'Chaos Walking' A Review

Chaos Walking is a scifi movie about an earth-like planet 'New World' that causes male human's thoughts to manifest physically and verbally an affliction they call 'Noise'. Todd(Tom Holland) is a resident of settlement Prentisstown run by the power obsessed Prentiss(Mads Mikkelsen). When Viola(Daisy Ridley) crashes, part of the second wave of settlers, Prentiss detains her to prevent her communicating with her ship.  Todd helps her escape and the two head off to find operational communication equipment.

Holland brings his tried-and-true earnestness to bear but it is muddled by the minimal characterization in the script as well as the intriguing if ultimately odd way the Noise is conveyed and utilized. Ridley is game and clearly puts the effort in but she's also constricted by a lack of character dimension and the two, although they have decent chemistry, don't have much room to breathe given the chase nature of the plotting, story is frequently sacrificed for pacing. Mikkelsen is a delicious villain but is underutilized and underdeveloped. There are some impressive members in the supporting cast- Cynthia Erivo, Ray McKinnon, David Oyelowo- but are mostly under deployed.

Crisp visuals and clear ambition when it comes to how the Noise is portrayed help a story that has some intriguing ideas, clear potential, decent worldbuilding, but stumbles when it comes to the script, momentum takes priority over building depth of character.

Minorly diverting scifi fare that could have been better.

Currently available for rent on most VOD platforms.

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