Chaos Walking

“In the hands of a different filmmaker, Chaos Walking could have put forth a potent message.”

Title: Chaos Walking (2021)
Director: Doug Liman 👨🏼🇺🇸
Writers: Patrick Ness 👨🏼🇺🇸🇬🇧🌈 and Christopher Ford 👨🏼🇺🇸

Reviewed by Mimi 👩🏻🇺🇸

Note: This review was commissioned by Lionsgate. The content and methodology remain 100% independent and in line with Mediaversity's non-commissioned reviews.

—SPOILERS AHEAD—

Technical: 2.5/5

Mads Mikkelsen. Daisy Ridley. Tom Holland of “Umbrella” lip sync fame. And a Jonas brother. I wondered why I had never heard of the movie starring these very famous people, and then I watched Chaos Walking and understood. Based on a YA sci-fi novel The Knife of Never Letting Go, the first in a trilogy by British American author Patrick Ness, the film adaptation builds upon the premise of a colonial outpost on an alien planet where the thoughts of all the male characters can be seen and heard.

When a teen named Todd Hewitt (Holland) discovers Viola (Ridley), the sole survivor of a crashed scouting ship, he’s shocked not only to see a girl for the first time in his life but also to observe she gives off no “Noise.” Todd sets out to help Viola make contact with her home Colony Ship and escape capture by the New World settlement’s de facto leader and namesake, Mayor Prentiss (Mikkelsen in a full-length fur coat). It all sounds promising enough.

Unfortunately, Chaos Walking reportedly suffered from several rounds of rewrites and reshoots, and it shows. Any trace of exuberance or youthful edge has been squeezed dry from the script. The remaining husk consists of an unimaginative set, wooden dialogue, and an overreliance on special effects in place of coherent storytelling.

The Noise materializes as a shimmering CGI mist that floats around the actors, accompanied by mumbling voiceover. Distracting as it was, I kept wondering if a more creative solution, such as intentional audio design, could have drilled in on the cacophonous nature of the Noise—something we later learn has been known to drive the men mad with devastating consequences. The entire production felt perfunctory, dooming the possibility of a sequel.

Gender: 3.5/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES

In the hands of a different filmmaker, Chaos Walking could have put forth a potent message about the true nature of men, toxic masculinity, and the dangers of misogyny. There’s more than enough material to support such an argument. The opening scene, in which the local preacher Aaron (David Oyelowo) punches Todd without provocation, reveals early on the violence that underpins the all-male Prentisstown. War with the indigenous species known as the Spackle supposedly explains why all the women, including Todd’s mother, have been killed off. Through his mother’s journal, Todd later learns the horrifying truth: The men of Prentisstown murdered the women because they could not bear having their inner selves exposed while being unable to read the women’s minds. Rather than explore the dark and real implications of violence against women, this hidden history exists mainly to bolster the villainy of the Mayor and his followers. In similar fashion, the onscreen killing of animals recurs throughout the film. But lacking a critical lens, the men’s bloodlust simply feels excessive and cruel.

Meanwhile, Ridley valiantly attempts to bring dimension to her character. Unfortunately, Viola possesses only a barebones backstory—a family that died on their journey to the New World. The only woman she interacts with is the mayor (Cynthia Erivo) of Farbranch, another settlement that offers temporary refuge. Todd and Viola gradually evolve from mistrustful strangers to friends, but it’s not without uncomfortable moments. Often played for laughs, Todd struggles to control his thoughts about Viola, including his obsession with her pretty “yellow hair” and desire to kiss her, raising questions about objectification and consent. But the writing fails to connect the so-called harmless fantasies of an adolescent boy with the larger patriarchal system devised by the men of Prentisstown, and thus misses an opportunity to illuminate how Todd can choose to be a different sort of man.

Race: 3/5

In a nod to racial diversity, the film casts two Black actors in colorblind roles. Although arguably helpful for opening up roles to actors of color, the practice of not considering race has also drawn criticism—particularly in instances when it feels as if racist power structures are ignored or under-examined. In this vein, Chaos Walking provides very little sense of the Black characters’ identities, which unfortunately hinders Oyelowo and Erivo’s performances.

The most glaring omission involves a central element of this wannabe-space-Western: the native population. A computer-generated humanoid appears in just one scene that leaves audiences with more questions than answers about who and what the Spackle are, and how they’ve evolved to communicate using the Noise. As the perceived Other, the “alien” species ostensibly stand in for the victims of colonization. Their encounters with the settlers could have served as a compelling analogy about who the real monsters are. But perhaps unsure of how to grapple with genocide in an already convoluted narrative—or maybe having already exceeded their animation budget without an alternative for how to depict the Spackle—the filmmakers fail to portray the conflict in any meaningful way.

Bonus for LGBTQ: +0.50

Reminiscent of my favorite gay space uncles, Todd’s adoptive dads Ben (Demián Bichir) and Cillian (Kurt Sutter) represent a tender masculinity that contrasts with Mayor Prentiss’ lack of affection for his own son Davy (Nick Jonas). I wish the film had devoted more time to developing Ben and Cillian’s relationship with Todd, as well as with each other, so that their deaths don’t fall so easily into the trope of expendable queer characters.

Mediaversity Grade: C 3.17/5

The need to condense so much into the movie seems to have come at a cost. Despite the film’s star power, an overworked script that somehow feels underdeveloped ultimately hampers the actors’ abilities to breathe any life into their characters. Out of curiosity, I tried to parse out what plot points originated from Ness’ novel, but it doesn’t change the end result. The real tragedy of Chaos Walking is how the filmmakers transform a genuinely fascinating concept into an utterly unexceptional movie.

Like Chaos Walking? Try these other dystopian sci-fi westerns.

Grade: CLiMarch 5, 2021Great for: LGBTQ