Chill Factor (1999)

Director:

Hugh Johnson

Writers (WGA):

Drew Gitlin (written by) &
Mike Cheda (written by)

Release Date:

1 September 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Thriller

Tagline:

This Fall, Action is served on the rocks, with a twist.

Plot:

If a new biological chemical weapon is exposed to temperatures over 50 degrees Fahrenheit, it'll do something very bad...

Plot Keywords:

Restaurant | Friend | Montana | Box Office Flop | Boat

US TV Schedule:

Wed. Aug. 20

6:15 PM

MAX

Cast

Cuba Gooding Jr.	...	Arlo
Skeet Ulrich	...	Tim Mason
Peter Firth	...	Colonel Andrew Brynner
David Paymer	...	Dr. Richard Long
Hudson Leick	...	Vaughn
Daniel Hugh Kelly	...	Colonel Leo Vitelli
Kevin J. O'Connor	...	Telstar
Judson Mills	...	Dennis
Jordan Mott	...	Carl
Dwayne Macopson	...	Burke
Jim Grimshaw	...	Deputy Pappas
Richard Todd Aguayo	...	Gomez
K. Addison Young	...	Ranger at Dam
James Van Harper	...	Ranger in Chopper
Tommy Smeltzer	...	Deputy Art Lewis

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #36903) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Netherlands:12 | Iceland:16 | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia) | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | South Korea:15 | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Malaysia:18SG | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:12 | Norway:15 (video premiere) | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | UK:15 | Argentina:13 | Philippines:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Liberty, South Carolina, USA

Company:

Morgan Creek Productions

Trivia:

The doctor's line after the initial detonation of the device is the same as scientist and father of the atomic bomb Robert Oppenheimer's after the detonation of the Atomic Bomb at Hiroshima. "I am become death; the destroyer of worlds" is from the Bhagavad-Gita

Goofs:

During the mountain chase scene, the lead terrorist decides to fire on the fleeing heroes and he makes the comment "Get the M-79 ready, prep the launcher". However, the weapon he fires into the tanker truck is a shoulder mounted RPG or possibly a LAW (Light Anti-Tank Weapon). The M-79 that he referred to is actually a hand held grenade launcher.

Quotes:

Arlo: You just hijacked me with an unloaded gun?
Tim Mason: Yeah.
Arlo: When this is all over, remind me to kick your ass!

Utter nonsense but at least it was enjoyable to watch

This film was complete trash, but in a good way. I've always looked upon Cuba Gooding Jnr as a semi decent actor but if this is the kind of film he is going to be starring in, then I can see him descending the same way as Charlie Sheen.

You can see from the outset that the makers tried to make one of those high octane action thrillers, which are ten-a-penny these days. But when you've got a budget that would struggle to finance an episode of quantum leap, then maybe making a film of this kind wasn't such a good idea.

They make use of computer graphics in a lot of the action scenes which, to be honest, doesn't look the worst I have ever seen, but still prompts you to snicker at how bad it is. The most ridiculous of which occurs at the end of the movie, when a chemical weapon which we have been told has the power to blow up basically a quarter of America, detonates in a tunnel.

At this point we are subjected to rotten computer graphics which are so bad that I instantly had flashbacks of Dean Stockwell and the film-making atrocity that was the Langoliers.

But the story is complete nonsense, so even with a budget the size of Lord of the Rings, there would be no way of making the whole thing believable anyway. So you can perhaps see where the producer was coming from i.e. lets make a cheap action thriller and we'll plaster Cuba Gooding's face over the front cover and we'll maybe make some money.

It would've have been better if Eric Roberts had been given the leading role.