Review by Brad Balfour
Chaos Walking
Director: Doug Liman
Cast: Daisy Ridley. Tom Holland, Mads Mikkelsen, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, Ray McKinnon, Kurt Sutter, David Oyelowo
When my local AMC fully reopened more than a month ago, I figured I’d venture forth and step into another universe — a dark movie theater. Having binged on my share of TV series, weirdo docs and award-nominated streaming flicks, I needed to voyage away from the world through time and/or space (or both) to take advantage of the big screen.
In order to do so, I settled on Chaos Walking — a science fiction thriller set about 300 years in the future, on a planet meant to be Earth’s first extra-solar system colony. The film kicks off with a pod that crash lands on the planet. Through the eyes of Todd Hewitt (Holland), a man/boy member of Prentisstown, we view the ensuing struggle to capture and exploit its survivor — Viola Eade (Ridley). She’s a passenger from the next colony ship headed to the “New World,” since contact had been lost long ago with the planet.
Based on Patrick Ness’ same-named sci-fi trilogy, veteran director Doug Liman made this film by adapting its first book, 2008’s The Knife of Never Letting Go. This sci-fi actioner features a glimpse of the real inhabitants of the planet — thoroughly non-human humanoids but they’re only window dressing. The film’s truly alien center-point is the emergence of The Noise — a physical manifestation of one’s own thoughts and feelings expressed as a shimmering around the head which can also throw off 3D-like illusions. This plot point is more than a curiosity. It’s actually a defining element of the societies that emerge: only men express The Noise while women are immune to it.
As a result, a community of colonists began a civil war with the natives and claimed that they killed all of the women but half of the men survived. In this narrative, the real enemy of humankind is, well, MAN-kind. As a result, the movie touches onto lots of post #MeToo issues. What if men’s real thoughts are exposed? Their many associated mental con games must then be played with far more deftness than is usually the case at play with most males. Unfortunately, Chaos Walking only superficially addresses these concerns.
As the story ensues, Todd and Viola visit another colony with men, women and children. Eventually the deceptions behind Prentisstown’s society are revealed, and so the new colony ship that’s on the way is warned of the conflict before it arrives at the planet.
The film provided a satisfying start to in-theater viewing but my need wasn’t yet fulfilled. I was waiting for a truly bombastic blockbuster to fully exploit the environment. And I still am.