Science fiction epic Chaos Walking looked so promising, from the excellent source material to a stellar cast including Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and Daisy Ridley (Rey from Star Wars). Now that it’s officially out in theaters, apparently it leaves a lot to be desired.
Chaos Walking is based on the YA novels by Patrick Ness, beginning with The Knife of Never Letting Go. Directed by Doug Liman, the movie follows Todd Hewitt (Tom Holland) who grows up on a colony planet where mens’ thoughts can be heard by all, thanks to something called “the Noise.” When power-hungry big bad Mayor Prentiss (Mads Mikkelsen) learns how to take complete control of his Noise, he uses his advantage to declare himself President of the New World and the dictator of Prentisstown. But it won’t be easy for him, not with Todd and his new friend Viola (Daisy Ridley) on his case.
In addition to Holland, Ridley, and Mikkelsen, the cast also features Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, Kurt Sutter and David Oyelowo. It’s pretty impressive.
Chaos Walking has been beset with delays, and they weren’t all related to the coronavirus. The movie was filmed in 2017 and originally slated to premiere in 2019, but reshoots slowed things down. So it was getting delayed before it was cool.
What are critics saying about Chaos Walking?
If you’ve been waiting for this movie for a while, you’ll be saddened to hear the loudest noise Chaos Walking is making so far are the expressions of disappointment heaped on it by the vast majority of critics. I think Benjamin Lee of The Guardian summed it up pretty well. “Chaos Lumbering would be more fitting,” he said.
Alonso Duralde of TheWrap appreciated the imaginative storytelling — something the books were praised for — but criticized the execution. “There’s no shortage of imaginative sci-fi details or of talented actors on-hand, but the film boils down to characters we barely get to know chasing each other and yelling…With all the characters being so poorly fleshed-out and yoked to the grinding gears of the plot, this film wastes a staggering amount of talent.”
The main storytelling gimmick, “the Noise,” worked well in the books. Translating it to film is a different story. “Doug Liman delivers action with a high-concept hook – we can hear everything the characters are thinking,” writes Variety’s Peter Debruge, “it gets very old very quickly.”
Writing for This is FIlm, Peter Gray has a similar take. “The noise is clear that this missed opportunity is housed within a world that isn’t worth visiting.”
David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter was confused by the visual depiction of the Noise. “The multihued blur of movement created around them by that unfiltered ‘Noise’ at first had me wondering about a faulty link, or a possible need for picture adjustment on my TV,” he wrote. “Not that the visual effects aren’t slick, like everything else in this dour sci-fi saga. The issue is more that the information overload afflicting the men onscreen also infects the muddy storytelling from the start, failing to hook you into the characters or their plight.”
Overall, not good.
Chaos Walking isn’t all bad
Sure, the vast majority of critics don’t think Chaos Walking is worth seeing, but not everyone thought it was bad. A few critics liked elements of it. Possibly the most unenthusiastic praise came thanks to Wenlei Ma of News.com,au, who simply wrote, “It could’ve been worse.”
“As far as pandemic releases from director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) go, Chaos Walking definitely has a more interesting premise than Locked Down,” said Christian Holub in his review for Entertainment Weekly, although he too adds a caveat. “But that doesn’t mean you should be rushing back to theaters to see it”
Forbes critic Scott Mendelson was a little less hateful, even titling his review “A Surprisingly Good YA Fantasy.”
"Outside context aside, Chaos Walking is an enjoyable big-scale action fantasy, one that uses its one deviation to its narrative advantage and succeeds thanks to the fundamentals…It may be doomed, but it is a pleasure to be in its brief company."
Chaos Walking is out in theaters today! It’s not available on streaming anywhere as of yet.
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