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Chill Factor (30-Aug-1999)
Director: Hugh Johnson Writers: Drew Gitlin; Mike Cheda Music by: Hans Zimmer; John Powell Producer: James G. Robinson Keywords: Action/Adventure
CAST | Cuba Gooding, Jr. | ... Arlo | | Skeet Ulrich | ... Tim Mason | | | Peter Firth | ... Capt. Andrew Brynner | | David Paymer | ... Dr. Richard Long | | Hudson Leick | ... Vaughn | | | Kevin J. O'Connor | ... Telstar | | Daniel Hugh Kelly | ... Col. Leo Vitelli | | | Judson Mills | ... Dennis | | Jordan Mott | ... Carl | | Dwayne Macopson | ... Burke | | Jim Grimshaw | ... Deputy Pappas | | Richard Todd Aguayo | ... Gomez | | K. Addison Young | ... Ranger at Dam | | James Van Harper | ... Ranger in Chopper | | Tommy Smeltzer | ... Deputy Art Lewis | | Geoff Palmer | ... Vitelli's Helicopter Pilot | | Rhoda Griffis | ... Pregnant Woman | | Johnny Cenicola | ... Little Boy | | Larry Black | ... Fat Man in Tunnel | | David Sharp Fralick | ... Blonde Biker | | Garrett Warren | ... Bearded Biker | | Ron Clinton Smith | ... Hemmings | | Stephen Robert | ... Vitelli's Lieutenant | | Quint Von Canon | ... Crew Member #1 | | Bart Hansard | ... Crew Member #2 | | Howard Carroll | ... Volvo Driver | | Lonnie Smith | ... Pumper | | Johnell Gainey | ... Ranger Sergeant at Tech Site | | Martin Valinsky | ... Big Ranger at Tech Site | | Terry Loughlin | ... Courtroom General | | Bob Penny | ... Motel Manager | | Richie Dye | ... Ice Cream Andy | | Mike Davis | ... Technician | | Afemo Omilami | ... Courtroom Colonel | | Steve Coulter | ... Sweeney | | Phillip DeVona | ... Young Guard | | Suzi Bass | ... Darlene | | Gordon A. Johnson | ... Hardware Store Owner | | Tim Dabbs | ... Gomez's Pilot | | Camden Dixon | ... Mailman | | Peter MacKenzie | ... Technician | | Wanda Acuna | ... Medic #1 | | Erin Daniels | ... Medic #2 | | Jason Cairns | ... Male Medic |
REVIEWS Review by Walter Frith (posted on 9-Jun-2007) Buddy action
movies. I turned on 'Hooper' with Burt Reynolds the other night, and
he, along with Jan Michael Vincent, portray two stunt men who aren't
exactly close friends, but they respect each other's role in the same
profession. The good ol' boy movies that Reynolds made famous in the
70's affected and continue to affect action movies today. No better
example of this is the 'Lethal Weapon' series, which are the buddy
action genre's example of how great a formula can work if it's done
properly. New and inventive situations eventually run out but flourish
when the ideas are fresh and well in hand. Sometimes fate chooses us
and not the other way around. In 1996's 'Broken Arrow', two air men in
the military split up a long standing friendship. One is the good guy
(Christian Slater), the other (John Travolta) is the bad guy.
Travolta's character becomes involved in a plot to steal nuclear
weapons and sell them back to the government while Slater's character
tries to stop him. Three years later, with 'Chill Factor' we have a
movie with the same type of plot. Cuba Gooding Jr. is such a great
actor. His Oscar winning role in 'Jerry Maguire' hasn't seen him in a
great role since. Like Rod Steiger and George Kennedy, he may suffer
from the Oscar curse which plagues people with no great role after
winning the award. In 'Chill Factor', set in Montana (but filmed in
Utah and South Carolina), Gooding Jr. plays an ice cream delivery man
named Arlo who becomes involved in a plot along with diner shop server
Tim (Skeet involved) to stop a vengeful military man named Capt. Andrew
Brynner (Peter Firth) who is looking for payback after serving a long
prison sentence and is now planning to use a deadly chemical weapon on
innocent people. Sent to prison a decade earlier, blamed for letting a
military experiment go wrong, Capt. Brynner wants quick cash by holding
the deadly weapon and threatening to use it. Shades of 1996's 'The
Rock' come to mind. Also, the chemical that will cause the catastrophe,
nicknamed Elvis, will unleash its fury if it drops below 50 degrees.
Kind of like that bus in 1994's 'Speed' that would explode with a bomb
attached to it if it dropped below 50 miles per hour. The movie is
layered with a pretty entertaining pace for a film of its kind,
probably the only thing that will save it from being a totally abysmal
failure for something done before and now seen over and over again.
Part action, part comedy, all complete hokum, 'Chill Factor' suffers
from the old adage that the odds are not in its favour. The scenery is
under used in 'Chill Factor'. A golden opportunity is wasted to use the
spectacular mountain scenery of a very visual state like Montana. The
action scenes are close up and well edited but not from a lot of
different angles you would expect to really make a movie move.
Virtually every mode of transportation construction way is used. There
are scenes on bridges, highways, and rivers. Making his big screen
debut as a director is Hugh Johnson. His vision shows some promise. The
characterizations in 'Chill Factor', although stereotyped on the part
of some, are clearly defined. The film's screenplay by Drew Gitlin and
Mike Cheda is nothing more than a novelty with many plot holes. A cell
phone even works in a tunnel in this movie!!! I also wondered while
viewing it if it was little more than a marketing tool to boost the
career of Skeet Ulrich. He has had some small roles in a few movies and
this was perhaps an attempt to break him into the big time. He has had
noticeable roles roles in 'The Craft', 'The Newton Boys' and 'As Good
As It Gets' and hasn't quite found the star making role he is striving
for. The plot holes that make 'Chill Factor' impossible to recommend
are simple. Two ordinary guys are not going to be able to stop a
vicious military man and his gang where all of them are highly trained
experts in weaponry, hand to hand combat and military strategy. At
least for many of those involved, it won't exactly end their careers
but it won't do anything to advance them at the same time in a film
that is almost impossible to review where the ways to describe it seem
to be repetitive. The film makers drew first blood in that category.
Visit FILM FOLLOW-UP by Walter Frith
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