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Chain Reaction (1996) More at IMDb Pro »

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67 comments in total

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20 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
enjoyable, 22 August 1999

Author: smoothie73 from atlanta,ga

After viewing this film on homevideo,i decided for myself that this fugitive style film was worth adding into my personal collection of fun films.All action nuts should get a kick out of chain reaction mainly because this is what the film was made for and not to be correct in all of what goes on.Keanu reaves is a student machinist at a chicago university who is working with a genius of a professor that is finding a way to extract energy from plain water thru process of hydrogen.Keanu finds the frequency that makes the process work by mistake one night at home.After having a small celebration back at the university,he escorts his tipsy assistant Rachel Weise back to her apartment,but like the gentleman he is,he dosent take advantage of her and puts her to bed.Once he returns back to the building where the experiments were conducted,he finds utter chaos with the professor dead(suffocated) and the hydrogen machine going haywire.He finds a explosive device ready to go off at any minute,so keanu bolts away and heads for his motocycle.After only getting a few miles away,the bomb is detonated and takes out five city blocks in the process.Naturally,since he was the last one at the scene,Keanu is the prime suspect in the sabotage case.His only allies are now Rachel Weise and the mysterious business man portrayed by Morgan Freeman who no one can figure out which side he is really on Purist and filmstudents could pick this film apart as they usually do by noting a few continuity glitches and questioning how keanu could survive the explosion that took out five city blocks,but if he were to perish then and there folks,there could be no further development and the film ends there.Keep in mind this was made for the action buff and you wont mind the few glitches that occur in this film which i deem quite enjoyable by all but the picky few who dont really watch films for enjoyment and escapism.

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15 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Moderately successful chase movie, 2 August 2003
Author: Amy Adler from Toledo, Ohio

Eddie (Keanu Reeves) works on a scientific team that is searching for low-cost energy sources that are good for the environment, too. One day, it seems that such a discovery has been made. Soon after, however, the chief scientist is murdered and the invention stolen. Eddie and fellow team member Dr. Lily Sinclair (Rachel Weisz) are suspects in the murder and are forced to go on the run. Naturally, the police and the FBI are in hot pursuit. Another team member Paul (Morgan Freeman) may have some secrets to hide as well. Will the truth come out and will the fleeing duo be captured?

This movie is mostly a chase picture and a moderately successful one. Much of the action is centered on the capture of Eddie and Lily. There is an impressive scene, for example, where Eddie is trying to avoid seizure by climbing a raised bridge. Unfortunately, not all of the scenes are as effective. The scientific elements are quickly rushed over, causing some confusion as to what has transpired. As for the romance between Reeves and Weisz, it is nicely subdued. It's there but only manifests itself in a few embraces. Although the ending is quite exciting, the overall effect of the movie as an action flick is only partly realized. There are some missing plot elements that would have raised it to a higher level. Recommended as a fairly good action motion picture; Reeves fans, certainly, will enjoy it.

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16 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Weird Science, 17 October 2000

Author: madshell from Ft. Lauderdale, FL USA

"Man and woman against the world!!" Okay, maybe it has been done into the ground, and it is the basis of today's and yesterday's rehashed thriller. The welcome difference that "Chain Reaction" gives is in its cast.

Morgan Freeman, Keanu Reeves (who's at his best in action) and Rachel Weisz make this film much more engaging to watch than it should be. Reeves and Weisz look fine together as Eddie and Lily, respectively, who are two college students accused of murdering one of their colleagues and stealing their economically and ecologically-friendly fuel project. They must run from the Law AND those who have framed them, or are they the same people?

Good on action!

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10 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Fast and exciting film that makes you think after watching., 6 February 2000

Author: The tyke

This film is fast and exciting. The story is about a scientist working at a University lab. to make renewable energy out of water. Upon succeeding, the plant explodes but not before Reeves returns to find one of the top researches suffocated. Upon investigation Reeves and Weiss are set up and the FBI are on their case. In seeking to find the truth, they uncover an undercover agency established by the Government that is so secret that top Officials at the White House are unaware of its activities, the FBI are unaware and the is no paperwork of its existence.

This film really gets you hooked and makes you think about what does really go on in the world.

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10 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Better than critics moo, 7 July 2001
Author: David Walker Stevens (dsteve15@earthlink.net)

Has the same improbability clause of other flicks in the same genre. Notwithstanding, Chain Reaction has excellent lighting and set design. There is overall a strong dependency on team acting and multiple scene rotations. This gives the film a docu-drama effect in the beginning. The fast paced scenes may obscure the plot for some. For me the cinemagraphic effects and acting are A-1. Obviously the writing and direction are good, or this film would not hold together at all, and it does. Because there is little character development, the focus is on scene development and approaching plot. This sort of editing technique and direction does not happen by chance and must be recognized as a valid concept. Most certainly a film with character and merit which can be enjoyed by those looking beyond a breadcrumb plot and a gingerbread house script. Good music score (odd, but good) with good sound effects. Forget the trailer, which has little or no correspondence to the film itself, or maybe it does. This is a rather strange film where one has to believe a group of people with unique ideas came together and produced a rather odd film with value. I enjoyed it.

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Actually, 16 September 2004

Author: DreamPilot from Stockton, California

Actually, the above poster is incorrect. Reeves is a machinist in this movie who is helping the scientists build the parts not a scientist. And that matters in this movie because Reeves actually does pretty well for once as an actor.

