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Visitors Review

Cedric_Catsuits 2013-05-18 21:26:43

Not bad

I'm not a huge fan of Keanu Reeves, and I think playing Ted was aboutas far as his ability stretches. He can look good on screen - as inMatrix - but just like that trio of money-making movies, hisperformances are superficial and don't stand up to scrutiny. Havingsaid that, I actually quite like this movie, definitely one of hisbetter efforts. He does have fabulous support from Freeman, Weisz, Coxet al, and there is a decent and not too far-fetched plot, with someentertaining, if obvious twists.Overall quite a classy, sometimes thrilling, and satisfyinglyconspiratorial story. A sensible movie, well-enough crafted to providea good feeling and keep the viewer interested pretty well throughout.If by some freak chance you missed one of it's many TV playings, giveit a go.

nama chakravorty 2013-05-18 08:40:41

Average...

Andrew Davis made an intelligent and absorbing thriller in his 1993smash hit 'The Fugitive'. But in 'Chain Reaction', he fails to engageor 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 somethinghe didn't do, 'Chain Recation' is about 2 innocent souls, who areblamed for something they haven't done.'Chain Reaction' begins with a bang. The initial portions make you feelas if you're in for a roller-coaster ride. Unfortunately, the writinggoes for a toss, especially in it's penultimate portions. The suspensefalls flat, and that becomes it's biggest downer.Andrew Davis is good filmmaker, no doubt, but it's the writing thatlets him down in here. Cinematography is alright. The Editing could'vebeen crispier. Performance-Wise: Keanu Reeves is adequate. MorganFreeman 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 Thrillerthat clearly Disappoints!

dwpollar 2013-05-17 21:11:32

Starts out to be a thinking movie, but turns into action flick ...

1st watched 1/25/1997 - (Dir-Andrew Davis):Starts out to be a thinking movie, but turns into action flick about thefight over a new energy source in Hydrogen. Performances keep yourinterest.

2013-05-17 00:00:39

Outstanding Movie

This review is from: Chain Reaction (Amazon Instant Video) This is one of my favorite movies with a story line that is not hard to believe.Oil companies and big government squashing new energy technology, wow, that's hard to believe!Great Movie!

Sherazade 2013-05-16 08:09:04

Action packed and fun!

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

2013-05-15 19:20:48

'I'm in the middle of a chain reaction . . .'

Why the hell would you name a film after a Diana Ross classic? (Or a Steps 'classic', depending what generation you're from!) OK, so it's given a rather obvious title, due to the fact the film jumps from one event to another. None of these events have any links, and are all highly unlikely and stupid to boot.Morgan Freeman is the true star of this movie, although the constant cigar that he carries around does get a bit annoying. Especially since it's rarely lit. Keanu Reeves seems to bulk up for certain films (Speed, Matrix), and then all the muscle turns to flab, cos he looks like he generally pigs out. He's unkempt, chubby, unshaven - basically everything you would find UNsexy in a man! And the 'relationship' between his character and Rachel Weisz's character is very unbelievable. There is absolutely no chemistry between the characters, and I believe that off screen, they didn't speak to each other. It's highly believable that they didn't spend any time together, so that results in no chemistry. Now if you were watch to Speed - loads of chemistry between Keanu & Sandra Bullock.This film is not worth the time or the money - oops, says she who bought it! But then again, I'm a Keanu Reeves fan. If you can't stand the sight of Keanu Reeves, this film is for you to watch once, slag off every time his name gets mentioned, and instantly forget.

Zachary C 2013-05-14 14:15:54

Chain Reaction: my reaction

Chain Reaction clearly depicted a control of the energy markets (fossil fuels vs. "clean, cheap energy") by the U.S. government. Despite Chain Reaction having five writers (three story and two screenplay), these questions remained for me after viewing Chain Reaction:1. When geniuses capable of deriving energy from fission with inexpensive methods (uhm, at least that seemed to be what they did) were being chased – not once but many times – knowing their pictures were televised, in newspapers, etc., why did they not have enough intelligence to change their appearances?2. The characters that remained the "bad guys" by the end of Chain Reaction represented whom? 3. Would the displacement of one international commodity, such as oil, really cause economies around the world to collapse, as suggested by the CIA character (to justify a government-granted monopoly for energy)? In other words, was this written for or against oilmen, or was the audience to care enough to decide?The acting was better than the story. Reeves had the part of a calm intellect down, though people who are not calm intellects may not appreciate this. Weisz was believable as a physicist, and she was physically attractive (somebody recognized the need :^ ). Freeman was possibly too good - reminding us of all the better-written material he's had. Fred Ward IS a cop. The "bad guys" ... well, who could have played those poorly written characters any better?More stories on this topic, including a sequel, would be worthwhile.

