, this science fiction western struggles to live up to the promise of its star-studded cast){kind=link}
Directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity), this science fiction western struggles to live up to the promise of its star-studded cast and intriguing premise based on The Knife of Never Letting Go, the first book in Patrick Ness’ popular YA trilogy, Chaos Walking.
Written by Ness and Christopher Ford, Chaos Walking stars Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley of Disney franchise fame as two teenagers caught up in an adrenaline-fuelled manhunt.
Holland (Spider-Man) plays Todd Hewitt, a teenager like any other—except that he lives on another planet colonized by humans called New World, where all men are afflicted with the Noise, a force that projects their thoughts externally for all to hear and see. There are no women in Todd’s frontier village, Prentisstown—so named for its Mayor, played by the singular Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal)—because the planet’s indigenous species, the Spackle, killed them during the war. So Todd is led to believe. When a spaceship crash lands near his village, Todd discovers the lone survivor, a young woman his age by the name of Viola Eade, played by Ridley (Star Wars). Todd’s realization that Viola has no Noise and his rising suspicions about the Mayor make him question everything he thought he knew, setting off a series of events that force Viola and Todd together in a race to contact her mothership before the Mayor and his men stop them.
Unfortunately, the movie rushes toward its ending and skims over many key concepts and world-building that would have added welcome depth and intrigue. It’s particularly disappointing when the premise offers so much to explore and discuss: the dynamics between women and men in a world where men have Noise and women don’t; the very nature of Noise and its potential to manipulate and corrupt (the film vaguely touches on the Mayor’s ability to mind-control his army using Noise); and of course, the Spackle. Apart from one brief encounter with a Spackle, the film never delves into their existence or their dynamics with the human colonizers beyond the mention of a war.
The film had an enormously difficult task adapting the Noise from book to screen; however, the film executes the idea effectively and even adds to it in a visually creative way. The Noise in the film is presented as a swirling, shifting cloud of blue-purple colour and images around the male characters. Some men control their noise better than others. For Todd, that involves repeating his name over and over to hide a particular thought. The village’s fire-and-brimstone Preacher (David Oyelowo) thinks in burning, sinful reds. The Mayor is so disciplined he usually has no Noise at all, but he can project life-like images to confuse and control people, such as a wall springing up to trap a character. It is this use of visual projection that is most intriguing in the film’s execution of the Noise.
Most of the movie revolves around the Mayor’s relentless manhunt to stop Todd and Viola from contacting her people. The film doesn’t convincingly explain why the Mayor is so against the ship’s arrival, but we accept it at face value if only because Mikkelsen is such an entrancing villain. Holland and Ridley offer solid performances slightly hindered by a lack of chemistry. In part, this is because their characters are somewhat underdeveloped and feel at odds with one another in terms of maturity. Todd predictably develops a crush on Viola, and as she’s the first girl he’s ever seen, he often acts like a prepubescent schoolboy around her. Meanwhile, Viola has a more mature outlook of the world and rebuffs his romantic Noise, keen to get on with their mission.
The film contains other star power in the form of the aforementioned Oyelowo, and Cynthia Erivo as the Mayor of Farbranch, another town on New World. Both give great performances in their limited roles. Nick Jonas does a decent job playing the small role of Davy Prentiss Junior, the son of Mayor Prentiss.
Despite having two more books of material the film could explore, it largely ties everything up swiftly and neatly so there’s no need for a sequel. This is likely due to the myriad of production issues the film encountered, from changing screenwriters and poor initial screen tests, to difficulties coordinating Holland and Ridley’s schedules for a slew of reshoots. The media’s coverage of the film’s numerous production pains and the untimely arrival of the pandemic also certainly didn’t help set the film up for box office success.
While the action-focused film struggles to produce a story with more narrative depth and character development, it provides fun moments and raises intriguing questions. The film has great potential and story to dig into, but unfortunately fails to capitalize on it or do more than skim the surface. Chaos Walking likely won’t get another chance to explore any of these key world-building and thought-provoking concepts since a sequel seems highly improbable.
© 2021. UniversalCinema Mag.