Chain Reaction (1996)

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In Chain Reaction, a team of university students discover a revolutionary source of clean energy.  Unfortunately, the discovery is leaked, and the tech is stolen after the murder of the project's leader.  The murder is pinned on the gifted young student Eddie Kasalivich (Keanu Reeves) and his fellow scientist Dr. Lily Sinclair (Rachel Weisz).  The two fugitives soon uncover that the murder and theft came from within the project itself, orchestrated by Dr. Paul Shannon (Morgan Freeman) for personal corporate gain.  The two fight for their lives while trying to put the real criminals behind bars.
It's interesting that Chain Reaction still feels timely, even after twenty odd years.  While the technology used on screen is now dated, the themes of environmentalism and corporate greed are arguably even more relevant today.  Sadly, the ideas presented in this film are a little better than the product itself.
Rachel Weisz gives a decent performance, but not one that's particularly memorable.  Even the presence of renowned actor Morgan Freeman doesn't bring much to the table.  His Paul Shannon character delivers a few villainous monologues, and spends the remainder of the film chewing on a cigar.  This is an action filled movie, which works to the advantage of Keanu Reeves, who does best when he doesn't have to talk much.  Unfortunately, the action isn't all that satisfying.  One could argue that the apparent clumsiness of the lead characters is because they're just average, non-athletic science students, but it looks a lot more like sloppy film making to me.  This is especially disappointing considering this movie was directed by Andrew Davis, who is better known for films like The Fugitive and Under Siege, both of which are better than Chain Reaction.
Despite all of its flaws, I can't bring myself to say that Chain Reaction is bad movie.  Maybe it's my soft spot for the 90s, but I can see a certain appeal to this movie.  I also think it did reasonably well at the box office in its time, for what it's worth.  So, if you're a Keanu Reeves fan, or are just looking for a VHS era movie you might have missed, Chain Reaction is worth a look.