Chill Factor

December 11, 2004

Rated: R Runtime: 102 min Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

DVD Quick Take

Much like the movie itself, this DVD is kind of all over the place. The video quality is the only thing consistent, it is very good even in the dark scenes and really benefits from being anamorphically enhanced as there are no visible flaws or pixelation even during the gratuitous effects and dark scenes.

The audio on the other hand is almost too much. First off the dialog levels are not consistent and are occasionally too loud. And the low frequency effects were enough to actually make me adjust my subwoofer down a bit. If you want something for the sole purpose of shaking the house with bass, this one will do the job!

Movies For Guys’ Original Review of the Theatrical Release

I wanted to like this movie, really I did. Afterall, it had lots of explosions, gun play, blood, chases and a tried and true formula from such big budget action flicks as “Broken Arrow”. These are all things we here at Movies for Guys usually like. And I don’t think I had ever seen a movie previous to this with Cuba Gooding Jr. that I did not enoy. However, this movie just didn’t work.

The premise of the movie is a play on a formula that’s been used over and over. This time we have a nifty chemical weapon that can wipe out hundreds of square miles if it ever reachs 50 degrees. It ends up in the care of two likeable guys who life has dumped on in the form of Cuba and Skeet and it’s up to them to keep it away from the bad guy and his crack team of mercinaries who want to sell it to the highest terrorist bidder. And they must do all of this while keeping the substance cool.

What we end up with here is a action buddy movie that just doesn’t work. Cuba does his best by adding some attitude and good lines, but he cant carry this thing all by himself. And Skeet Ulrich as an action hero? Ok, so I guess Sylvester Stallone and Eddie Murphy were busy. Ditto for John Wu and Jim Cameron. Hugh Johnson gets his first chance as first string director, and it shows. His previous credits are second unit gigs on such glorious pieces of work as 1492: Conquest of Paradise.

So they packaged all of this together along with some gun play, explosions and chase scenes. They let Cuba have a few good lines. Put his best lines along with some highlights in the trailer and, VOILA! You’ve got yourself a typical mindless action movie! Heck, if they would’ve at least included some bare breasts, we might’ve even liked it.

But there are no bare breasts. None of the characters, either the heroes or villains are the least bit memorable. Cuba is the only one with any real personality at all, and you’ve seen all of his best parts in the trailers. As such wait and catch this movie on video. There’s enough action to make it worth the price of a rental, but for $7 or so skip it on the big screen.

Posted by Billy Bob | Filed Under 2 Stars, Action, Cuba Gooding Jr., DVD, R, Skeet Ulrich