Chaos Walking

Two unlikely companions embark on a perilous adventure through the badlands of an unexplored planet as they try to escape a dangerous and disorienting reality, where all inner thoughts are seen and heard by everyone.
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Credits: TheMovieDb.

Film Cast:

  • Viola Eade: Daisy Ridley
  • Todd Hewitt: Tom Holland
  • Mayor David Prentiss: Mads Mikkelsen
  • Ben Moore: Demián Bichir
  • Aaron: David Oyelowo
  • Cillian Boyd: Kurt Sutter
  • Hildy: Cynthia Erivo
  • Karyssa Hewitt: Bethany Anne Lind
  • Davy Prentiss Jr.: Nick Jonas
  • Matthew: Ray McKinnon
  • Daws: Vincent Leclerc
  • Young Todd: Blane Crockarell
  • Charlie: François Gauthier
  • Hammer: Tyrone Benskin
  • Mr. Phelps: Frank Fontaine
  • Tam: Don Jordan
  • Ivan: Patrick Garrow
  • Julie: Mylène Dinh-Robic
  • Gault: Julian Richings
  • Answer Camp Woman (uncredited): Tara Nicodemo
  • Farnbranch Man (uncredited): Harrison Osterfield
  • Fisherman (uncredited): Yannick Lupien
  • Whaler (uncredited): Jad Saikali
  • Whaler (uncredited): Marc Primeau
  • Fisherman #1: Michael Dyson
  • Prentisstown Man #1: Maxwell McCabe-Lokos
  • Prentisstown Man #2: Stephen Eric McIntyre
  • Caleb: Peter Seaborn
  • Mayor Camp Man #1: Jean Michel Paré
  • Young Davy (uncredited): Bryce Bruckbauer

Film Crew:

