Chain Reaction (1996 film)

Last updated
Chain Reaction
Chain reaction ver1.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Andrew Davis
Screenplay by
Story by
Produced by
  • Arne L. Schmidt
  • Andrew Davis
Starring
Cinematography Frank Tidy
Edited by
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Production
companies
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date
  • August 2, 1996 (1996-08-02)
Running time
107 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50 million
Box office$60.2 million [1]

Chain Reaction is a 1996 American science fiction action thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Keanu Reeves, Morgan Freeman, Rachel Weisz, Fred Ward, Kevin Dunn and Brian Cox. The plot centers on the invention of a new non-contaminating power source based on hydrogen and the attempts by the United States Government to prevent the spreading of this technology to other countries. The film was released in the United States on August 2, 1996.

Contents

Plot

While working with a team from the University of Chicago on a project to convert hydrogen from water into clean energy, student machinist Eddie Kasalivich inadvertently discovers a sound frequency in his home laboratory that perfectly stabilizes their process the next day. As the team celebrates with a party at the project laboratory, Dr. Paul Shannon, the leader of the project, and Dr. Alistair Barkley, the project manager, debate over whether or not to share the scientific discovery. Later that night, project physicist Dr. Lily Sinclair finds her car unable to start, so Eddie gets her home by bus. Back in the laboratory, Alistair and assistant Dr. Lu Chen are preparing to upload their discovery to the Internet to share the breakthrough with the world, while a van approaches the premises. Chen hears a noise and goes outside to investigate, but is kidnapped by unknown assailants as Alistair is also attacked.

Once he has dropped Lily off at Alistair's house, where she lives on the third floor, Eddie returns to the laboratory to retrieve his motorcycle, but notices a suspicious van departing. Hearing alarms, he runs inside to find Alistair dead with a plastic bag over his head and Chen missing. As the hydrogen reactor has become dangerously unstable, Eddie, unable to deactivate it, speeds away as a concealed detonator triggers a massive hydrogen explosion that destroys the laboratory and eight blocks' worth of surrounding streets.

Upon returning from questioning by the FBI, Eddie and Lily realize that they are being framed after encountering planted evidence in both of their houses. The two flee to an observatory in Wisconsin belonging to Maggie McDermott, an old friend of Eddie's. After resting up, they contact Paul, but are almost caught and narrowly escape. As the pair are evading more police, Paul meets with Lyman Earl Collier at C-Systems Research complex, where it is revealed that C-Systems orchestrated the plot to destroy the laboratory and frame the pair for it, with Lyman ordering the attack. Despite some disagreement, Paul and Lyman decide to continue hunting for the pair, a task facilitated when Eddie covertly arranges a meeting with Paul. At their rendezvous, Paul reveals his involvement in framing Eddie, but the meeting ends in an ambush in which Lyman’s thugs Yusef Reed and Clancy Butler, who murdered Alistair, capture Lily while Eddie barely escapes.

After tracing the license plate on the thugs' van, Eddie tracks them to the secret C-Systems Research facility where Paul and Lyman are forcing Lily and Chen to replicate the project. When C-Systems' test reactor malfunctions, Paul, the scientists and the prisoners all depart, allowing Eddie to furtively "fix" the system that night. The next morning, one of the other scientists discovers the working reactor and everyone celebrates. A suspicious Paul immediately obtains a download of the fusion data, and secretly gives it to his assistant, Anita, for safekeeping. He then encounters Eddie at a computer in the company boardroom, who demands his release for making the reactor work. Paul agrees but Lyman refuses, so Eddie sets the reactor to explode while sending proof of his innocence to the FBI and blueprints of the reactor to "hopefully a couple thousand" international scientists. Lyman responds by shooting Chen dead, then locking in Eddie and Lily to die in the explosion as he, Paul, and their staff flee the site.

Lyman is given a falsified copy of the fusion data before Paul kills him for overstepping the bounds of the program, leaving his body in an elevator. During his own escape, he deactivates the containment system, allowing Eddie and Lily to escape. They are attacked by Reed and Butler over an ascending construction lift, but escape by climbing aboard it moments before a blast wave sweeps through the complex, incinerating the corpses of Reed, Butler, and Lyman. Having survived the shockwave, Eddie and Lily are met by FBI agents Ford and Doyle, now convinced of their innocence, who take them to safety. Paul is shown dictating a memo to Anita in a chauffeured limo, informing the Director of the CIA that "...C-System [is] no longer a viable entity."

In a post-credits scene, the C-Systems facility is seen imploding into the landscape.

Cast

In addition, Michael Shannon and Neil Flynn make appearances as a van driver and a Wisconsin State Police Trooper, respectively.

