The science fiction failure that Keanu Reeves could not believe

In the 1996 Thriller of Andrew Davis “Chain reaction”, Keanu Reeves plays Eddie Kasalivich, a machinist from the University of Chicago who supervises a special scientific experiment to convert hydrogen into energy. Eddie is not a genius, but he knows how the chain reaction camera works full of water. Then, one night, accidentally discovers a dark sound frequency that stabilizes the experiment and makes it successful. It seems that the world’s energy supply problems will be solved.

Of course, this immediately begins a gloomy cover -up in which the chain reaction chamber is exploited by unknown conspirators and Eddie is framed for destruction. (The explosion draws eight blocks from the city full). Innocent scientists are killed, so Eddie has to run with a physicist named Lily, played by Reeves in “Constantine”, Rachel Weisz. Naturally, they must find a way to demonstrate their innocence and discover who would want to destroy their energy experiment. Morgan Freeman also appears as one of the conspirators.

If you don’t remember “chain reaction”, don’t feel bad. It is a kind of forgettable film that arrived and left at the end of the summer of 1996 without many people noticing. Reeves had not yet obtained an accidental course in Kung Fu for “The Matrix” and, therefore, it was not necessarily a safe box office raffle, with the image of $ 50 million only by winning a little more than $ 60 million in the box office (which is, in terms of Hollywood, a pump). Rather, the “chain reaction” was one of those films that you were more likely to watch on cable television in the late 90s. At that time, it is possible that several copies of “chain reaction” have passed in a box office success on its way to rent a more interesting movie. Even Reeves does not like the “chain reaction.”

In 2001, five years after the “chain reaction” reached cinemas, Reeves admitted to UPI The film had a lot of problems, most of which arose from their script (which is accredited to JF Lawton and Michael Bortman). He pointed out that he selects his acting roles based on the richness of his characters and/or the complexity of the plot (unlike the commercial potential of a film) and that he signed for “chain reaction” because he liked Eddie very much. However, in the script he read, the character was closer to an archetypal protagonist of Hitchcock, that is, an unfairly but dangerous accused family man. That changed dramatically just before the shot began, leaving Reeves Cold in the project. As he said:

“(W) When I got there, it was a different movie. Originally, I was married. I had this son and did this investigation, and I didn’t know that what I was investigating had this effect. And someone was killed. And I had these regrets. And I’m trying to stop what I am doing, but I can’t leave me, so they persecute me. He said yes? What happened to that script? And he said: ‘No, I that “.

In the final film, Eddie is a much less interesting character, which expresses little more than the determination of steel from a generic action hero. Reeves not long ago with the part, but then, there is not much that one can do with a character like Eddie. Like the film around him, Eddie sinks in the background, a forgettable element in a forgettable movie.

The “chain reaction” has an approval index of 18% in Rotten tomatoes Based on 34 reviews. Most critics quickly used the “generic” and “formulated” words to describe it. It is a totally notable film, and this same article can be one of the few times in the last 30 years that someone has bothered to comment on it.