MovieChat Forums > Chain Reaction (1996) Discussion > Gaffes & Errors

Gaffes & Errors

posted 20 years ago by OCOKA
11 replies | jump to latest

Anyone catch any errors in this film?

The chase scene where Keanu and Rachel meet Morgan in the museum by the "neanderthal man" exhibit starts out in the Field Museum of Natural History and ends in the Museum of Science and Industry. While both museums are in Chicago, it's highly unlikely that this could happen as the two museums are about six miles (10 km) apart.

Also, contrary to what was represented in this film there are no Amtrak trains that go from Chicago's Union Station to Williams Bay, Wisconsin. At best, they would've had to take a Greyhound Bus to Lake Geneva, or take the Northwestern train to Kenosha in order to get to Williams Bay.

Morgan Freeman's University of Chicago graduate research team looks suspiciously like a slice of America, with a healthy representation of blacks and whites. However, the fact is that graduate applied- and pure-science programs at Univ. of Chicago and other U.S. universities are almost totally dominated by foreign students, of which students from China, India, Korea, Taiwan and Eastern Europe invariably outnumber American students. Also, contrary to representations made in this movie, blacks are not only severely underepresented in undergrad science programs at universities in the U.S. (excluding historically black colleges), black students are practically non-existent in graduate and post-grad science programs in the U.S.

Any other errors-- factual or continuity-- detected in this movie?

[–] CaptHazelwood 20 years ago

just the license plate on the cop car that stops outside the homeless shelter where eddie(keanu) sits on the heating grate with the homeless man who asks him for a quarter. it wasn't a d.c. plate. it was blue with white letters. also, the police insignia on that car wasn't right either.

[–] bikebryan 20 years ago

The museum error doesn't really matter, since that scene wasn't supposed to take place in Chicago anyway. It was supposedly a museum that was in the DC area.

[–] UncleBobMartin 20 years ago

None of the things kimhz mentions is an "error." Every one of them are choices deliberately made by the filmmakers. Does he think this was a documentary?

[–] imdb-5-sillysteve 20 years ago

These kinds of geographical errors turn up all the time in films; they're usually noticeable only to people who live in the area where the film is shot. Unless they're particularly egregious they're usually ignored.

[–] 4ng3l 19 years ago

If these are the only gaffes & errors you can find, then I think this movie is very well made.
Without you telling me about them, I would have never known they were there, because I simply never have been at that place. And as far as I'm concerned these are just details and don't spoil the movie at all. Plot holes on the contrary...

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] LeeEnfield42 16 years ago

One of the FBI guys talks about a Teflon coated bullet going straight through the slain cops body armor. Teflon, Molybdenum disulfide (Moly Coated), or black coating on Winchester Black Talon SXT rounds do not enhance penetration, just reduce wear on the barrel. This is a common media misconception. Besides, the rifle used looked like it was a .308 Winchester/7.62x51mm Nato so I don't think his vest would've done much to stop it anyway. Sorry about the rant.

[–] Magic_313 16 years ago

I don't recall him saying the bullet went through because it was coated.
He just said, it was a teflon coated sniper cartridge (pointing the already suspicious Ford to the agency) and went right through the vest (probably fired at close range).

[–] jclifton-2 16 years ago

Rifle bullets will go right through a soft vest. "Bullet proof vests" will only stop pistol bullets because they travel at 1/2 or 1/3rd the speed of a rifle bullet, and are much more stubby than a rifle bullet.

My brother has a friend who has some old kevlar armor. We spent a few hours shooting it with various calibers, including a 1911 (.45), a 22 rifle, a 9mm, and a few others. most of the rounds didn't even penetrate the first layer of kevlar - they just penetrated the outer layer of nylon and stopped. But then we shot it with an AK-47, and the bullet traveled through BOTH sides.

I think the teflon myth started when moviemakers saw that some AP rounds were coated with teflon. With their limited brain power, they immediately saw the connection: Teflon = armor piercing!

What they don't realize is that for a bullet to "slip" through a vest, it'll still have to poke a hole in it! How is the teflon going to help poke a hole in it? After the hole is made, the friction of the bullet squeezing THROUGH the hole is very low, and that's all the teflon would help in.

In reality, armor piercing rounds are merely bullets made of a hard substance, such as steel or tungsten. This material is MUCH harder than lead or copper, and will wear out a barrel in very short order. So they coat the AP bullets with teflon. It's like a gun laxative.

Movie makers are stupid.

[–] JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies 13 years ago

Gaffes and errors in your post:

(1) Films are not documentaries about the shooting locations in the actual world. The shooting locations in the actual world are rather used to provide the settings of the fictional world in which the film takes place. The two need not bear any particular correlation to each other.

(2) Films are not documentaries about actual world transportation either. If there are Amtrak trains that go from Chicago's Union Station to Williams Bay, WI in the film, then that's what this fictional world is like.

(3) Films are also not documentaries about actual world statistical demographics of graduate programs.

I probably missed some other errors in your post--maybe you got the statistics wrong, etc., but I'll leave it to someone else to point that out.

http://www.rateyourmusic.com/~JrnlofEddieDeezenStudies

[–] goatbut29 11 years ago

At roughly 45.16 into the movie, when the 'bad guy' tells Morgan Freeman that if someone is going to take the fall it 'wont be I', Morgan Freeman CLEARLY sticks the lit end of his cigar in his mouth!

Ive watched that part several times and I am convinced its the wrong end!