'Chaos Walking' Review
PG13: Violence and Language
Runtime: 1 Hr and 47 Minutes
Production Companies: Quadrant Pictures, 3 Arts Entertainment, Allison Shearmur Productions, Bron Creative
Distributor: Lionsgate
Director: Doug Liman
Writer: Patrick Ness, Christopher Ford
Cast: Daisy Ridley, Tom Holland, Mads Mikkelsen, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, David Oyelowo
Release Date: March 5, 2021
Theatrical
In the not-too-distant future, Todd Hewitt (Tom Holland) discovers Viola (Daisy Ridley), a mysterious girl who crash lands on his planet, where all the women have disappeared and the men are afflicted by "the Noise" – a force that puts all their thoughts on display. In this dangerous landscape, Viola's life is threatened – and as Todd vows to protect her, he will have to discover his own inner power and unlock the planet's dark secrets.
I don’t want to come off as a jerk by having only one compliment for Chaos Walking… and it’s a backhanded compliment at that. I’m surprised and relieved that this movie isn’t a mess. Despite all the production issues within its decade-long journey to get to the big screen, including:
Hiring THE Charlie Kaufman to write a draft of the screenplay which ended up being scrapped
Directors being shifted around before they landed on Doug Liman
Poor test screenings
Reshoots that didn’t take place until long after Daisy Ridley finished shooting Rise of Skywalker and Tom Holland finished Spider-Man: Far From Home
… the final product is competent. As far as movies go, it’s not the bloated disaster I was expecting. Granted, they spent a shit ton of money on it (over $100 million) and it doesn’t look like it, but it’s not terrible. The final product doesn’t reflect the messy production history, the many issues with development, or the reshoots. It may be dull and mediocre but at least it’s competent and damn it, that’s good enough for me.
It’s been so difficult keeping track of time lately during these uncertain times, but one thing I can definitely do is tell when a movie arrives way past its expiration date. Based on the YA novel The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, Chaos Walking is a movie that harkens back to the early 2010s during the era when most studios, especially Lionsgate, were trying to make franchises out of EVERY popular YA novel they could get their grubby little hands on. Is your novel set in a sci-fi dystopian future and geared toward a rebellious teen audience? Here’s a multimillion-dollar film adaptation that we’re gonna turn into a trilogy because we’re confident our shit will print money! Who can blame Lionsgate, though? The Twilight series did numbers and The Hunger Games was also financially successful, but after fumbling the Divergent series, which failed to make a profit, it was clear that audiences were all YA-dystopian futured out.
I’ll be damned, Lionsgate got back up and tried again with a new movie that emphasizes why these kinds of stories have run their course. In Chaos Walking, you’re introduced to Earth (dubbed “The New World”) several hundred years into the future, featuring a western village populated solely by men. The men have this ability/curse where whatever inner thought they have is spoken out loud — an unfiltered sensation of thoughts that they call “the Noise.” Not only do they have the ability to think out loud, but if they dig deep down and think of anything with all their might, they can make illusions and project anything from their mind into a hologram.
Remember the dogs from Up and how they spoke via their voice transmission collars, which was funny and endearing because they were dogs and spoke like dogs? Well, that’s the same way these men communicate with each other with their “Noise”. They say whatever one-worded thought that comes to mind. It’s constant and relentless, word vomiting all the way through. I was waiting for someone to look at a squirrel and have their “Noise” bubble go, “Squirrel!” As a viewer, it gets on your damn nerves because you have to deal with it throughout the entire movie.
Needless to say, our lead Todd Hewitt is annoying. Todd hardly speaks in full sentences before Viola crash lands her ship on Earth and it’s hard to follow, for he’s a rude, bland little hothead. Todd never shuts up, for he speaks like the most basic rebellious, angsty teenager.
Though the world bears a Planet of the Apes meets Lord of the Flies vibe where Viola is the confused stranger amongst savage men in a world she’s alien to, the film’s execution couldn’t be any more bland and calculated. The narrative itself follows a generic “point A to point B” trek where Todd and Viola must embark on a quest to get her to a vantage point so she can contact her ship. Meanwhile, they’re on the run from the Mayor of Todd’s tribe (Mads Mikkelsen), who dons a badass fur coat looking like a ‘70s pimp from the west, and the preacher (David Oyelowo), who is such a Jesus freak that he has his own red color-coded Noise. It’s all pretty confusing because hardly any of the sci-fi mumbo-jumbo is explained. Outside of futuristic weapons, there are so many random moments that raise more questions than it answers. It’s so weird because Todd and Viola encounter random CG alien creatures that inhabit the Earth and they never explain what they are. It’s a futuristic setting but the colony functions like a simple western town where everyone travels by horse. The film never fully commits to the world it wants to establish conceptually.
Teenagers and fans of Tom Holland and/or Daisy Ridley are the film’s primary demographic. Todd and Viola are hardly developed and they’re not very interesting individually or as a duo. Viola doesn’t have much personality or standout characteristics outside of being a quiet reactionary woman who is on survival mode at all times. Todd is just a brawny one-dimensional brute who doesn’t know how to chill or shut up. Apologies to everyone who was looking forward to a Rey/Spider-Man crossover, for you will walk away disappointed by the lack of chemistry they share. Their joint scenes consist of exposition-based dialogue disguised as bonding or they get caught up in an underwhelming action sequence where they must fight to survive. I’m still waiting for somebody to give Daisy Ridley a good screenplay. I want to see her be GOOD in something because this isn’t it, chief. She’s good when it comes to being reactionary and that’s about it.
Chaos Walking has a decent premise but the narrative completely follows the formula of other YA dystopian films of the same nature. Nothing about the film is interesting or special. The setting doesn’t stand out, the action sequences aren’t great, and the characters are boring. You can tell this was in production hell forever, for it feels like such a calculated first entry to a franchise that most likely ain’t gonna happen. It sets itself up for a sequel but given everything surrounding its release, it’s not likely to happen. Hey, at least they finally finished the film. Yeah, you might’ve wasted $100 million because this shit will bomb, but darn it, you finally completed the movie and that’s what matters most.
