Quartile rating: 6/10 · 1 rating
At the University of Chicago, a research team that includes brilliant student machinist Eddie Kasalivich experiences a breakthrough: a stable form of fusion that may lead to a waste-free energy source. However, a private company wants to exploit the technology, so Kasalivich and physicist Dr. Lily Sinclair are framed for murder, and the fusion device is stolen. On the run from the FBI, they must recover the technology and exonerate themselves.
Chain Reaction is a competent but generic late-90s thriller that recycles familiar fugitive-on-the-run tropes without adding much distinctive. Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz are serviceable but not given material to work with, and Morgan Freeman coasts. The Chicago/winter cinematography has some visual punch but nothing memorable. The conspiracy plot is derivative of The Fugitive template, and the ending resolves unsatisfyingly with little payoff. Overall a below-average genre entry that fails to distinguish itself.