Chaos Walking – Another Flat Young Adult Film
Tom Holland as Todd Hewitt in Chaos Walking. Photo Credit: Murray Close
" data-orig-size="3600,2400" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" data-image-title="Tom Holland as Todd Hewitt in Chaos Walking. Photo Credit: Murray Close" data-orig-file="https://moviesreview101.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/cw_d01_00225r.jpg" data-image-description="" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"6.3","credit":"Murray Close\/Lionsgate","camera":"ILCE-9","caption":"Tom Holland as Todd Hewitt in Chaos Walking. Photo Credit: Murray Close","created_timestamp":"1503340026","copyright":"\u00a9 2020 Lionsgate","focal_length":"71","iso":"125","shutter_speed":"0.004","title":"Tom Holland as Todd Hewitt in Chaos Walking. Photo Credit: Murray Close","orientation":"1"}" data-medium-file="https://moviesreview101.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/cw_d01_00225r.jpg?w=337" data-permalink="https://moviesreview101.com/2022/01/03/abc-film-challenge-catch-up-2021-c-chaos-walking-2021-movie-review/tom-holland-as-todd-hewitt-in-chaos-walking-photo-credit-murray-close-2/" alt="" srcset="https://moviesreview101.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/cw_d01_00225r.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://moviesreview101.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/cw_d01_00225r.jpg?w=2048 2048w, https://moviesreview101.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/cw_d01_00225r.jpg?w=150 150w, https://moviesreview101.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/cw_d01_00225r.jpg?w=337 337w, https://moviesreview101.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/cw_d01_00225r.jpg?w=768 768w" class="wp-image-51206" data-large-file="https://moviesreview101.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/cw_d01_00225r.jpg?w=593" />Director: Doug Liman
Writer: Patrick Ness, Christopoher Ford (Screenplay) Patrick Ness (Book)
Starring: Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Demian Bichir, David Oyelowo, Kurt Sutter, Cynthia Erivo, Bethany Anne Lind, Mads Mikkelsen, Nick Jonas
Plot: Two unlikely companions embark on a perilous adventure through the badlands of an unexplored planet as they try to escape a dangerous and disorienting reality, where all inner thoughts are seen and heard by everyone.
Tagline – Did Somone Say Walk
Runtime: 1 Hour 49 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Chaos Walking starts in the future where Todd (Holland) a young man has been part of new world on a new planet, one that will see him being seen as the lowest of the society, where people will see their thoughts projected for people to hear and see. When Viola (Ridley) part of a new crew heading to the planet crash lands into the area, making her the only girl known to the society.
When Mayor Prentiss (Mikkelsen) learns about the girl, he has his own plans for her, which will lead to Todd needing to help Viola find safety, which will look to start a new war on the planet.
Thoughts on Chaos Walking
Characters & Performances – Todd is the youngest member of the society he lives in, he is still learning to control his noise, even though his power does have potential to be the strongest. He isn’t like everything one in the town and is at the stage where he could become one of the men or get out of this own way to make something more in his life, living on the outside of the town. He ends up needing to guide a woman to safety after learning the danger she is in, learning more about the past on his journey. Tom Holland does struggle in this role, which is part because of the ridiculous noise thing and part because the character is flat. Viola is the woman who has come from space, she is seen as a danger to Todd’s village, but she needs to find a way to communicate to the mother ship if more survivors will make it to the New World. Unlike the men, women don’t have the noise, making her difficult for Todd to be around, having always being around men and their noise. Daisy Ridley also struggles with her role, as both the leads just can’t make the impact in this film. When it comes to the supporting characters we get the typical evil leader figure, the elder that tries to help one that wants to help do the right thing and crazed one that will become the danger. The characters are bought to life with the actors you expect to fill these types of roles, without anyone doing too much special.
Story – The story here follows a village of only men that have a woman crash land into, which will lead to one of the youngest getting to learn about the bigger picture and war that he has had hidden from him for all this time, as he looks to guide her to safety and learn about the planet. This is another attempt to bring a young adult story to life, only it ends up trying to do something clever and falling very flat. The idea of getting someone from point A to point B is fine and will work for the most part, but the inclusion of the noise, meaning all men’s thoughts are seen comes off looking a lot worse than it should. The overall story feels like just an introduction to a much bigger world, but I am not sure it is one we will want to return to.
Themes – Chaos Walking is an adventure thriller sci-fi that will takes us into the young adult area of a new world, with a new twist to the world, this time, something call the noise, which will project thoughts. The world looks like Earth, is meant to be like Earth and if we are honest doesn’t look remotely different to anything we have seen before. The only interesting part of the film is the alien they meet and this goes nowhere.
Final Thoughts – Chaos Walking is a flat young adult film that just doesn’t get to reach any of the potential it wants to, despite having an A-list cast.