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The erratic “Chaos Theory” revolves around an uptight efficiency expert who lays out his philosophy about 30 minutes into the movie: “Those who cannot control whim are destined to be controlled by it.”
You’d think somebody stirring this artificial concoction would have listened to that advice. “Chaos Theory” begins as a tepid romance, gains momentum when it turns to silly comedy and then abruptly shifts gears again, ending as an artificial melodrama that has its characters living and (almost) dying by notions as sudden as a flash flood in the desert.
Just weeks after underwhelming moviegoers with his leading-man abilities in “Definitely, Maybe,” Ryan Reynolds returns in another flashback-structured film. “Chaos” has an older Frank Allen (Reynolds) telling his prospective son-in-law all about his own bumpy, Humpty Dumpty marriage to wife Susan (Emily Mortimer), a woman so completely unappealing that you wonder he stayed married to her in the first place.
Short answer: Because then there would be no movie. Nothing makes sense in “Chaos Theory.” Susan thinks Frank is cheating on her. Looking to prove his innocence, Frank discovers a rather startling fact about Susan that has him pledging to “decide to never decide another thing again.”
So Button-Down Boy goes on a bender, which nicely plays to Reynolds’ strengths — comic timing and smart-ass behavior. But when director Marcos Siega (”Pretty Persuasion”) ramps up the volume on the
emotional, alt-rock sound cues and turns the movie into a bad episode of “One Tree Hill,” the pain on Reynolds’ face seems genuine for all the wrong reasons.
Without reading too much into the frozen expression, Reynolds seems to be thinking: “What happened to the funny movie I was just in? You know, the one with me getting stupid and running naked around the hockey rink? Because the movie I’m in now — the one where you’re putting the little girl playing my daughter into all kinds of contrived situations to push people’s emotional buttons — is suddenly making me proud that I starred in that ‘Amityville Horror’ remake. And that movie stunk!”

mercurynews.com

If someone remade "Rashomon" with "Bourne" sensibilities, it might look something like "Vantage Point."
A political thriller rooted in today's terror-wary consciousness, "Vantage Point" could be the conspiracy-theory movie to end all conspiracy-theory movies. There are plenty of potential villains around, and there's more than one crime on the agenda.
U.S. President Ashton (William Hurt) arrives in Salamanca, Spain, for an anti-terrorism summit with other world leaders. An excited crowd fills the city's historic Plaza Mayor. Security officers are everywhere, as are news cameras.
One of the Secret Service agents protecting Ashton is Thomas Barnes (Dennis Quaid), a veteran who took a bullet for the president in the recent past. Indeed, some might think it's too soon for Thomas to be back on duty, but agent in charge Kent Taylor (Matthew Fox) doesn't want to write Thomas off.
Thomas is on a stage a few feet from the president when shots ring out and Ashton is felled. Within seconds, the plaza is in chaos. As Ashton is rushed away for treatment, Thomas desperately looks for a way to find the shooter. Then a bomb goes off, creating more panic.
Before the story can advance much further, the film stops and rewinds to the starting time, only to proceed from the perspective of another character, repeating the process several more times until the stories converge in an adrenaline rush of a climax that solves most of the puzzle.

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