Chill Factor
USA 1999
Reviewed by Kim Newman
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Horn Island, 1987. Working for the US military, Dr Richard Long tests an experimental defoliant which proves more powerful than he first thought when it kills 18 men. An inquiry unjustly blames Captain Andrew Brynner, who is sentenced to 10 years in prison. Once released, Brynner recruits a crew of mercenaries and plots to steal the defoliant, code-named Elvis, from Long's laboratory in Jerome, Montana.
Long is fatally wounded during the raid but escapes with Elvis, which he passes on to his fishing partner Tim Mason, an employee in a local diner. Long tells Mason the defoliant will combust to devastating effect if its temperature rises above 50 degrees. Tim coerces the ice-cream delivery man Arlo to store Elvis in his refrigerated truck. Together, they travel across the state, pursued by Brynner. Brynner makes contact with Tim via mobile phone and tries to talk the young man into handing over Elvis, which he plans to sell to the highest bidder. Tim and Arlo refuse. Brynner captures Arlo and tries to force Tim to hand over Elvis; Tim instead delivers a mock-up of the defoliant in exchange for Arlo. Having escaped from Brynner, Tim and Arlo are cornered in a road tunnel by Deputy Pappas, a policeman who thinks Tim is responsible for Long's murder. They are sealed inside the tunnel by Colonel Vitelli, who's responsible for retrieving the stolen defoliant. Tim persuades Pappas of his innocence; Arlo helps the deputy get the trapped motorists to safety while Brynner makes a last bid for Elvis. Arlo and Tim escape as Elvis detonates, killing Brynner.
Review
Following Broken Arrow and Hard Rain, Chill Factor belongs to the one-damn-thing-after-another genre of action movies. Taking elements from earlier suspense films and tossing them together like a salad, Chill Factor seems to have been pitched as an answer to such questions as 'what would Speed have been like if the bomb were hooked up to a thermometer' or 'how would The Wages of Fear (1953) have played out had the nitro-laden trucks trundling over dangerous roads been pursued by a crew of ninja mercenaries?' The problem with these hybrid concepts is that great suspense usually comes from the simplest of premises. Such advice is lost on the makers of Chill Factor: as they pile up yet more unlikely dilemmas for the film's two heroes, the terror we're supposed to be anticipating - established by a fairly impressive defoliant explosion in the prologue - gets lost in the mix. Given the dramatic potential of a doomsday device that has to be kept cold, Chill Factor fails even to make much of the blazing Montana sun and loses all credibility as the defoliant, named Elvis (cue the inevitable "Elvis has left the building" line), is thrown all over the place by heroes and villains alike.
Debut director Hugh Johnson, previously a cinematographer for Ridley Scott (White Squall, G.I. Jane), is bloodied with the required ridiculous set pieces: a stolen boat tobogganing down a thickly wooded hillside, a wide truck edging along a crumbling mountain road. Unfortunately the production - with its protracted cross-state car-chase sequence - feels somewhat cramped, evoking 70s television series The Dukes of Hazzard rather than the work of action supremos James Cameron and Jan De Bont. Chill Factor is further burdened with a script that hammers home all its points with crushing obviousness (an early monologue on fly-fishing gives Tim, determined to prevent the defoliant from falling into the hands of the villain, the idea of mocking up a bogus Elvis).
Most dramatic weight falls on Peter Firth, an English actor cast as an American villain. His character Brynner is at least unusual in that his army career has been compromised by his unwillingness to condone the murders of civilians in Vietnam and his "moral objections" to ambitious scientist Long's research. Having been turned into a regulation mercenary mastermind during years spent unjustly in prison, Brynner carries on like a fanatical fiend to get his hands on Elvis, though Tim and sidekick Arlo's public-spirited actions cause the odd challenge to his cynicism ("So, a pair of average citizens have decided to risk their lives for their country. I almost remember what that feels like"). Since it is impossible for a young Hollywood actor to get ahead without an action movie on the CV, one can't blame Cuba Gooding Jr and Skeet Ulrich for accepting such a ropy vehicle. This said, neither Ulrich's brooding intensity nor Gooding's funky panic act (he whines throughout the stunt work) add much to the enterprise.
