Chill Factor film review

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CHILL FACTOR

Just when you thought Hollywood blockbusters had hit rock bottom in terms of originality and credibility, along shuffles Hugh Johnson's second-hand buddie movie, Chill Factor, a ludicrous variation on a theme of Speed.

Deranged army officer - aren't they all? - Major Andrew Brynner (Peter Firth) plans to hold the world to ransom by stealing a top secret formula, codename "Elvis", from a scientific-military research facility. The chemical substance is extremely volatile and must be kept below 500C, else it explodes, razing anything within a 10 mile radius.

Fortunately, the scientist who created Elvis, Dr Richard Long (David Paymer), is wise to Brynner's nefarious plans, and entrusts his creation to fishing buddy Tim Mason (Skeet Ulrich), the short order cook at the local diner, with instructions to keep the deadly chemical on ice and deliver it to Fort Magruder a good 90 miles away.

As luck would have it, ice cream delivery man Arlo (Cuba Gooding Jr) happens to be in town, providing Tim with the perfect transportation for the temperature sensitive material. Reluctantly, the strangers pack up and ship out for Fort Magruder, on the hottest day of the year. Unfortunately, Brynner and his tactical team are hot on their trail, and will stop at nothing to retrieve Dr Long's terrible creation.

Unlike Speed which at least attempted to play by its rules, Chill Factor repeatedly cheats the audience. In one scene, Brynner and our battered and bruised heroes face off in the sweltering sun, and the bomb's temperature quite clearly remains at a pleasant 43.30C; during the finale, the Elvis formula bubbles and froths from the heat of a raging inferno but resists going boom until all the good guys are safe from harm.

Ulrich and Gooding Jr possess a certain screen chemistry, bickering like a pair of old women to fill in the longueurs between action set pieces. Both cope well with the physical demands of the film, battling armed henchmen atop the moving ice-cream van, slugging it out with Brynner or tobogganing down the side of a mountain in a flimsy canoe.

However, neither actor has much emotional meat to get his teeth into - we never learn what drives the men to risk their lives, and Here's no clear development in their relationship. They become buddies in the blink of an eye.