Chill Factor (1999)

Genre: Thriller

Directed by: Hugh Johnson

Cast: Cuba Gooding Jr., Skeet Ulrich, David Paymer

Running time: 88 minutes

After taking the fall for a covert military experiment gone awry, that killed over a dozen soldiers on a remote island, and being confined for ten years, Colonel Andrew Brynner assembles a team of terrorists to steal the volatile chemical from the botched experiment and sell it for his own profit to the highest bidder. Brynner locates Dr. Richard Long, who was originally involved in the experiment and who is still doing research on the chemical nicknamed Elvis. The scientist gets shot in the melee that ensues, but, before dying, he escapes and gives Elvis to two civilians, Mason and Arlo, with instructions on how to bring the dangerous chemical weapon to safety.

Honestly, this film is filled with bad acting and clichéd action. There is nothing much more disappointing than a thriller that is not thrilling. The attempts at humor felt forced and ended up being unfunny. As for the action, none of it made sense. With action films, suspension of disbelief is often needed, but, when the story is not compelling and the characters are not interesting, it is difficult to get emotionally invested enough to bother with any of that.

After a couple of big roles early in his career, Cuba Gooding Jr. hasn’t offered much of note. As for Skeet Ulrich, let’s just say he is not really leading man material.

All things considered, I would not bother with this one if it was to do all over again.

Rating: «