BidDaddy 2013-05-14 03:00:05

Decent movie

This was a better movie than I heard- worth renting on video. There werealot of twists to the plot that I did not expect. There are some prettysuspenseful moments that will keep you interested in themovie.

edgein15 2013-04-30 20:11:20

It's a buddy movie.

This entire movie sucks. Nothing even approaching competence is everachieved. Now that I think about it, this movie isn't about Keanu. Itisn'tabout Rachel.It's a buddy movie involving Morgan Freeman and a cigar. See, this picturecares not about large plot holes or scientific realism. It cares onlyaboutscenes featuring Morgan Freeman and a cigar.Watch the film. Action scenes are lifeless. Love scenes are lifeless. Butscenes featuring Morgan Freeman and a cigar are always played wonderfully.Dear God, this movie was bad.

MovieAddict2011 2013-04-30 11:14:23

The movie acts like it could be telling a true story. It's just replacing peace with chaos and dorky scientists with pretty Hollywood faces.

Possible Mild Spoilers Herein.Keanu Reeves plays a physicist in this movie. Yep, a physicist. Whoa. And ifthat didn't scare or thrill you, then either will this movie, because that'sprobably the scariest thing about this turkey.Reeves plays Eddie Kasalivich (say it ten times in a row real fast), astudent of physics and an on-the-side machinist who likes to put his physicsto work with his machines, of course. Eddie has a brand-new project that isgoing to blow the world away - literally. Because his experiment sets off achain of events, or CHAIN REACTION -- ding-ding! -- that succeeds indemolishing an entire building, city, and more. But methinks that it hasnothing to do with his theories nor experiments -- it all is on-screen soaudiences can see things go boom.But of course, if we as an audience wanted to see things go boom without areasonable plot in the first place, we would just go see an ArnoldSchwarzenegger film, which tend to have an amount of fun in them to satisfyanyone's cinematic action tastes. "Chain Reaction" thinks it's real smartand tries to be real smart by inserting lots of smart dialogue, in hopesthat audiences will think it's a smart movie. It's not. It's more ridiculousthan anything, and the long stretches of scientific mumbo-jumbo dialoguestand in the way of what we want to see -- fights, explosions, and bigbooms. And besides, how could the filmmakers possibly believe casting KeanuReeves as a physicist would convince audiences it was a smart film? Aslacker computer nerd who turns out to be The Chosen One, okay, yeah, I'llbuy that, but a physicist? Insert guffaw here.Eddie works for Dr. Barkley (Nicholas Rudall), who is trying to extractsources of energy, or "power" for the layman, from water. Eddie succeeds indoing this along with his co-scientist, Lily (Rachel Weisz). Lily could be apotentially real character, but Rachel Weisz would never be the woman -- themovie acts like it could be telling a true story. It's just replacing peacewith chaos and dorky scientists with pretty Hollywood faces.When they try to post their findings on the "Internet," or The BigInteractive Computer Thingy to the layman, it sets off a CHAIN REACTION thatresults in a mysterious man named Shannon (Morgan Freeman) trying to framethem as spies selling their findings to the Chinese. He basically tries toframe them for doing exactly what Bill Clinton did. As Homer Simpson oncesaid: "For shame. D'oh!""Chain Reaction" pauses at too many scenes to cram in unintelligablescientific goobalee-glock to the audience. It comes as a surprise to seethis film was directed by Andrew Davis, who scored big with "The Fugitive,"a terrific, interesting, engaging and -- get this -- original film. Thereisn't a spark of originality here -- and if you ask me, Keanu Reeves shouldstick to playing slacker computer nerds instead of physicists. Just pictureit: "Chain Reaction 2: Smarter and More Unoriginal Than Last Time!" Tagline:"What if the world around us was all an illusion? What if CHAIN REACTIONnever happened? What if Neo from 'The Matrix' is really Eddie Valinisky?What if Morgan Freeman is the designer of the Agent Smiths?" I can't handlethe suspense.1.5/5 stars -John Ulmer

2013-04-24 14:40:14

ACTION

This review is from: Chain Reaction (Amazon Instant Video) If you like sitting on the end of your seat then Chain Reaction is a powerful movie like that. First I love the stars, Morgan and Keanu. The excitement of it make you want to bite your nails. Anyway you won't go wrong buying this movie.

pedmac 2013-04-23 22:13:42

Unbelievable

The film has an interesting premise about the possibility of alternate fuel source, and a rare role of Morgan Freeman as a bad guy [who always does a great job, regardless of the role], but the movie progresses unbelievably from one scene to another. Even the action scenes are forced, and Kenau Reeves' escapes require one to suspend belief. Had I known where it was going from the start, I never would have watched it. Alas, once I start a movie, it has to be a solid F to walk away from it.

