Chaos Walking, based on a popular book series, took a while to come out. It got pushed back a couple times, and before I knew it, it was on Hulu. Did it even get a theatrical release? Considering it stars Tom “Spider-Man” Holland and Daisy “Rey Skywalker” Ridley, I would have thought it would have made a bigger splash even if it was a bomb. Then again, for all of their successes in those giant franchises, I am not sure either actor has been as successful anywhere else. I’ve seen both in a couple things, and while some of their non-franchise efforts have been fine, others are…less so.
Still, I heard Chaos Walking was, if nothing else, a little weird. Might as well see what that means.
On the planet creatively named “New World,” the town of Prentisstown has some issues. All the men there have something called “the Noise,” a weird thing where all of their thoughts can be seen or heard by anyone around them. Yes, there are some ways around that and even the ability to cast some illusions for the more practiced among them, but the Noise if always there. Also, there are no women. Young Todd (Holland) was told that the women were all killed off by the planet’s natives, a race called the Spackle. The mayor, Prentiss (Mads Mikkelsen) is considered a hero of that conflict, but there’s more going on (obviously). That comes out when a shuttle from another colony ship crash lands near Prentisstown. The lone passenger is Viola (Ridley), and while she doesn’t have the Noise, she does have a bit of tech that hasn’t been seen on New World in ages. She does manage to overhear the Mayor talking about taking out the colony ship’s passengers before they wake up, so she makes a run for it. She eventually hooks up with Todd, and the two go on the run to find a way to signal the colony ship. Prentiss and his men, however, are not that far behind.
So, that’s the set-up. How was the execution? Not that good, honestly. There’s some good ideas at the center of this movie, but they don’t really work out too much beyond a very run-of-the-mill story. This is a movie that looks like it might not be out of place being just off-screen for a Hunger Games film. It’s not all that adult, and the final confrontation with Prentiss has a rather anticlimactic end to a villain that wasn’t all that impressive to begin with. Then again, that describes so much about this movie.
It’s the sort of movie that will have actors like Holland, Ridley, Mikkelsen, Cynthia Erivo, and David Oyelowo, but somehow none of them seem to be playing all that interesting a character. It feels like a paycheck for most of them and not much beyond that. And can we get Mikkelsen in something in English where he isn’t playing the villain? Beyond Rogue One? He’s a big actor in his native Denmark and gotten a lot of raves for a wide variety of roles. It would be nice if there was more of that for his English language work.
But all that would have made this movie rather run of the mill were it not for the Noise, a perpetual colored bubble around the heads of most of the men with various voice over effects representing more verbal thoughts. The Noise is more a hindrance to the characters than anything else. And quite frankly, given all the things Todd could have been thinking about Viola…she gets off a bit lucky. Regardless, the effect looks silly, and somewhat undermines the movie. Then again, there isn’t a lot to undermine here in what is ultimately a very mediocre movie.
Grade: C-
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