Chain Reaction (1996 film)


Chain Reaction is a 1996 American science fiction action thriller film directed by Andrew Davis, 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.

Plot

Eddie Kasalivich is a machinist working with a team from the University of Chicago to convert hydrogen from water into clean energy. Eddie inadvertently discovers the secret: a sound frequency that enables a perfect stabilization of their process. The project team celebrates with a party at the lab, after which project physicist Dr. Lily Sinclair’s car will not start. Eddie gets her home by bus. Back in the lab, Drs. Alistair Barkley and Lu Chen are on their computers preparing to upload their discovery to the Internet so they can share the breakthrough with the world. A band of men enter the lab.
Eddie returns to the lab to get his motorcycle, where he hears alarms coming from the lab. He runs inside to find Alistair dead with a plastic bag over his head and Chen nowhere to be found. The hydrogen reactor is dangerously unstable and Eddie is unable to shut it down. He speeds away on his motorbike as a concealed detonator triggers a massive hydrogen explosion that destroys the lab and surrounding streets.
Eddie is questioned by the FBI. Upon returning with Lily to their homes, they realize that they are being framed, with planted evidence found in both of their houses.
The two go on the run to an observatory belonging to Maggie McDermott, an old friend of Eddie's. They contact Paul Shannon, the wealthy man funding the project, but they're almost caught in the process and barely manage to escape. As Eddie and Lily are evading more police, Paul meets with Lyman Earl Collier at C-Systems Research complex to discuss the current events. It becomes apparent that the plot to destroy the lab and frame Eddie and Lily for it was orchestrated by Lyman and the CIA. Despite some disagreement, Paul and Lyman decide to continue the hunt for Eddie and Lily, a task made easier when Eddie sends a coded message to Paul arranging a meeting. At their rendezvous, Paul reveals he was involved, but Lyman’s thugs capture Lily while Eddie barely escapes.
By tracing the license plate on the thug’s van, Eddie tracks them to the secret C-Systems Research facility where Paul and Lyman are forcing Lily and Chen to replicate the project. Eddie sneaks in during the night and proceeds to "fix" the system.
The next morning, one of the other scientists discovers the working reactor and everyone celebrates. Paul is suspicious, and immediately obtains a download of the working data, and secretly gives it to his assistant, Anita, for safekeeping. He then finds Eddie at a computer in the company boardroom. There, Eddie demands to be let go in exchange for making the reactor work. Paul agrees but Lyman refuses, believing that the process already works, 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.
Paul kills Lyman for overstepping the bounds of the program, leaving the body to be incinerated in the explosion. During his own escape, Paul deactivates the containment system, allowing Eddie and Lily to escape. They are attacked by Lyman's henchmen, but escape moments before a blast wave sweeps through the complex.
Eddie and Lily survive the shockwave and are met by FBI agents Ford and Doyle, now convinced of their innocence, who take them to safety. Paul is shown departing the scene via chauffeured limo, and the last scene has him dictating a memo to his secretary Anita, which informs the Director of the CIA that "...C-System no longer a viable entity."

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. 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 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 besides, 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." Among the extras in the film were then-U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin

Reception

Chain Reaction received mostly negative reviews. It holds an 18% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 33 reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.
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." 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". Conversely, Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle felt the film was one of the summer's best movies, writing: " has better acting, better writing, more spectacular chase sequences and more genuine drama than all of this summer's blockbusters."
Chain Reaction and its cast were nominated for only one award, with Keanu Reeves being nominated for the Razzie for Worst Actor, which he lost to both Tom Arnold and Pauly Shore.
Chain Reaction was considered a box office flop and lost money, making approximately USD$60.2 million worldwide.

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.
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 that such sudden economic changes would throw society into chaos. Unfortunately, this is only explained in the last minutes of the film, and it is unlikely that his discovery would have such an effect on the economy. Most of the film revolves around action scenes in the style of 1990s blockbusters, and the topic of conspiracy theories is not adequately explored.