Credits
- Director
- Hugh Johnson
- Producer
- James G. Robinson
- Screenplay
- Drew Gitlin
- Mike Cheda
- Director of Photography
- David Gribble
- Editor
- Pamela Power
- Production Designer
- Jeremy Conway
- Music
- Hans Zimmer
- John Powell
- ©Morgan Creek Productions
- Production Company
- James G. Robinson presents a Morgan Creek production
- Executive Producers
- Jonathan A. Zimbert
- Bill Bannerman
- Co-producers
- Jeff Neuman
- Martin Wiley
- Associate Producers
- David Robinson
- Terrance Michael
- Production Supervisor
- Ann A. Dunsford
- Production Office Co-ordinator
- Christopher Stark
- 2nd Unit Production
- Co-ordinator
- Ann A. Dunsford
- Unit Production Managers
- Don West
- George Manasse
- Location Managers
- Stephen Yetman
- Edisto:
- Steve Rhea
- Utah Location:
- Michael J. Burmeister
- 2nd Unit:
- Michael J. Burmeister
- Post-production Supervisor
- Omneya 'Nini' Mazen
- 2nd Unit Director
- Billy Burton
- Assistant Directors
- Artist Robinson
- Jayson Merrill
- Maria Battle Campbell
- 2nd Unit:
- John G. Scotti
- Amy Schmidt
- Charles Simmers
- Script Supervisors
- Deirdre Horgan
- 2nd Unit:
- Susana Preston
- Casting
- Pam Dixon Mickelson
- Voice:
- Barbara Harris
- Location:
- Shay Bentley-Griffin
- Associate:
- Barbara Allen
- 2nd Unit Director of Photography
- Jerry G. Callaway
- Camera Operators
- Paul Varrieur
- John Winner
- Jeffrey J. Tufano
- Joseph C. D'Alessandro
- Additional:
- Nik Petrik
- 2nd Unit:
- Bob Horne
- Jeffrey J. Tufano
- 2nd Unit/Aerial:
- Michael Kelem
- 2nd Unit, Additional:
- Bob Ulland
- Lynn Lockwood
- Visual Effects/Animation
- Cinesite
- Special Effects
- Co-ordinator:
- Michael Vezina
- Rigging Co-ordinator:
- Perry Beckham
- 2nd Unit, Co-ordinator:
- Stewart Bradley
- 2nd Unit, Key:
- Bob Trevino
- Art Director
- Fredda Slavin
- Set Designers
- Colleen Balance
- Kevin Hardison
- Glenn Rivers
- Michael Ward
- Set Decorators
- Claudette Didul-Mann
- Utah Location:
- Rob Bennett
- Illustrators
- Len Morganti
- Tracy Wilson
- Costume Designer
- Deborah Everton
- Wardrobe Supervisor
- Gala Autumn
- Make-up
- Supervisor:
- Rick Pour
- Body Artists:
- Sarah Mays
- Darwin Hensley
- 2nd Unit, Key Artist:
- Darwin Hensley
- Prosthetic/Animatronic Effects
- Steve Johnson's XFX Group
- Hairstylists
- Key:
- Jo Jo Guthrie
- Co-key:
- Taylor Knight
- 2nd Unit, Key:
- Rita Troy
- Titles/Opticals
- Pacific Title/Mirage
- Additional Music
- Klaus Badelt
- Jeff Rona
- James Smith
- Geoff Zanelli
- Score Co-ordination
- François Blaignan
- Music Editor
- Adam Smalley
- Score Mixer
- Malcolm Luker
- Sound Design
- Bruce Stambler
- Production Sound Mixer
- Peter J. Devlin
- Re-recording Engineer
- Michael A. Morongel
- Re-recording Mixers
- Chris David
- Ken Teaney
- Recordists
- Terry Rodman
- Eddie Bydalek
- Rhan Small
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Terry Rodman
- Dialogue Editors
- Mildred Iatrou
- Kimberly Lowe Voight
- Additional Sound Effects
- Gary Blufer
- Sound Effects Editors
- Steve Mann
- Joseph DiVitale
- Steve Nelson
- Brian T. Best
- Jay Nierenberg
- ADR
- Supervisor:
- Juno J. Ellis
- Recordist:
- Thor Benitez
- Mixer:
- Matt Beville
- Editor:
- Denise Horta
- Foley
- Walkers:
- Kevin Bartnof
- Catherine Harper
- Mixer:
- Eric Gotthelf
- Supervising Editor:
- Bob Beher
- Military Adviser
- Mike Stokey
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Gary Hymes
- Aerial Co-ordinator
- Geoffrey Charles Palmer
- Animal Wranglers
- Philip Hoelcher
- Nancy Little
- Helicopter Camera Pilot
- Geoffrey Charles Palmer
- Helicopter Pilots
- Ray McCort
- Ronald Irvin Smith
- Barry Weigele
- Cast
- Cuba Gooding Jr
- Arlo
- Skeet Ulrich
- Tim Mason
- Peter Firth
- Captain Andrew Brynner
- David Paymer
- Dr Richard Long
- Hudson Leick
- Vaughn
- Daniel Hugh Kelly
- Colonel Leo Vitelli
- Kevin J. O'Connor
- Telstar
- 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 hopper
- 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 Shark Fralick
- blond biker
- Garrett Warren
- bearded biker
- Ron Clinton Smith
- Hemmings
- Stephen Robert
- Vitelli's lieutenant
- Quint Von Canon
- Bart Hansard
- crew members
- Howard Carroll
- Volvo driver
- Lonnie Smith
- pumper
- Johnell Gainy
- 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 De Vona
- young guard
- Suzi Bass
- Darlene
- George A. Johnson
- hardware store owner
- Tim Dabbs
- Gomez's pilot
- Camden Dixon
- mailman
- Peter MacKenzie
- technician
- Wanda Acuna
- Erin Daniels
- medics
- Jason Cairns
- male medic
- Certificate
- 15
- Distributor
- Warner Bros Distributors (UK)
- 9,162 feet
- 101 minutes 48 seconds
- Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS
- In colour
- Anamorphic [Panavision]