Chaos is just another cop/bad guy thriller with a few good names attached. I never expected this to be anything more than it turned out to be, which is disappointing especially when you consider the talent involved.
When a cop is suspended after a questionable decision during a hostage crisis, a group of five men commence a bank robbery downtown and will only negotiate with suspended cop Conners (Statham).
But when the criminals escape and disappear, the police must now work to flush them out and discover what really happened.
Effective cop thriller certainly has its moments, but it's sorely lacking in many aspects. First of all; the script. By using so much cop slang throughout the running time, the plot twists aren't in any way understandable and the film wants the audience to think far too hard about everything. Now I detest filmmakers who spoon feed everything to the audience, but there's a fine line between spoon feeding and not letting the audience understand what the hell is actually going on!
There's also some weird, miss-guided guff about the chaos theory thrown in there just to give the film a more promising title.
The film's pacing is another issue. With little action, the audience is forced to sit through endless scenes of drama that attempt to make the film smarter than it actually is. Still, Statham carries the movie quite well and there are a number of highly impressive names here as well.
The twist at the end is also kind of redeeming, and the film ends with a climax that is both unexpected and unconventional. It's just a shame the rest of the film didn't carry such intelligence.
Overall, Chaos is worth seeing but you won't be regretting it if you give it a pass.
6/10