Chill Factor(1999)

Plot Summary

• Ten years after a covert military experiment on a remote Pacific island went wrong and killed 18 American servicemen and his assistant, Dr. Richard Long (David Paymer) is still trying to forget the havoc and death that his experiment caused. Living in the small town of Jerome, Montana, Long still conducts scientific experiments at the local US Army base, but far more enjoys his time fly-fishing with Tim Mason (Skeet Ulrich), who works in the local greasy spoon and has a checkered past.Long's life changes, and then ends, when he's visited by Colonel Andrew Brynner (Peter Firth), a former military officer who took the blame and served ten years in Leavenworth for Long's experiment. Now a free man with a score to settle with the government, Brynner has assembled a team of high-tech former US Army soldiers-turned-terrorists, including an icy woman named Vaughn (Hudson Leick), and plans to steal and then sell "Elvis"-Long's highly volatile, blue crystal substance-to the highest international bidder, thus having his revenge against the government for covering up its existence, and unfairly making him a scapegoat for their handling of the weapon.Unfortunately for Brynner, Long has already delivered "Elvis" to Tim, along with the directions that the substance must remain below 50 F degrees, or it will detonate, and kill everyone within several hundred miles of it.After Mason and Arlo (Cuba Gooding Jr.), a wisecracking ice cream delivery man, have a run-in with Brynner, they set off en route for Fort Magruder, some 90 miles away. The two don't get along with each other-Arlo only agrees to transport the substance in his ice cream truck because Mason held a gun on him-but they find a common bond in trying to avoid Brynner and his team. With the help of Colonel Leo Vitelli (Daniel Hugh Kelly), Arlo and Mason try to survive Brynner's attacks, avoid the local deputy, Pappas (Jim Grimshaw), who's also hot on their trail, and keep "Elvis" below 50 degrees.Arlo and Mason finally reach the base, but get ambushed by Brynner and his team who plan on detonating the device in an abandoned weapons test facility. Brynner does not want to leave witnesses, and decides to kill both of them. However, the military arrives and rescues Arlo and Mason before the device explodes, killing Brynner and his men. Colonel Vitelli arrives and congratulates them on a job well done, but Arlo and Mason threaten to expose the U.S. government for using unstable nuclear weapons for the past decade. Vitelli decides to pay them both to keep them silent, but also threatens to have them quietly killed if they say a word about what had happened and about the weapon's existence. All three of them leave the area in a helicopter.

Storyline

• A scientist develops a biological lethal weapon and accidentally kills eighteen soldiers in an island during the tests. Colonel Andrew Brynner is the commander and becomes the scapegoat of the incident. He is sentenced to go to the prison for ten years. Along this period, he becomes unbalanced and decides to get the bomb to sell to terrorists. He commands a group of mercenaries to steal the bomb from the base where Dr. Richard Long is researching. He shoots the scientist but the scientist flees with the weapon to the convenience store where the clerk Tim Mason and an ice-cream trucker driver Arlo are negotiating ice-creams. Mason receive this weapon from the injured Dr. Richard Long, with an advice to keep it below 50 F. They try to reach a military fort and try to escape from the colonel's team that is hunting them down. — Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Ten years after a covert military experiment on a remote Pacific island went wrong and killed eighteen servicemen and his assistant, Dr. Richard Long is still trying to forget the havoc that the experiment caused. Living in the small town of Jerome, Montana, Long still does scientific experiments at the local base, and he enjoys his time fly-fishing with Tim Mason, who works at a local diner. Long is visited by Colonel Andrew Brynner, a former military officer who took the blame and served ten years in Leavenworth Federal Prison for Long's experiment. Now a free man with a score to settle, Brynner has assembled a team of terrorists, including an icy blond named Vaughn. Brynner plans to steal and then sell "Elvis" -- Long's highly volatile, blue crystal substance -- to the highest international bidder. Unfortunately for him, Long, who gets killed, has already delivered "Elvis" to Mason, along with directions that the substance must remain below fifty degrees Fahrenheit, or it will detonate and vaporize everyone within several hundred miles of it. After Mason and Arlo, a wisecracking ice cream delivery man, have a run-in with Brynner, they try to get the substance to Fort Magruder. They don't exactly get along with each other -- Arlo only agrees to transport the substance in his ice cream truck because Mason held a gun on him -- but they find a common bond in trying to avoid Brynner, who will stop at nothing to get the substance. — Todd Baldridge Two mis-matched men, Arlo, an Ice Cream truck driver, and Tim a convenience store clerk, are forced to team up with each other, and get on each others nerves, when through a series of circumstances, they get possession of a top-secret, bio-warfare weapon, when heated to over 50 F, detonates and releases a lethal cloud of radioactivity in which a disgruntled, former U.S. Army officer and his team of alienated, former Army soldiers-turned-terrorists, want to use against the government for making them the scapegoats years earlier for their handling of the virus and covering up the existence of the weapon. With time running out, and the outdoor temperature rising, Arlo and Tim must outwit their pursuers and try to find a way to dispose of the weapon before they both become dead meat. — Matt Patay