Keanu Reeves has become known as an action hero with roles such as Neo in The Matrix and John Wick in a brutal quadrilogy of movies. Before all that, though, he teamed up with Morgan Freeman and Rachel Weisz on the 1996 conspiracy action thriller Chain Reaction, and the movie is currently finding a new audience on the free streaming platform Tubi.
Chain Reaction sees Reeves play Eddie Kasalivich, a machinist who is forced to go on the run when he is framed for causing a deadly explosion at a groundbreaking clean-energy project. In the usual style of this kind of thriller, Eddie must take on the bad guys, stay alive, and clear his name all within a couple of hours of tense drama. Unfortunately, the film did quite live up to the premise, and did not deliver the kind of box office that Reeves’ movies have become known for.
Chain Reaction’s theatrical run was a flop, with the film just about surpassing its $50 million budget to earn $60 million worldwide. However, the movie was not helped along by a lot of negative reviews as critics tore into the overly generic plot. Although Reeves’ performance was seen as a high point, even that couldn’t save it from an 18% Tomatometer score, and 27% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes. Now, there are plenty of opportunities for Reeves’ fans to give the film a reappraisal and see if time has been kind to it, and enough people have been doing just that, sending Chain Reaction into the Tubi Top 10.
Keanu Reeves is One of Hollywood’s Most Loved Stars
Keanu Reeves is one of those stars who is not only hugely successful, but also lauded as one of the nicest and most generous actors working today. Despite commanding a hefty fee for most of his big roles, the actor has several times reduced his own pay to ensure that others working on the production are fairly paid, and always gives out some extremely generous gifts to those who have made sure his movies run smoothly.
In two notable instances, Reeves took a pay cut in order to have a big star attached to his movies, knowing that it would benefit the film in the long term. For 1997’s The Devil’s Advocate, the Reeves sacrifice of a substantial portion of his pay allowed the film to cast Al Pacino, who in turn donated the same amount to charity, meaning everyone was a winner. Then in 2000, the actor gave up a massive 90% of his fee, so Gene Hackman could be hired.
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In addition to this, the actor has spent thousands on luxury watches and even motorcycles for his stunt doubles and other crew members as wrap gifts, and has reportedly donated millions to various charities in order to give something back from his good fortune. It is hard to imagine there being another actor working in the movie industry that has quite the level of integrity as Reeves, and long may he reign as one of the nicest men in Hollywood.
Chain Reaction
- Release Date
- August 2, 1996
- Director
- Andrew Davis
- Cast
- Keanu Reeves , Morgan Freeman , Rachel Weisz , Fred Ward , Kevin Dunn , Brian Cox , Joanna Cassidy , Chelcie Ross , Nicholas Rudall , Tzi Ma , Krzysztof PieczyÅ„ski , Julie Pearl , Godfrey , Gene Barge , Nathan Davis , Aaron Williams , Daniel H. Friedman , Johnny Lee Davenport , James Sie , Joan Kohn , Juan RamÃrez , Nydia Rodriguez Terracina , Scott Benjaminson , Ned Schmidtke , Randall Arney
- Runtime
- 107 minutes
- Writers
- J.F. Lawton
- Producers
- Arne Schmidt , Erwin Stoff