that audiences paid for a ticket. Instead, it emphasizes mood and location, and that’s why it still feels so worth watching today. Scott has always been an expert at balancing tone and story considerations, and he leans heavily on the former here, but to great effect. Black Rain is a movie you can watch with the sound off, and you’ll still get 80% of its effect.
It goes down smooth
Because the plot mechanics are actually fairly straightforward, you don’t need to work too hard to actually understand what’s going on. Black Rain is the kind of movie you can watch over and over again precisely because it feels so familiar and looks so cool.
It’s not the best movie of either its star’s or director’s careers, but when you’ve had careers like those two, it’s enough to just be a noteworthy entry in a long and storied journey of movie-making.
Black Rain is streaming for free on Pluto TV. Need more recommendations? We also have guides to the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