  • Production Design: Dan Weil
  • Casting: Jeanne McCarthy
  • Additional Editor: Kevin Greutert
  • Original Music Composer: Marco Beltrami
  • Special Effects Supervisor: Louis Craig
  • Editor: Andrew Mondshein
  • Producer: Erwin Stoff
  • Second Unit Director: Ben Cooke
  • Concept Artist: Peter Popken
  • Director: Doug Liman
  • Production Executive: Patrick Wachsberger
  • Executive Producer: Erik Feig
  • Supervising Art Director: Nicolas Lepage
  • Supervising Sound Editor: Lon Bender
  • Producer: Doug Davison
  • ADR Voice Casting: Bruce Winant
  • Production Executive: Michael Paseornek
  • Additional Editing: Nancy Richardson
  • Digital Intermediate Colorist: Stefan Sonnenfeld
  • Director of Photography: Ben Seresin
  • Executive Producer: Ray Angelic
  • Makeup Department Head: Kimberly Jones
  • Boom Operator: Norman Bernard
  • Aerial Director of Photography: Dylan Goss
  • Screenplay: Christopher D. Ford
  • Sound Mixer: Simon Poudrette
  • Second Unit Director: Simon Crane
  • Costume Design: Kate Hawley
  • Second Unit Director: Fede Álvarez
  • Additional Editor: Gershon Hinkson
  • Producer: Allison Shearmur
  • Art Direction: Daran Fulham
  • Sound Designer: Mariusz Glabinski
  • Epk Producer: Treva Wurmfeld
  • Sound Designer: Luke Gibleon
  • Additional Editor: Julia Bloch
  • Gaffer: Jonny Franklin
  • Dialogue Editor: Michael McMenomy
  • Makeup Artist: Wakana Yoshihara
  • Makeup Artist: Nathalie Trépanier
  • Second Unit Director: Mohammad Ghorbankarimi
  • Novel: Patrick Ness
  • Makeup Artist: Melanie Deforrest
  • Dailies Operator: Jon Mendenhall
  • Foley Mixer: Ryan Collison
  • Script Supervisor: Elizabeth Tremblay
  • Visual Effects Supervisor: Nicholas Brooks
  • Storyboard Artist: Chris Wolfgang Mauch
  • Sound Designer: Jeffrey A. Pitts
  • Concept Artist: Richard K. Buoen
  • Second Unit Director of Photography: Bruce McCleery
  • Graphic Designer: Sharai ‘Sara’ Corral
  • Concept Artist: Eduardo Pena
  • First Assistant Director: Mark Anthony Little
  • Foley Artist: Leslie Bloome
  • Original Music Composer: Brandon Roberts
  • Assistant Editor: James W. Harrison III
  • Dialogue Editor: Alexa Zimmerman
  • Property Master: Simone Leclerc
  • Executive Producer: Jason Cloth
  • Set Designer: Frédéric Amblard
  • Still Photographer: Murray Close
  • Visual Effects Producer: Ineke Majoor
  • Line Producer: Matthew Hirsch
  • Makeup Department Head: Colleen Quinton
  • Hairstylist: Anna Hilton
  • Hairstylist: Gaétan Landry
  • Assistant Art Director: Charlotte Rouleau
  • Chief Lighting Technician: Sylvain Bernier
  • Storyboard Artist: William Groebe
  • Steadicam Operator: Christopher TJ McGuire
  • Second Unit Cinematographer: Fraser Taggart
  • Camera Operator: Maarten Kroonenburg
  • Visual Effects Producer: Dione Wood
  • Sound Editor: Matthew Wilson
  • Hair Department Head: Réjean Goderre
  • Art Direction: Justin O’Neal Miller
  • ADR Voice Casting: Dann Fink
  • Set Decoration: Martine Giguère-Kazemirchuk
  • CG Supervisor: Aadel Forootan
  • Makeup Artist: Sian Wilson
  • Makeup & Hair: Flora Moody
  • Conceptual Design: Henry Fong
  • Aerial Camera Technician: Eric Dvorsky
  • Visual Effects Camera: Brian Hollars
  • Construction Coordinator: Walt Mikolwski
  • Hair Department Head: Jennifer Santiago
  • Dailies Technician: Anthony Corsi
  • Makeup Artist: Adam Walls
  • VFX Editor: Guillaume Poulin
  • Storyboard Artist: Aaron Sowd
  • Sound Mixer: Mary H. Ellis
  • Executive Producer: Paris Kasidokostas Latsis
  • Visual Effects Supervisor: Jeremiah Sweeney
  • CG Supervisor: Benoit De Longlee
  • Art Direction: Carolyne de Bellefeuille
  • Set Decoration: Frank Galline
  • Key Grip: Chris Jones
  • Ager/Dyer: Kate Sawyer
  • Assistant Costume Designer: Véronique Marchessault
  • Visual Effects Producer: Thomas Elder-Groebe
  • VFX Editor: Neil Mayo
  • Prosthetic Makeup Artist: Mathieu Baptista
  • Hairstylist: Ronald J. Rolfe
