Tom Hardy Fought Nature Itself In This Forgotten 2007 Disaster Movie

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Before playing Bane, Eddie Brock, and Max Rockatansky on the big screen, Tom Hardy appeared in a limited release film in the U.K. called "Flood." The movie is set in London, and sees Hardy, as a character named Zak, attempt to survive as a massive tidal surge collides with the city. Floodwaters travel along the east coast of England up the Thames Estuary into the heart of the metropolis.

The movie is sitting at a 24% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes with more than 5,000 reviews tallied, many of them one-star reviews, though there are some higher ratings as well. "Flood" is rated 13+ due to violence, characters smoking, and use of foul language. It received a limited theatrical release, before airing as a two-part miniseries on ITV. Prime Video uses the words action, drama, and intense to describe the nearly two-hour disaster story.

It may not see him face down floodwaters, but fans of the British star can also watch one of Hardy's best movies, Locke, for free on YouTube. For those who dare to brave the bad reviews, "Flood" is available to rent for $1.99 or buy for $4.99 on Prime Video, and can be watched free as a two-episode TV show on Tubi.

The film's story centers on a torrential storm that causes the seas to rage, creating a gigantic tidal swell along England's coast, up the Thames, and into London. The fast approaching waters threaten millions of lives as scientists and engineers work together to create a plan to protect the city. "Flood" is a typical B-level disaster film with high-stakes action, cheesy one-liners, and dodgy CGI.

The movie also stars Robert Carlyle ("Once Upon a Time"), Jessalyn Gilsig ("Glee"), and Tom Courtenay ("Doctor Zhivago"). Matthew Cope, one of the writers of "Flood," wrote an episode of "Are You Afraid of the Dark" that aired in 1999. Tom Hardy's Zak isn't a major character in the movie by any means, but that hasn't stopped streaming services from using his name in the description to entice people to watch it. You can do so while waiting for Tom Hardy's acclaimed series Taboo to get a second season.

Robert Carlyle plays Rob, the main protagonist of the film, while the main antagonist is the raging storm. It's a story about survival and battling against the odds to overcome an impossible problem. By following the idea of man versus nature, the movie features everyday people doing all they can to combat a cataclysmic weather event.

The movie's tagline is "It's coming straight for us," which is one of those lines that you'd imagine is said in a B-grade disaster flick. Critics and viewers alike offer mostly negative opinions on the movie featuring the future A-list actor known for projects like "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Inception," both a long way from his earlier days in "Flood."

You'll find reviews for "Flood" on Rotten Tomatoes and Letterboxd, with a mix of good and bad thoughts. One reviewer called the film "atrocious" due to bad dialogue and poor visual effects, which may not be quite as good as the Sherlock Holmes movie with the first fully CGI character, but you can be the judge of that. Another reviewer said they enjoyed the movie, but the actors' performances were bad. One other commented that the movie was so bad they couldn't stop watching.

You can watch the movie for yourself or read the novel of the same name that it's based on. The 2002 novel "Flood" was written by Richard Doyle, who was also one of three writers for the film adaptation. Reviews for the book are much better than the film, with Amazon showing it at 4.6 stars out of five at the time of writing.