Sommerleigh Pollonais, Senior Writer
Plot: 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.
Review: I miss going to the cinemas. I really do. I was one of those people who went to the movies weekly. But if there’s one good thing that has come out of having to stream at home is I save myself the frustration and disappointment of paying box office bucks to see what looked like a promising film on paper, only to realise it wasn’t worth leaving my house. Which brings me to Chaos Walking.
Based on the award-winning and best selling young adult series of the same name, or more specifically the first novel in the series, The Knife of Never Letting Go, Chaos Walking is one of those big blockbusters that was delayed by the pandemic. I’m guessing fans of these books who were probably excited by the casting of Tom Holland (Spider-Man: Homecoming and Far From Home), Daisy Ridley (the latest Star Wars trilogy) and Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal/Doctor Strange) were left wanting by this average and lacklustre screenplay.
Having never read the books myself (although I did Wiki them to prepare for this review) I can only base my opinion on the movie itself. And while I found the premise very intriguing (all of the men can see each other’s thoughts and even hear the thoughts of animals, while Daisy’s character Viola, being a female, is immune to this “Noise”) I have to say the execution felt hurried and stale. Don’t get me wrong; the acting is fine, as is to be expected from these talented people, but the story doesn’t give any real motivation for their actions beyond the surface ones. And everything is so rushed and compacted to fit the runtime you never get a chance to truly connect with these people.
With a budget of over 100 million dollars and a ton of rewrites, I expected a lot more from this. Instead, I sat there comparing it to how I felt when I watched the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. That should tell you all you need to know about how Chaos Walking turned out!
Still, I think the story here is a good one and, with that in mind, I’ll probably check out the books. At least those are complete and I can find out exactly how Todd and Viola’s story ends. Because based on what I watched here and the other reviews I saw online, I don’t think we’ll be getting to watch this saga conclude on-screen any time soon.
Sommer’s Score: 5.5 out of 10
For more of my thoughts on Chaos Walking you can check out my video review below:
For Featured Writer Alice’s review of Sci Fi Thriller Synchronic you can click here. Or for Editor Jules’s review of post-apocalyptic series Tribes of Europa you can click here.
Sommerleigh of the House Pollonais. First of Her Name. Sushi Lover, Queen of Horror Movies, Comic Books and Binge Watching Netflix. Mother of two beautiful black cats named Vader and Kylo. I think eating Popcorn at the movies should be mandatory, PS4 makes the best games ever and I’ll be talking about movies until the zombie apocalypse comes.
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