Chain Reaction

In the 1980’s, fear of nuclear annihilation was always in the minds of those who knew nothing about nuclear energy and only believed what they read in the news. Sure, Chernobyl was a disaster, but those generators were complete shit so no wonder it caused a meltdown. Today we all know that nuclear energy is actually some of the safest on the planet, but there’s always that weird fear in the back of our minds, thanks to Homer Simpsons’ incompetence and the occasional mis-informed hippie protest. I mean, it’s not every day that a German named Heinrich (Ross Thompson) gets contaminated with toxic waste and instead of staying quiet and receiving medical attention, decides to escape and shack up with a couple in the woods (played by Steve Bisley and the awesomely-named Arna Maria Winchester) while the government tries to get him back.That’s the basic plot of the story. It’s very simple, but sadly it doesn’t go too far, and that’s the biggest gripe I have with the film. The movie seems to take place in between a town and a forest house, and not much else. Now this would have been fine for starters, but the story doesn’t take it far enough. I’m amazed because George Romero’s The Crazies had a similar story, yet that film was much wider when it came to it’s plague and destruction. But don’t get me wrong, I actually enjoyed this film. It has some very good acting, particularly from Arna Maria Winchester who is beautiful and shows her skin off many times. There are also a lot of Mad Max-inspired car chases that are pretty damn cool. There’s really not much more to say about the film without revealing too much of the plot, it’s just the kind of movie where you’ll either like it or hate it. I liked it, but I didn’t love it either.