"We need a pollution revolution..."      

CHAIN REACTION (PG-13) 

Every once in a while you see a film that, although you find nothing obviously wrong with it, at the same time makes you feel like nothing was quite right.  Chain Reaction happens to be one of those films. Directed by Andrew Davis (The Fugitive), and starring Keanu Reeves (Speed) and Morgan Freeman (Seven), the film checks in with a pedigree which at least aims for success. Unfortunately, this one is far from the best of breed.  

The story starts out well enough as we follow a team of research scientists working on a cheap, clean method of producing energy from ordinary water.  The thrill of the quest, and the promise of the discovery, admittedly had my interest piqued.  Unfortunately, this lasts for all of a whopping fifteen minutes.  In very short order, the research team successfully completes the project, the leader of the team is murdered, another member is kidnapped, the research building is blown up, and the two remaining project team members (including Reeves) find themselves framed for it all, on the run and determined not to reappear until they've proven their innocence.

The rest of the film is a cat-and-mouse chase reminiscent of The Fugitive, but the results in this film are much less satisfying.  Although the action does run at a consistent and brisk pace, the characters (both the good guys and the bad guys) are not at all engaging.  The action sequences, although well-produced, are somewhat unspectacular--it's the kind of thing everyone's seen before in old James Bond flicks, or for that matter in The Fugitive.

At one point (a little over an hour into the movie), I found myself slumped in my seat, my head tilted to one side and resting on my hand, which was propped up against my chair's armrest. Your basic bored position, which was not a good sign considering that people were getting chased, shot at, and/or killed at every turn.  You wouldn't think that kind of stuff would get boring, just like you wouldn't think you could blow up eight city blocks with a small tank of water, but gosh-darnit, Chain Reaction makes both of those things a reality.

IMPRESSIONS

You know: with all the comparisons being made between Chain Reaction and The Fugitive, one thing that didn't make sense is why Keanu Reeves and his fellow "fugitive" (Rachel Weisz) didn't do like Harrison Ford and change their look while on the run (e.g. get a haircut or something...).  Woulda made them harder to catch, don't you think?

Did you know: that Chain Reaction was filmed at the DOE's Argonne National Laboratory.  Follow this link for more info!