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Chain Reaction
Directed by	Andrew Davis
Produced by	Andrew Davis Keanu Reeves
Starring	Keanu Reeves Rachel Weisz Morgan Freeman Fred Ward
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	2 August 1996 (premiere)
Running time	106 min.
Language	English
Budget	USD$55,000,000 (estimated)
IMDb profile

Chain Reaction is a 1996 American film starring Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Morgan Freeman and Fred Ward. It presents a fictional account of the invention of bubble fusion using sonoluminescence (the emission of short bursts of light from imploding bubbles in a liquid when excited by sound).

Keanu Reeves plays Eddie Kasalivich, a brilliant young physicist working with a team at the University of Chicago to create free energy from bubble fusion. They have obviously trying for quite some time, and, when Eddie come in to work that morning, they try, and fail, once more. Back at his house, Eddie is using a Lathe to machine a metal part. He has his regulator and some sort of mini reactor set up on a desk. When the lathe makes a certain high-pitched sound, the water in the reactor reacts. Eddie records it with his computer, and playing it back, he makes a completely stable hydrogen reaction. He calls the project leader, telling him the news. He says that tomorrow, they will test it.

The next shot is of the reactor at the lab. It is not bouncing, nor is it bubbling profusely. It appears perfectly stable, with a steady, huge hydrogen fire in the back, where the excess hydrogen is being burned off. (the reaction is getting more out than they put in). The sonoluminesence machine made by Eddie is working. The physicists take off their glasses, stunned. Lily Sinclair says that everything is working normally, that the regulator stabilized the reaction, and hydrogen is being produced at a stable rate. The men all rush over and look at the huge flames that is the burning hydrogen.

The next shot is a party at the lab, with the reactor churning away, with everyone dancing and drinking champagne, with cameras and balloons filled with spare hydrogen. Everyone is applauding Eddie. However, Allister, the leader of the project, is off in an office, arguing with Dr. Shannon. Lily runs off to get them, spilling a little champagne on herself. They all get in a line, and say "Holy Shit, We did it!" while Shannon takes a photo.

Later, Lily is leaving the lab, and her car battery is dead. Eddie offers to take her home on his bike, as she is obviously in no condition to drive anyways, but realizes that she would freeze. Lily suggests taking a taxi. They walk off. Back in the lab, Allister and Chen are on the computers, uploading the data onto the internet. A van is seen driving towards the lab.

Chen hears a noise and goes to investigate. In the next shot, Lily and Eddie are walking up to a house that Eddie identifies as Allisters. Lily is leaning on him while she tells him that she lives here on the third floor. Eddie carries Lily up the stairs, and she, obviously very drunk, flops on her bed and falls asleep. Eddie starts walking back to the lab.

Now, Eddie has gotten back to the lab. The same white van is seen driving away. Eddie looks at is curiously, then starts running when he hears the alarms coming from the lab. The hydrogen reactor is on, it is dangerously unstable, and hydrogen pipes have burst, with gas spewing everywhere. Allister has a plastic bag over his head, Chen is nowhere to be found. Eddie tries CPR on Allister, but when it is no use, he goes over to the computers to try to stabilize the reaction, but they lock him out. Meanwhile, a strange device has numbers counting upwards, with one number remaining steady (7992). Eddie runs and jumps on his bike, speeding away. Suddenly, one of the men in the van pushes a remote control, and the device emits a small spark. Instantly the hydrogen explodes.

The explosion appears nuclear in scale the next day. Eddie has survived the blast that devastated 8 city blocks. Shannon is seen typing an email on a laptop. Eddie calls him, and Shannon goes outside and sees the fire in the distance. The FBI are there the next day, investigating. Apparently, the president is interested.

The FBI tells investigators what they know (no nuclear explosion, no real other details) while emergency personnel prowl the area. Shannon tells the FBI that Chen and Allister are missing. Lily and Eddie are both telling their stories. Agent Ford arrives and orders the perimeter back 1000 yards and to get wiretap/search/etc. warrants.

At the FBI headquarters in Chicago, Lily, Eddie, and various other people are being interrogated. Lily, obviously distraught and hungover, supplies most of the information.

At her home, Lily receives a fake fax from Chin. On TV, he is listed as a suspect. Lily realizes that the 3 of them are being framed. Walking away, Eddie sees cops at his house and walks in a different direction. The FBI is searching Eddies house, and finds parts, artwork, drawings and technical schematics, a Burst transmitter, and 250,000 dollars US.

Eddie and Lily approach Shannon in a parking lot. He tells them to turn themselves in, but they refuse, and he warned them they will be fugitives. They leave anyways. At a bar, the see themselves on TV, along with information on warrants for their appearance. They make a plot to escape. Lily takes a taxi to union station, Eddie walks, but not before someone recognizes him. What begins is a foot chase through downtown Chicago. Eddie starts running to a bridge, but it begins to rise. He looks, see no other way, and runs onto the bridge.

The cop slides down the slope, but Eddie holds onto a hand rail, and climbs to the end. The police think he is going to commit suicide. Eddie jumps down onto a lower deck as they start to lower the bridge. Eddie jams the gears and runs away through a shaft. He climbs into a truck and escapes. Meanwhile, lily is at the station. He meets her and boards.

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Large portions of the film were shot on location in and around Chicago, Illinois, including the University of Chicago, Argonne National Laboratory, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum of Natural History, and Michigan Avenue. There are also scenes that are shot at Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay, Wisconsin and on Geneva Lake in southern Wisconsin. In addition, there were also scenes filmed at Inland Steel (now known as MITTAL Steel) which is located in East Chicago, Indiana.

• Chain Reaction at the Internet Movie Database
• Chain Reaction at Rotten Tomatoes

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