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Excellent but underrated film

A Disappointing Continuation

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Just watched the big budget CHAIN REACTION on the Reelz channel, and it all made for a very underwhelming Sat. night. Some sort of convoluted plot about alternative fuel which didn't make a whole bunch of sense was the back drop to Keanu Reeves & Rachel Weisz running everywhere around Chicago and So. Wisconsin in January of 1996.It certainly was fun picking out Chicago bit actors of the era, including Chelcie Ross, a very young and skinny Michael Shannon (or as I know him now, Nelson Van Alden from "Boardwalk Empire"), John Cusack's late father, and even a couple of CBS2 Chicago veteran investigative reporters, Pam Zekman and John Drummond. The best parts were the location shots at Williams Bay on frozen Lake Geneva Wisc., including the inside of the Yerkes Observatory and Keanu spinning around on an "everglades like" hovercraft just missing some 'Sconnie fish houses.But all in all, I'd say take a pass on CHAIN REACTION unless nothing else is on.

When the scientist leading the search for a new low cost energy source announces that he intends to give the discovery to the world he is looked on as a bit of an idealist but when a breakthrough leads to the energy source's discovery things quickly go bad for his team; he is murdered and his lab totally destroyed; another of his team vanishes, presumed to have taken stolen data to China and another two; Eddie Kasalivich, the man who made the breakthrough and Dr. Lily Sinclair, a physicist on the team find themselves on the run having been framed for murder and selling the data. The only man they think they can trust is Eddie's mentor Paul Shannon but he is in no position as the FBI are watching him almost as keenly as they are watching Eddie and Lily. If they are to survive they will have to get out of Chicago and find a safe way to meet Shannon; all the time avoiding various law enforcement agencies and more dangerous characters working for the shadowy organisation that killed the scientist and destroyed his lab.While this is hardly a classic thriller it is a lot of fun; there are impressive explosions, numerous chases, shootings and a constant sense that our protagonists could be caught, or worse, at any moment. Keanu Reaves does a decent job as Eddie and Rachel Weiss is fine as Lily; however it is Morgan Freeman who dominates proceedings as Shannon; a man we aren't sure whether or not can be trusted for much of the film. Brian Cox also puts in a fun performance as the obvious villain Lyman Collier. The story itself is fairly silly but it is well told and there should be enough action and suspense to keep most viewers entertained well enough. I wouldn't say this is a must see film but it is worth watching if it is on television and there is nothing better on.

Andrew Davis made an intelligent and absorbing thriller in his 1993 smash hit 'The Fugitive'. But in 'Chain Reaction', he fails to engage or thrill it's viewer. An idea that had potential to hook it's viewer, is disbanded by weak writing.'The Fugitive' told the story of 1 innocent person blamed for something he didn't do, 'Chain Recation' is about 2 innocent souls, who are blamed for something they haven't done.'Chain Reaction' begins with a bang. The initial portions make you feel as if you're in for a roller-coaster ride. Unfortunately, the writing goes for a toss, especially in it's penultimate portions. The suspense falls flat, and that becomes it's biggest downer.Andrew Davis is good filmmaker, no doubt, but it's the writing that lets him down in here. Cinematography is alright. The Editing could've been crispier. Performance-Wise: Keanu Reeves is adequate. Morgan Freeman is excellent, as expected. Rachel Weisz is alright. Brian Cox, Fred Ward & Kevin Dunn do their bits well.On the whole, 'Chain Reaction' is strictly an average fare. A Thriller that clearly Disappoints!

This movie centers on the heroes being chased all over the map having been framed for murder and treason. They make all sorts of clever attempts to evade their pursuers. However, neither of them does one thing to change their appearance -- they don't cut their hair, they don't color it, and the Keanu Reeves character doesn't shave his beard. And the escape from certain death at the end is way beyond belief!I'm willing to suspend a little disbelief but am I supposed to think this is even remotely realistic? Naturally this plot contained twists and turns and bad guys who looked at first like good guys. But I found myself anticipating virtually all of it. There were few surprises except how transparent the story was.Sadly, I can't help wondering how so many good actors got involved with this lousy movie although we see that often in Hollywood.