Chaos [Blu-ray]

Statham forgoes the martial arts (mostly) in favour of playing a troubled but seemingly self-confident and hard-nosed police detective faced with a psychotic bank robber and murderer played by Wesley Snipes. But all is not as it seems - which is both the underpinning idea within Chaos theory and also the principle upon which the whole film is based. The hidden patterns don't coalesce into the reality of what actually IS happening until the final few scenes.

As a film, 'Chaos' fluctuates between action and dialogue, but personally I found that to be very effective. Films that are almost all action soon dull or overload the senses, whereas the changes in tempo and tension in 'Chaos' serve to lift you up, let you relax a little, and then hit you again.

If you like films such as 'The Inside Man' or 'The Bank Job', then you are likely to enjoy this. It is certainly worth watching and although not quite worth five stars, it is certainly well worth four.

A film that has sat on the shelf for a few years and that had some finance problems, resulting in a scaled down budget, Chaos is good in some parts but fails to excite.

Jason Statham stars as a suspended cop who is called back into to negotiate with bank robber Wesley Snipes. He is also saddled with a new partner Ryan Philippe.

All three play there stereotypical roles well enough, but Snipes drops out of the film for large portions (as does Statham near the end), and thus most of the action scenes are carried by Philippe.

The chaos theory is supposed to be the main driving device of the plot, but is only referenced a few times and actually quite unnecessary, as the plot could have worked without it.

The plot twists and turns and twists some more, but the pace is uneven with very few action scenes between long strands of talky talky scenes.

Over all not bad, but not enough pace to be a solid thriller and not enough action to be a explosive blockbuster add to that a final denouncement that is not that much of a surprise 'twist' and you've got a movie that was probably a good concept on paper, but quite dull on screen.

First things first, this is rubbish.
The plot twists and turns, not subtly, but in a clunky way and sometimes it does a complete u-turn. A `rogue' detective, (Statham), is accused of killing a villain & his hostage and is suspended from duty. A bank heist seems to go wrong and the ringleader demands Statham be in charge of negotiations. Things go wrong and we follow the trail as Statham and his young detective minder,(Phillipe), and a handful of loyal mates hunt the gang down.
The plot changes towards the end become increasingly implausible and the ending may well drive you nuts. Oh and Ryan Phillipe is more wooden than a scarecrow.
This can be a little slow but to be honest I was not too fussed about the pacing. There were however other idiosyncrasies that were not so easy to put aside but that had me laughing. No.1 has to be Stathams accent. The monologue he delivers at the beginning is in his unique `American' that makes you cringe but when he first appears he's cockney. Get used to it, he changes the accent from scene to scene. The intro. Tells all the background story via newspaper clippings and we are treated to about 50 different clippings in order to pack the complicated preamble in. The whole chaos theory idea was obviously a subject dear to the writers heart as it is repeated throughout and in the end even a reference work on the subject is tied in. All completely unnecessary. The dialogue takes some swallowing at times too, a police chief saying `it's not rocket surgery' is one of my favourites. The action is limited and not exactly set to get your pulse racing.
So why 3 stars? Well it just has a certain something...I would watch it again! The twists are mad but make for an enjoyable unpredictability. The final two turns are so ludicrous you simply have to give in and laugh. Wesley Snipes continues to steal every scene he is in without really trying.The final nod to Hannibal Lectors goodbye to Clarice Starling in the closing scene is so blatant it's a wonder no one was sued!
Mad as the plot is it is solid and keeps you glued. This is car crash home cinema and makes for a great blast of dumb fun while insisting you use your brain every now & then.
It's way too long, wordy and scatterbrained but it just has enough to entertain and a host of lousy one-liners to make you both cringe and laugh.
By no means a classic but a clunker that delivers and just refuses to lie down and die.