Chaos (2005 Capitol film)

Chaos
Film poster
Directed by	Tony Giglio
Produced by	Michael Derbas Gavin Wilding Huw Penallt Jones
Written by	Tony Giglio
Starring	Jason Statham Ryan Phillippe Wesley Snipes Justine Waddell Keegan Connor Tracy Henry Czerny
Music by	Trevor Jones
Cinematography	Richard Greatrex
Distributed by	Capitol Films Lionsgate
Release dates	2006 (2006)
Running time	106 minutes
Country	Canada UK
Language	English
Budget	C$30 million
Box office	US$7 million

Chaos is a 2005 Canadian-British thriller film directed by Tony Giglio, and starring Jason Statham, Ryan Phillippe and Wesley Snipes. The film was released on direct-to-DVD in the United States on February 19, 2008.

Plot

Detective Conners(Jason Statham) apparently kills a car hijacker and the young woman the hijacker is using as a shield. Newspapers and reporters blame Detective Conners and his partner York. After a fellow police officer, Callo, testifies against them, Conners is suspended, and York is fired.

In the present day, Lorenz and four other criminals take hostages in a bank. Lorenz has only one demand, to negotiate with Conners. Conners is reinstated but put under the surveillance of a new partner, the young Inspector Dekker. Conners is given control of the negotiations, and after a bank teller is shot, he orders a SWAT unit to cut the building's power and go in. During an explosion, the criminals flee during the ensuing panic and chaos.

Dekker and Conners learn more about each other at a local diner, slowly building a friendship, but Dekker disapproves of Conners' cowboy methods. Dekker explains that during negotiations, Lorenz was making many cryptic references to chaos theory. As they leave to examine new evidence, Conners pays with ten dollars and says he does not like to tip. Dekker swaps the ten for a twenty of his own.

A TV camera caught a shot of one of the criminals, who is arrested together with his girlfriend at her home, where banknotes are found with a scent used to mark evidence collected by the police. The banknote serial numbers did not come from that day's robbery, but had been placed in police storage and signed out a fortnight earlier by Inspector Callo. He is found shot dead in his home, in possession of other incriminating evidence.

They review CCTV footage of the bank, and Dekker notices one corner of the bank is deliberately shielded from view. In that corner, they find the bank presidents computer. Fingerprints on the keyboard reveal the identity of a hacker that Conners himself had arrested, but whose conviction was overturned after the shooting on the bridge. Conners and Dekker question the hacker, but he is shot dead by Lorenz, and a gun fight ensues; Lorenz escapes.

Dekker asks to question the bank robber identified in the news TV footage and finally breaks him when he casually explains the impact of a massive overdose of morphine while slowly injecting some into the saline drip of the suspect. Am amazed Conners watches and later calls him a hypocrite. Dekker responds by explaining he only injected more saline solution.

The suspect reveals Lorenz is the brother of the car hijacker shot earlier, and Conners leads a stakeout at an address where all the gang are to meet that night. Forced to go before Lorenz arrives, a shootout results in both suspects' deaths, and a bomb blows up the building while Conners is inside.

Dekker is devastated but realises that Callo's signature requesting material from the evidence storage was forged, and he makes the evidence custody officer confess York removed the money. In flashback, Lorenz /York stands on the bridge and fires the first shot, killing the woman hostage in the opening sequence. Tracking Lorenz/York's mobile phone, Dekker surprises Lorenz at a diner, and Lorenz takes a young woman hostage in a reversal of the stand off on the bridge. Dekker and Lorenz fight and Lorenz / York is killed.

When Dekker pays for his coffee at the diner, he discovers the banknote Conners used to pay for lunch with is also scented, which means Conners was involved in taking the money from police evidence. Dekker finds a copy of James Gleick's book on chaos theory, showing he had faked an earlier ignorance of the mathematics. On a hunch, Dekker looks for airplane tickets booked in the name of James Gleick and runs to the airport.

During a mobile call between the now disguised Conners and the searching Dekker at the busy airport, flashbacks reveal how the seemingly unconnected events in the film form a pattern, just as predicted in chaos theory. Conners ends the call, walks casually to a private jet, and takes off while sipping champagne.

Cast

• Jason Statham as Quentin Conners
• Ryan Phillippe as Shane Dekker
• Wesley Snipes as Jason York, a.k.a. Lorenz/Scott Curtis
• Henry Czerny as Capt. Martin Jenkins
• Justine Waddell as Det. Teddy Calloway
• Nicholas Lea as Det. Vincent Durano
• Keegan Connor Tracy as Marnie Rollins
• Jessica Steen as Karen Cross
• Rob LaBelle as Bank Manager
• John Cassini as Bernie Callo
• Damon Johnson as Brendan Dax
• Paul Perri as Harry Hume
• Natassia Malthe as Gina Lopez
• Ty Olsson as Damon Richards
• Terry Chen as Chris Lei
• Mike Dopud as Lamar Galt
• Michasha Armstrong as Xander Harrington
• Kim Howey as Lisa Reane
• Gaston Howard as John Curtis

Production

Chaos was filmed in Seattle, Washington, US and British Columbia, Canada.

Reception

Michael S. Gant of Metro Silicon Valley wrote, "The plot depends on an impossible chain of coincidences, but there are some decent car chases." Ian Jane of DVD Talk rated it 2.5/5 stars and wrote, "Chaos has a nice twist towards the end but is otherwise riddled with bad action movie clichés and poorly written dialogue." Jeffrey Kauffman, also of DVD Talk, rated it 3/5 stars and wrote, "Chaos isn't a bad film; it just isn't a very good one either." Tom Becker DVD Verdict wrote, "Chaos isn't a great movie, but it's entertaining and manages to keep you off-kilter for much of its running time. While the film is ultimately too clever for its own good, Giglio gets points for trying to smart-up the genre." Also writing to DVD Verdict, David Johnson said, "Chaos may not redefine what's possible in the police suspense thriller, but it's satisfying and entertaining enough to earn a look-see by fans of the genre or anyone hankering for a decent, plot-twist-heavy actioner."

External links

• Chaos at IMDb