The concept of the movie isn't a new one, an industrial-military conspiracy to control technology because the masses aren't "ready" to deal with it yet. Freeman actually played the most interesting character. He kind of flip-flops throughout the movie and you're not sure what to think of him until the final scene.

Regardless, it wasn't the best movie nor the worst movie ever made. Reeves acted pretty well and the writing was semi-believable. If you're looking for a fast paced movie that you don't have to think too much on - this movie isn't a bad rental to see.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Well I liked it., 26 February 2003
Author: Jamie (JJohns@cyberbay.net)

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Gee, I guess considering the reviews and the displeased comments, people didn't like this movie. Well, I did. Okay, (and there may be a spoiler or two) so movie fans out there have already seen this story line before: The Saint is one that easily comes to mind. And yes the plot and the ending are predictable, but it had a few twists and turns. We need the action and the explosions cause this is an action film. Now the love interest story didn't have to be used but, we always need a girl. But under the circumstances of the story, there was no time to establish the love story.

This movie for me was a character study. The characters in this film were well developed and convincing. The ambiguity of Morgan Freeman's character was interesting. For instance, I never knew where Morgan Freeman's character was coming from or what his intentions were with Keanu. And the elevator scene close to the end shocked me. And he was smoking his cigar the entire time. I liked seeing Keanu play a simple guy. Being a hero accidentally fell on his shoulders to me. When he and Rachael are running from the bad guys (whoever they were) and they go on the ice sled machine, he starts the machine up and it goes out of control for a minute. When she questions him, he replies "The best I can". Now I don't know about you but that's impressive for a man to be real and unsure of the shaky circumstances that were dealt.

Its rare seeing a hero in films react like that, just real and honest. They need to do a chain reaction of real non-macho protagonist characters like that in more films.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Action packed and fun!, 2 April 2006

Author: Sherazade from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

A lab technician (Keanu Reeves) and a doctor (Rachel Weisz) are framed for the murder of a scientist who develops a ground breaking pollution free energy plant. On the run for their lives, they meet a seemingly sinister tycoon (played to perfection by the incomparable Morgan Freeman) whom they can't seem to figure out whether or not he will help him of belongs on the team against them. For the year in which it was made, this is actually a very decent action thriller. The plot is solid and the twists and turns are completely welcome and fit in perfectly. Reeves who often fails prey to bad criticism actually shines here and is complimented perfectly by the flawless Weisz.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
The very definition of routine., 8 March 2008

Author: Robert J. Maxwell (rmax304823@yahoo.com) from Deming, New Mexico

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

The frozen landscapes are impressive. Ice-covered lakes, stark bare tree trunks that look black against the snow. It gets so cold that at night you hear trees crack when their sap freezes. In upstate New York, I used to stare out the windows during dull lectures and wonder how the Iroquois could have survived winters in such a climate. Here, unfortunately, we have to look at interiors in Chicago and Washington, DC, and even in the exterior scenes the actors have a habit of getting in the way of the scenery.

What happens, very briefly, is that a handful of naive young scientists, including Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz, are involved in an experiment which they hope will supply the world with energy that costs almost nothing. They don't know it but they're working on a secret CIA project. The company intends to suppress the results of the experiment because they don't want a world-wide panic when oil becomes nothing more than a paleontological curiosity.

It's cheap energy that is the MacGuffin here, but it could be anything else -- a Fountain of Youth serum, the top-secret formula for Coca Cola, a single pill that keeps you high the rest of your life, a draught that turns you into a Priapistic monster in the blink of an eye, the missing National Guard records of an important personage, the tax returns of another -- anything you like.

The whole thing is exciting and full of propulsion and is written and directed strictly by the numbers. It could have come out of Screen writing for Dummies. There is intrigue and suspense in the story, but only enough of a plot to link the violent episodes together, or the chase scenes, just as there's enough plot in a pornographic movie to bring the performers physically together.

The casting and direction are able to clear the same, very low bar. The evildoers look ugly. The well-meaning but confused FBI guys look well-meaning but confused. The two innocent leads are beautiful. Not a single opportunity is wasted in pumping up the adrenalin of the viewers. If a hero is being chased across the Michigan Avenue drawbridge and it begins to open, he must reach the very end of the tilted structure and dangle from it. If he and the heroine run through a tunnel while being pursued, he must hold her hand and pull her along behind him. They can out-race exploding fireballs.

Why go on? It's an effective chase thriller if that's what you're looking for. And Morgan Freeman gives an outstanding performance, saddled as he is with lines like, "The world isn't all that simple, Eddie." What's most bothersome is that the problem that should be at the heart of this heartless movie is almost entirely dispensed with. Homo sapiens' place in the ecosystem in which he plays such an important part is hardly dealt with -- not even in passing. Our place in nature seems to be too important to be used as a Hollywood gimmick, a device to hang an uninspired plot from. I don't mean the movie has to be full of gravitas. But even comedies have done a better job of dealing with the kinds of questions this film raises. See "The Man in the White Suit" for an example.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
What? Back to Economics 101!..., 14 February 2003

Author: Dr_Cool from Duluth, Minnesota

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

** ATTENTION: POSSIBLE SPOILER ** So, they discover a new, cheap, clean and reliable energy source, and because of that a big and confuse governmental conspiracy is put on the march, under the excuse that the full access to that technology is going to cause recession, social disruption and war??!!! That was one of the silliest pieces of economic misinformation I've ever seen in a movie! Please, do your homework and stitch up a better script next time! There could be infinite reasons for someone to want to take control of a new technology, but that would be the last one. This movie is not a complete turkey only because it has some beautiful shots and a few enjoyable action scenes.

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