Chaos Walking

Official Australian release date: 4/3/21. Viewed: 9/3/21.

Director: Doug Liman
Actors: Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Mads Mikkelsen, David Oyelowo
Genre: Sci-Fi / Action
Rating: M

‘Chaos Walking’ is a near-future humanity-trying-to-colonise-a-new-planet film, based on the book ‘The Knife of Never Letting Go’ by Patrick Ness, which I haven’t read. I may have to read the three books, as the unique “power” all the men on this new planet have is that their thoughts are visible – called “the noise”, shown as multi-coloured clouds around their heads. No secrets here! Or so you’d think. Todd (Holland) is a teenager raised on this planet, guided by the mayor, Prentiss (Mikkelsen) & preacher (Oyelowo), when Viola (Ridley) crash lands from the 2^nd fleet from Earth.

It’s directed by Doug Liman, who has a very interesting CV now (‘Swingers’, ‘Bourne Identity’, ‘Mr & Mrs Smith’, ‘Edge of Tomorrow’) and does a good job to keep things moving, while slowly fleshing out the characters. It’s essentially a chase film, with Todd & Viola on the run the whole time. Quebec does a good job of standing is as not-unusually-seen terrain. The “noise” can get annoying at times, but Holland’s charm helps.

I should highlight that some won’t like the few instances of animal cruelty shown on screen, so be warned. Good to see Spider-Man and Rey acting together – you can see the studio trying to cash in when they filmed this 3.5 years ago! Why there are some quite obvious reveals (reminds me more of ‘The Chrysalids’ than other sci-fi novels), and there is a little more world-building needed (I’m sure we’ll see sequels), it offers enough to leave you satisfied.

Overall: Solid, if unspectacular, sci-fi.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.