Product Description

A student machinist (Keanu Reeves) finds himself caught in a maze of secret government cover-ups, hi-tech espionage and murder after working on a ground-breaking scientific experiment. Eddie Kasalivich (Reeves) and Lily Sinclair (Rachel Weisz) are part of a team of scientists who have developed a revolutionary new source of energy. But no sooner have they finished celebrating their triumph, than their lab is destroyed and the head of their team killed. Named as the main suspects, Eddie and Lily quickly realize their only hope lies with a powerful and mysterious bureaucrat (Morgan Freeman) who may or may not be on their side.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21568 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-02-04
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Running time: 107 minutes

From Amazon.com
Anyone want to venture a guess that Keanu Reeves was sorry he passed up Speed 2 to make this turkey? Both a ridiculous suspense piece about a renegade intelligence community and an ill-considered hunk of do-gooder agitprop about alternative energy technology, Chain Reaction makes Reeves and almost everyone else involved look about as dumb as dumb can be. Hollywood's own Little Buddha plays a streetwise lab technician who survives an organized assault on his hydrogen-power project. The FBI assumes he's really a spy working for some foreign power, but the truth is that a CIA offshoot is behind the project's funding. Morgan Freeman plays the ramrod-straight company man who sabotages Keanu's excellent experiment, and Rachel Weisz portrays a physicist who goes on the run with the alleged saboteur. Directed by Andrew Davis (The Fugitive), who seems more interested in seeing how many absurd places he can mount a chase scene than offering a solid clue as to who these characters are and why we should care about them. --Tom Keogh

On the DVD
ccAnamorphic widescreen (aspect ratio: 1.85:1)
Interactive menus
Scene selection
Original theatrical trailer & TV spots
Audio: DTS English, English 5.1 Surround, English Dolby Surround, French Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English, Spanish

Synopsis
Just as the university research team is about to prove that their new technique will permit water to be used as a fuel, their laboratory is sabotaged and the lab manager is killed. Eddie Kasalivich (Keanu Reeves) stumbles onto the scene and manages not only to witness the sabotage, but to escape from it. When he tries to talk about it to authorities, he discovers that they think he and the other project survivors committed the crime. In reality, a group of energy companies have conspired with interested parties in the government to completely erase all notion of the existence of a way to use water as fuel. The project sponsor (Morgan Freeman) wants Eddie to turn himself in, but before he can do that, he must find enough evidence to clear himself and his friends. But in order to succeed, Eddie must avoid assassination attempts by the real perpetrators. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

Customer Reviews

'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.

Finally: A Movie about Free Energy
As one who is involved in the free energy field, and about ready to release a working technology to the world, I was delighted to see this movie. It portrays well that things are not as they seem, and that there are shadow conspiracies that at times run the show more than our own elected government does.

To someone who doesn't believe in free energy, this movie might seem contrived and corny. But I will tell you that from the perspective of one who is immersed in it, and knows of viable technologies that are about to be released, the movie does a fantastic job in its portrayal of the dynamics involved.

My critique of the movie would be of two things: the portrayal of the hydrogen reactor process, and of the scene where Reeves and Weisz get shot out of a mine shaft and then drop back down in on a cable. Any human being would have probably been killed, yet they didn't even have a broken bone or even a cut.

Their hydrogen reactor looked like something from a decades old Frankenstein movie. It seems they could have been more convincing.

They make hydrogen power look as though it will be enormously complex to extract. In reality, my hunch is that when we crack the secret it will not be that complex.

Otherwise, it was a fantastic movie.

Not half bad
I expected this movie to be awful. It wasn't. I guess it helps that I'm from Chicago and part of the movie takes place here. Even without that help, it's solid. Keanu Reeves gives his standard good-guy action performance. This movie is done be the same guys that did The Fugitive, and it shows. The movies have a lot of similarities.

Rachel Weisz does an admirable job and Morgan Freeman is, well, Morgan Freeman. Always solid. Sure, there's some cheesy dialogue. But you know you're not going in to see Shakespeare.

The sound quality of this DVD is excellent. Crank up the subwoofer for the explosions. Picture quality is also well-done.

If you don't mind somewhat cheesy action movies, try checking this one out.