2013-04-22 07:43:50

An Absolute stunner!

having only seen speed once i thought it was great till i saw this, the storyline was immense and we saw some excellent acting as always from morgan freeman, if you haven't seen this movie go out right now and buy it, you won't be disappointed!

refinedsugar 2013-04-21 19:01:04

Been Here, Seen That

Speed. No matter what project Keanu decided to do after, there wasabsolutely no chance it could measure up. Speed was one of the betteraction movies of the 90's and still measures up today. Which inevitablyleads me to say Chain Reaction is a disappointment.The story centers around man's continuing struggle to extract powerfrom water and at the center is Eddie Kasalivich (Keanu Reeves). Whobesides having that cool name and that lazy machinist two week oldbeard going is fortunate enough to be working on the University OfChicago's Hydrogen Energy Project. Where after years of hard work andcopious amounts of funding, they have finally converted Hydrogen toenergy. In order words - cheap, efficient, pollution free energy. Seewhere this is going yet? Not much effort is really needed to slap onsome sort of conspiracy yarn. Just imagine how many people would liketo see a project like this fail ...... but they can't even do that right. It all fizzles out. Yeah thereis a conspiracy, but it basically boils down to Reeves running aroundas the one man discovery team trying to find out what happened, clearhimself of any implication in the matter and survive various peopletrying to plug him in the head. It's all stuff you've seen before andit isn't even carried out with a fresh creative flair. As if thefireball escape scene early in the movie wasn't a good indication thismovie was heading down the beaten path.Chain Reaction is just run of the mill. A formulaic story to startwith, they throw in a whole jumble of errors for good measure and thenMorgan Freeman shows up trying to give the movie a sign ofrespectability only for his talents to be noticeably wasted. Theconspiracy theory presented here is neither new or interesting and thestory devolves into a feeble excuse for chase sequences ad nauseam. Themovie is technically well made and watchable, but the entirecontraption is devoid of anything memorable for Reeves or on it's own.

Chris 2013-04-17 21:24:14

I Was Surprised

I thought this movie wouldn't be that good because the TV Guide gave it only 1 star.But I found that I really enjoyed it, and I thought that the movie was very fast paced and entertaining.The only thing that realy faultered was the story, it wasn't that great, mainly because things weren't tied together very well.But other then that, it was a good movie.

Alex Brown 2013-04-17 12:29:09

Work it out for yourself

Keanu Reeves as a physicist.If that's not going to scare you enough, I don't know what will! MorganFreeman was the only partially saving factor, in what was a verypredictabletale of government conspiracy.

Twins65 2013-04-16 05:15:59

Keanu, Rach & the voice of God (and VISA card) make a bad action movie

Just watched the big budget CHAIN REACTION on the Reelz channel, and itall made for a very underwhelming Sat. night. Some sort of convolutedplot about alternative fuel which didn't make a whole bunch of sensewas the back drop to Keanu Reeves & Rachel Weisz running everywherearound 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 asI know him now, Nelson Van Alden from "Boardwalk Empire"), JohnCusack's late father, and even a couple of CBS2 Chicago veteraninvestigative reporters, Pam Zekman and John Drummond. The best partswere the location shots at Williams Bay on frozen Lake Geneva Wisc.,including the inside of the Yerkes Observatory and Keanu spinningaround on an "everglades like" hovercraft just missing some 'Sconniefish houses.But all in all, I'd say take a pass on CHAIN REACTION unless nothingelse is on.

CoolHand-4 2013-04-15 21:39:33

To the Point!

Is this a great movie? NO!!! Is this a average movie? Getting closer. Isthis a below average movie? YESSSS! I'm not sure what theproducers/writers/director where originally planning with this movie, but itsure did not come through on the big screen. However, oddly enough, thismovie works fairly well on the small screen and doesn't seem quite so bad??.The acting is not bad and Keanu Reeves does look good in the movie. Manyof the movies detractors will tell you the continuity problems were just toomuch to overcome, as with the script. I agree if you paid $7.00 (or more)to see it in the theater, but the movie is worth $1.00 at your local videostore. Despite many of its shortcomings, this movie received a rating of 6out of 10. Enjoy, but be aware!

kok hong 2013-04-08 15:13:47

Flaw Everywhere

This movie had a promising story to tell, relatively good cast at hand (Morgan Freeman my favorite), but everything just not seems right.Somehow after the initial bombing scene & Reeves / Weisz on the run, everything becomes predictable. The pace was slow, there is no connections between the characters. Identity of the villians are not clear.The story premise is attracting - clean, free fuel available to replace conventional fuel; conspirator steps in steal the technology, kill everyone (before make sure they can make it work??); protagonist stop the master plan, & save the world. By the way, why Rachel Weisz running with Keanu Reeves in the first place?? I watched this movie without any expectation and it turns out to be more dissapointing than I thought. Better stick with The Matrix...

2013-04-08 05:12:30

Catch Keanu If You Can

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