Chaos

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 after a theatrical release in other countries.

Plot

During a hostage incident on a bridge, Detective York accidentally shoots and kills the hostage, and Detective Conners, his partner, shoots the criminal. York is fired, and Conners suspended.

Months later, Lorenz and four other criminals take hostages in a bank and demand to negotiate with Conners, who is reinstated for that purpose, but put under the surveillance of a new partner, the young Inspector Dekker. Conners shuts power down to open the doors and let a SWAT unit in, but there is an explosion, and the criminals flee using the ensuing panic and chaos.

A TV camera had 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 are the ones requested from evidence storage by Inspector Callo, who had testified against York and Conners about the bridge incident. He is suspected in the plot, but is soon found shot dead in his home, in possession of other incriminating evidence.

Dekker finds from surveillance camera video in the bank attack that a director's computer had been used by the robbers. It turns out that they installed a virus to transfer one billion dollars to their accounts (less than 100 dollars from over 10 million accounts, so as not to rouse suspicion); this had not yet been noticed up until this point because one of the cameras (which are supposed to be focused at a fixed angle) is momentarily tilted down a bit, which is visibly noticed during playback of the tapes.

The author of the virus is identified as a programmer with a criminal record, but he is killed by Lorenz in his home, just as Conners and Dekker arrive there. Lorenz then tries to shoot Dekker, but Conners saves him just in time, and Lorenz escapes.

Dekker makes the bank robber who had been caught confess that Lorenz is the brother of the criminal Conners shot dead on the bridge and gives an address where he is to meet the two other robbers that night. The police suspect Lorenz wants to kill his accomplices, and indeed the house explodes, killing them together with Conners (who had entered to apprehend them).

Dekker is devastated but receives another call from Lorenz, who eventually says Callo was insignificant in his plan. Dekker then finds that Callo's signature requesting material from the evidence storage was forged, and makes the evidence custody officer confess that Lorenz is actually York, who, outraged at his being fired, became a criminal. He stole Lorenz's identity. His cell phone is tracked, he is caught, and as he offers resistance is shot dead by Dekker.

Finally, Dekker discovers that a banknote Conners used to pay for lunch with is also scented, and realises that he was involved with York. Conners had survived the explosion he himself had triggered to kill his accomplices, and had put his police badge on the dead body of the criminal whose identity Lorenz had assumed, to pass as dead and run away. This is confirmed by Dekker as he searches Conners's house and finds incriminating evidence. He goes to the airport to arrest Conners, but Conners phones him, compliments him on his sagacity, and escapes.

The title refers to chaos theory, as all the seemingly chaotic and unrelated events in the film are actually linked to each other.

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.Template:Fact

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."

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