Chaos Walking – Movie Review

In the not too distant future on the planet of New World, the thoughts of the men of Prentisstown are public knowledge in a stream of images, words and sounds known as Noise. The women were killed by the native species of the planet called the Spackle and Todd Hewitt has made a huge discovery; her name is Viola.

Chaos Walking is a 2021 sci-fi adventure movie adapted from the first YA novel of the Chaos Walking Trilogy, “The Knife of Never Letting Go”, by Patrick Ness. Directed by Doug Liman with a screenplay written and rewritten by Gary Spinelli, Lindsey Beer, Patrick Ness and Christopher Ford, Chaos Walking tell the story of Prentisstown and follows Todd (Tom Holland) and Viola (Daisy Ridley) on their journey to escape the mayor of Prentisstown, David Prentiss (Mads Mikkelsen), his son, Davy (Nick Jonas) and the town preacher (David Oyelowo). I can’t guarantee that there will be no spoilers in this review but I promise I will do my best to keep them to a minimum.

So, the first thing to note is that the book is part of a trilogy and that the chances of there being a sequel are slim to non-existent currently as the movie is bombing in a big way at the box office even though it has a strong cast. It is, however, nowhere near as horrific as professional critics will have you believe and does have some semblance of an ending so that, if it doesn’t get a sequel, we don’t feel hard done by. The acting is strong, with both Holland and Ridley providing fantastic performances, and the premise of the story is unique and imaginative. Action is fast paced but the opening does leave the audience without a lot of the world building information that’s found in the books, something that some viewers may not enjoy. At some points, it is clear that the script was rewritten multiple times but never to the point that it becomes jarring. Personally, I thought it was a good movie and I’m more interested in reading the books now to discover the true depth of the story.

The phrase on the trilogy boxset states “The Noise is a man unfiltered and without a filter a man is just Chaos Walking” and the representation of the noise we see in the movie is just that. Unfiltered and unflinching chaos. There are plenty of times Todd tells himself to “be a man” even though we, as the viewers, know that Todd is a person who feels things deeply and struggles to keep his thoughts in check. This is a nod back to his upbringing in a village with no women; manly traits are shoved to the forefront and any semblance of femininity is a threat to the town’s way of life. Personally, I think the manner in which the noise was done with sometimes abrupt, sudden outbursts is accurate. In a state of panic, shock or fear, your thoughts are running wild and Chaos Walking shows as much. I will admit that, though the film is adapted from a YA novel, the movie itself seems very serious. There were some chuckle inducing moments but nothing to really break the tension and I would have enjoyed just a little more levity in the quieter moments of the movie.

With the abrupt arrival of Viola when she crash lands on New World, we begin to see the more sinister undertones of the Mayor’s intentions. He wants to prevent Viola from sending a message to the passenger ship she came from and, as the film progresses, the reasoning behind this goal becomes clearer. It turns out Prentisstown isn’t the only settlement on New World, as Todd was taught to believe, and with the goal of getting the second wave of settlers to join them on New World, Todd and Viola set off towards Farbranch, another New World settlement, with Todd’s dog, Manchee. P.S. Don’t get attached to Manchee, please.

Overall, I don’t see why the critics slated this movie. 1) They are most certainly not the target audience and 2) I’m sure a vast majority of critics didn’t read the books either. The movie as a whole is good; not a stroke of cinematic brilliance but still worth a watch if you enjoy the dystopian genre. Though this movie isn’t exactly teeming with female characters, it shows that women can be as strong and no nonsense as men. It also isn’t an attack on women, as some people would have you believe, but rather an attack on toxic masculinity and the dangers it can pose if left unchecked. If you are a fan of dystopian movies, Chaos Walking is worth a watch.