The Chaos Experiment is Just That – An Experiment in Chaos, and Not in a Good Way.
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The Chaos Experiment has trouble making sense, partly because of the nature of chaos is the film’s purpose and partly because it is not very good.
Written by The Horror Czar
September 4, 2009
Release: May 1, 2009 (Limited U.S.)
Directed by: Philippe Martinez
Written by: Robert Malkani
Starring:
Val Kilmer as Jimmy
Armand Assante as Detective Mancini
Eric Roberts as Grant
Megan Brown as Catherine
Patrick Muldoon as Christopher
Cordelia Reynolds as Margaret
Eve Mauro as Jessie
Quinn Duffy as Frank
Val Kilmer is the crazy scientist “Jimmy”. One day he barges in on the Editor and Chief of the Washington Post with a scoop that will turn the world on its ear. He whispers the secret to the editor, who promptly excuses himself from the room and calls his detective friend, Mancini (Armand Assante). The scientist, it turns out, has locked a group of young singles in a steam room and turned up the heat, all to demonstrate the chaos that will ensue once global warming envelopes the world in oppressive heat.
The Chaos Experiment becomes a race by the detective to learn the location of the hostages from a scientist who is clearly deranged before the hostages liquefy in the heat, if they don’t kill each other first.
The Chaos Experiment (the U.S. DVD title, by the way. Originally released as The Steam Experiment) is an interesting film to be sure, but it is so hard to follow that there is difficulty calling it “good”. It seems that Director Philippe Martinez was trying to convey chaos on a couple of fronts; the scientists insanity as deranged “logic” is applied to torturous murder and the breakdown of human civility as temperatures rise and hopelessness sets in. The unfortunate byproduct is a chaotic film that jumps from one thing to the next that seems completely haphazard until the very end. As I’ve stated before, I enjoy films that are confusing early on but that come together as new facts are revealed, but this one just took too long and the result was a loss of interest.
The characters were a bit hard to stay interested in as well, with the exception of Val Kilmer and perhaps Armand Assante as Detective Mancini. The singles trapped in the steam room were, in effect, caricatures of characters. There was the Brooklyn roughneck with a heart of gold… and violent anger lurking beneath, the free-love hipster chick with tattoos and a smart mouth, a meek shy woman with low self esteem, the hero doctor reminiscent of Dudly Doright, a professional woman who spends more time�busting balls than making dates, and the aging ex-football player basking in his glory days. They were each a bit over the top, and when they launched into deep confessions of their innermost secrets during their initial introductions you’re like, what?
Assante did a good job as the aging homicide detective, soaked in gin and chasing skirts warn by the middle-aged set at the local senior’s singles bar. The only trouble here was that it didn’t seem as if Assante really “got” the film either, which can be a problem for we viewers.
Val Kilmer was phenomenal as the crazy scientist, complete with inappropriate outbursts of emotion, uncontrollable ticks and brief periods of lucidity. Unfortunately, even Kilmer couldn’t save this one. Oh, and he’s put on a ton of weight in this film… The Saint he ain’t.
Overall The Chaos Experiment is exactly that, an experiment in chaos. The payoff at the end helped a bit, but by the time the fog lifted and the truth was revealed, I wasn’t really that interested. I’ve always liked Val Kilmer, and I am looking forward to his next film, hoping it is one that is actually good. Questions or comments about The Chaos Experiment? Discuss it on The Ossuary Forums!
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