Chill Factor Reviews

This lackluster comedy action picture seems to have been cooked up in some evil laboratory, perhaps the same one in which "Elvis," the lethal, flesh-melting chemical cocktail that drives what there is of this movie's plot, was pieced together. Elvis, which can kill every living thing within a five-mile radius, was developed by nebbishy military scientist Richard Long (David Paymer). He's still feeling very bad about the accident ten years ago that killed a small squad of soldiers on isolated Horn Island, but Major Andrew Brynner (Peter Firth) is feeling worse. Brynner was the designated fall guy for the Elvis mess, and he's spent ten years brooding in jail; he emerges stark staring mad and hell-bent on making the military pay. Into this little contretemps wander two average joes, melancholy drifter Mason (Skeet Ulrich) and motor-mouthed Arlo (Cuba Gooding Jr.), who's driving a stolen ice cream delivery truck. The mortally wounded Long entrusts Elvis to Mason, with the warning that its temperature can't be allowed to rise above 50 degrees without ghastly consequences. Mason in turn press gangs Arlo and his refrigerated truck into service. So now we have SPEED crossed with THE WAGES OF FEAR, with a large helping of RUSH HOUR-style mismatched buddy movie hijinks mixed in. That's a serviceable premise; unoriginal perhaps, but perfectly usable. Unfortunately, the movie proceeds by rote: Mason and Arlo squabble (and Cuba Gooding Jr. isn't really suited to Chris Tucker-style ranting). The mercenaries who couldn't shoot straight but have great hairdos bluster and blow up tanker trucks (the resulting CGI crater is singularly unpersuasive), but manage not to do our heroes any real harm. The army and the local police get in each other's way. None of this is especially funny, nor is it particularly exhilarating; at best it's throwaway entertainment.