Chill Factor


Chill Factor is standard action fare, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Skeet Ulrich involved in a race with time, pitted against a madman bent on destroying large amounts of public property.

In this film Arlo (Gooding) and Tim Mason (Ulrich) are two average yet noble and upstanding citizens downing a round or two when crazed scientist Richard Long (David Paymer) runs into them. Shot and bleeding, he entrusts to them a device which has the potential to create great destruction if its temperature exceeds fifty degrees (sound familiar?). On the heels of Long is Andrew Brynner (Peter Firth), a former captain with a grudge against Long and his country, who wants the weapon for his own nefarious purposes. This leads to cat and mouse chase between Arlo and Mason (and their refrigerator) vs. Brynner. Guess who wins in the end?

The acting is decent (Gooding gets all the good lines) and there is some humour. Obviously the movie has many parallels to a film like Speed, but the chemistry between Reeves and Bullock is much more interesting and the momentum sustained by the latter film is far greater. I was a bit distracted while watching this film, but there is little of distinction here. Short of being a good time killer when you're really bored, I recommend skipping this one.


Movie ram-blings || Ram Samudrala || me@ram.org