Chill
Factor (1999)
If
you look closely at the end credits to "Chill Factor,"
you will see that the script is copyrighted in 1996,
while the film is released in 1999. That's because "Chill
Factor" is a pathetic rip-off of "Speed" that has probably
been sitting on the shelf somewhere, waiting for a reason
to be released. Or it could be one of those scripts
that has been sitting around that was filmed 2 years
too late. For the life of me, I can't think of why it
might be made and released now. Maybe because a Summer
Hollywood blockbuster like "Speed" seems a thousand
years ago now. If the producers wanted to capitalized
on the star's names, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Skeet Ulrich,
they wouldn't have waited so long. Gooding hasn't had
a decent film since "Jerry Maguire" and "As Good as
it Gets" and Ulrich is still searching for a claim to
fame other than his Johnny Depp impersonation... Wait
a minute, he was in "As Good as it Gets" too. And they
both played gay guys... or kinda anyway... What... Oh...
some queen must have plopped down some money on this
shit. I hope he got an outtakes reel of the boy's shirtless
or something. Or did they owe someone a favor? What
the fuck is the story behind this movie? And, why do
I care? Well, at least the "behind the scene's" story
has got to be better than the film. "Chill Factor" has
most of it's poor quality in it's script. It's not that
they riff off of "Speed" so much as they don't do anything
good in the process. Actors like David Paymer and Ulrich,
who have been able to do quality work in good films,
add nothing here. Gooding tries to throw away his performance
and still makes his character likable. He's a little
too much of a cheese eater, but we likes him! It's hard
to believe an actor of his caliber is stuck in such
junk.
The film is directed, or should I say misguided, by
Hugh Johnson, a cinematographer who worked on a couple
Ridley Scott films. What the hell happened to him? Was
he in a car accident that left him brain damaged? Did
he make too much money riding Scott's coattails and
spend the entire production hopped up on pharmaceuticals?
There is only one good scene in the entire film - one!
Gooding and Ulrich ride a fishing boat down the side
of a hill. It's original, clever and funny. But the
rest of this film, whew! What a stinker. I won't bother
you with the details.
Note:
Filmed in 1998.
| Report
Card
Script:
F
Acting: F
Cinematography\Lighting: C-
Special Effects\Make Up: C+
Music:
D+
Final
Grade: F
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