The 2006 crime thriller Chaos, is an entertaining but formulaic action adventure film, that ultimately promises a bit more than it delivers, and fails to distinguish itself from a mulitude of similar film in the genre. The title is based on a quasi-scientific theory which states that seemingly chaotic event are actually linked together; a potentially clever plot device that eventually buckles under the weight of a totally contrived ending.

The film opens with stand-off on a Seattle bridge, in which a criminal and his hostage are both killed. In a seemingly unrelated incident, a bank heist stalls when the Gang leader, Lorenz, (Wesley Snipes) calls in a suspended Detective, Quentin Conners, (Jason Statham) one of the detectives involved in the bridge incident, for negotiation. He is partnered with with a rookie Detective, Shane Dekker, (Ryan Philippe) a college graduate, and son of a former hero in the Seattle police department.

Upon opening the negotiations, Conners instructs the over anxious SWAT team to stand down, when an explosion erupts from within the bank. Upon initial investigation, Conners and Dekker are puzzled when they discover that the bank vault was never opened, and the robbery was really a cover for a cleverly conceived bank heist, that leads to some surprising suspects.

While there is plenty of action and adventure in this film, including shootouts, chase scenes, and explosions, Writer/Director Tony Giglio's clear intent is to create enough twist and turns in the plot to keep the audience off guard, for his "surprise" ending, that actually comes across as thoroughly contrived. There are also a few subplots that are rather poorly developed, including Conner's previous romance with a fellow female cop, and the origins of his adversarial relationship with the lead Detective, Captain Jenkins (Henry Czerny)

The lead performances are quite good considering the limitations of the script, although Jason Statham, comes across a bit stiff in some scenes. Ryan Philippe is very convincing as a smart, but inexperienced cop, while Wesley Snipes is perfectly cast the cool, calculating, gang leader, with a hidden agenda. Blu-Ray special features include commentary with the director, and a making of the film featurette. Mastered in 1080p HD with English 7.1 DTS-HD master audio, the sound and picture quality are excellent.

In the end, Giglio's attention grabbing tag line "between corruption and the end of a gun lies chaos,"  and attempt to inject the clever twist of the chaos theory into an average crime thriller, fails to impress. While this briskly paced 110 minute film, is entertaining enough, it never rises above the the level of scores of other bank heist film in the genre, and is certainly not in the same league with the the film Giglio attempts to emulate, French Connection; the Academy Award winning standard against which all films of the genre are measured.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older