Production

Large portions of the film were shot on location in and around Chicago, Illinois, including the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum of Natural History, Michigan Avenue, and the James R. Thompson Center (Atrium Mall). Additional scenes were shot at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, on Geneva Lake in southern Wisconsin, interiors of the U.S. Capitol were shot at the Wisconsin State Capitol, in Madison, Wisconsin, at Inland Steel Company (now known as Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.) in East Chicago, Indiana, and at a private residence in Barrington Hills, Illinois. Because of the cold Great Lakes winter and filming taking place during record breaking winter weather, unique challenges were present for the cast and crew. Morgan Freeman noted that "It was difficult for everyone, particularly for me because I'm tropical," he said. "I don't do cold weather. This is Chicago...in the winter. I was ill and in bed four days at a crack. It was really rough." [2]

Reception

Chain Reaction received negative reviews. The film holds an 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 33 reviews, with the site's critical consensus stating, "Ironic given the scientific breakthrough at the story's core, Chain Reaction is a man-on-the-run thriller that mostly sticks to generic formula." [3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale. [4]

Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half stars out of four, writing: "By movie's end, I'd seen some swell photography and witnessed some thrilling chase scenes, but when it came to understanding the movie, I didn't have a clue." [5] Jeff Millar of the Houston Chronicle wrote: "The narrative is very complex, but what's on the screen is little more than generic, non-narrative-specific, guy-being-chased stuff". [6] Conversely, Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle felt the film was one of the summer's best movies, writing: "[Chain Reaction] has better acting, better writing, more spectacular chase sequences and more genuine drama than all of this summer's blockbusters." [7]

Chain Reaction and its cast were nominated for one award, with Keanu Reeves being nominated for the Razzie for Worst Actor, which was won by both Tom Arnold and Pauly Shore. [8]

Chain Reaction debuted in fourth place at the box office behind A Time to Kill , Independence Day and Matilda , collecting a total of $7.5 million during its opening weekend. [9] The film grossed just over USD$60.2 million worldwide. [1]

Reeves has since expressed regret about Chain Reaction, blaming script changes. Of his character, he said: "Originally, I was married. I had this kid and I did this research and I didn't know that what I was researching had this effect. And someone got killed and I had these regrets and I'm trying to stop what I'm doing, but they can't let me so they're chasing me. And then all of a sudden I turn into this 24-year-old machinist and I turned to (director) Andrew Davis and I said, 'What happened to the movie I said yes to? What happened to that script? Where did that go?' And he said, 'No, I got something better,' and so I just had to go with it." [10]

Scientific accuracy

In one interpretation of the film's plot, a scientific process supposedly extracts hydrogen from water, then burns the hydrogen to generate power, and leaves only water as a residue, essentially a chemical perpetual motion. The movie never clarifies how the hydrogen is extracted from the water, nor how water is still left over. The character Dr. Shannon makes contradictory statements in the combination of ideas mashed together: one time he says this is accomplished with a laser with millions of degrees, another time he says frequencies of sound and sonoluminescence. In one scene, the movie shows a bubbling container reminiscent of cold fusion electrolytic cells and another references sustained fusion. A character in the film claims that a glass of water could power Chicago for weeks, but no clear explanation is ever given as to whether this is by simply burning hydrogen released by highly efficient means or through nuclear processes. The film's title is also misleading, since "chain reaction" is related to nuclear fission, not fusion. [11]

The film is based around the premise that free energy suppression is real. The main character is told that his discovery is too disruptive: energy would suddenly be cheap, oil would no longer be necessary, oil companies would go bankrupt, and such sudden economic changes would throw society into chaos.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Chain Reaction (1996)". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved May 26, 2024.
  2. "Morgan Freeman stars in 'Chain Reaction': latest movie in the actor's stellar career. (includes a listing of all plays, TV productions and films in which he had a major role)". Jet. Highbeam.com. August 12, 1996. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016.
  3. "Chain Reaction". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 26, 2024.
  4. "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  5. "Reviews | Chain Reaction". rogerebert.com. August 2, 1996. Archived from the original on April 21, 2016.
  6. Millar, Jeff (July 31, 1996). "The thrills are missing in Chain Reaction". Houston Chronicle . Archived from the original on February 24, 1999.
  7. Guthmann, Edward (August 2, 1996). "Keanu Is the Action in Frantic 'Chain Reaction'". San Francisco Chronicle . Retrieved May 26, 2024.
  8. "Razzie Awards: 1997". IMDb . Archived from the original on February 7, 2009.
  9. "Court drama tops box office". The Oshkosh Northwestern . August 5, 1996. Archived from the original on May 6, 2023. Retrieved May 26, 2024 via Newspapers.com. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  10. Butler, Karen (September 27, 2001). "Interview of the week: Keanu Reeves". United Press International . Retrieved May 26, 2024.
  11. Perkowitz, Sidney (2007). Hollywood Science: Movies, Science, and the End of the World (ollustrated ed.). Columbia University Press. pp. 113–114. ISBN   978-0231142816.