  • First Assistant “A” Camera: Dany Racine
  • Propmaker: Patrice Jacques
  • Visual Effects Supervisor: Matt Johnson
  • First Assistant “B” Camera: Christian Caperaa
  • Key Grip: Kenneth MacKenzie
  • Second Assistant “A” Camera: Soupharak Keoborakoth
  • Key Grip: Benoît Lamarche
  • Best Boy Electric: Jean-François Abran
  • Steadicam Operator: Geoffroy St-Hilaire
  • CG Supervisor: Fabrice Vienne
  • Visual Effects Supervisor: Arnaud Brisebois
  • VFX Editor: Danny Singh
  • Key Makeup Artist: Sarah Graham
  • Costume Designer: Tina Charad
  • VFX Artist: Bryan Haines
  • Assistant Property Master: Olivier Proulx
  • Makeup Artist: Julie Mignot
  • Production Manager: Hélène Ross
  • Digital Compositor: Nadine Homier
  • Visual Effects Supervisor: Brendan Seals
  • Extras Casting: Julie Breton
  • Sound Effects Editor: Christopher Bonis
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Kiara Walker
  • Compositor: Phillip Berg
  • Senior Colorist: Aurora Shannon
  • Boom Operator: Jean Camden
  • Props: Nathan Longest
  • Lighting Technician: Rusty Edmonson
  • Special Effects Makeup Artist: Bruno Gatien
  • VFX Editor: Michael J. Wechsler
  • Key Makeup Artist: Charles Carter
  • Visual Effects Producer: Melanie La Rue
  • CG Supervisor: Andrew Zink
  • Visual Effects Supervisor: Josh Simmonds
  • Art Department Coordinator: Cecile Braemer
  • Second Assistant Director: Patrick Murphy
  • Aerial Coordinator: Frédéric North
  • Boom Operator: Kurt Peterson
  • Drone Pilot: Louie Northern
  • Casting Associate: Jennifer Cram
  • Sound Effects Editor: Alexander Nomick
  • Makeup & Hair: George Black
  • First Assistant Director: Erik Ajduk
  • Foley Artist: Joanna Fang
  • Script Supervisor: Isabelle Faivre-Duboz
  • Digital Compositor: Tim Emeis
  • Makeup Artist: Gillian Chandler
  • Set Dresser: Michel R. Lambert
  • Visual Effects Production Manager: Katherine Soares
  • Key Costumer: Sabrine Canuel
  • Assistant Unit Manager: Simon Paquin
  • Assistant Costume Designer: Libby Dempster
  • Makeup Artist: Tammy-Lou Pate
  • Production Coordinator: Kathy Ann Thomas
  • Assistant Editor: Fred Brown II
  • Key Hair Stylist: Brynn Berg
  • Storyboard Artist: Dan Milligan
  • Concept Artist: Vicki Pui
  • Second Assistant Director: Tyler Delben
  • Script Supervisor: Robin Meyers
  • Video Assist Operator: Dominic Pigeon
  • Dolly Grip: Patrice Lapointe
  • Visual Effects Producer: Julien Cimino
  • Production Accountant: Sue Bokobza
  • Animation Supervisor: Arda Uysal
  • Producer: Alison Winter
  • Digital Imaging Technician: Kyle Spicer
  • Visual Effects Supervisor: Andrew McPhillips
  • Compositor: Wes While
  • VFX Editor: Mitch Hounslow
  • Foley Supervisor: Nick Seaman
  • Colorist: John St. Laurent
  • Boom Operator: Damien Berger
  • Electrician: William Sheffield
  • Concept Artist: Didier Konings
  • Set Dresser: Tye Kerber
  • Visual Effects Production Manager: Lorie Bussières
  • Second Assistant Director: Brigitte Goulet
  • Second Unit First Assistant Director: Bethan Mowat
  • Makeup Artist: Daniel McGraw
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Hakyung Chang
  • Set Dresser: Mark Keever
  • VFX Editor: Mathieu Chouinard
  • Assistant Sound Editor: Eric McAllister
  • VFX Editor: Mike Soppit
  • Dresser: Claudia Manseau
  • Grip: Jamie Pimentel
  • Dolly Grip: Brad MacLean
  • Compositing Supervisor: Jan Dubberke
  • CG Supervisor: Robin Lamontagne
  • Digital Compositor: Philippe Bienvenue
  • Special Effects Technician: Thomas Zell
  • Key Rigging Grip: Mike Sannuti
  • Special Effects Makeup Artist: Jessica Renaud
  • Animation Supervisor: Frankie Stellato
  • Concept Artist: Houston Sharp
  • Hairstylist: Mandrill Hardge
  • Visual Effects Compositor: Azra Alkan
  • Makeup Artist: Brooke Lee Smith
  • Concept Artist: Steffen Reichstadt
  • Concept Artist: Aaron Sims
  • Assistant Art Director: Simon Pineau
  • Production Assistant: Jean-Francois Hall
  • Additional Colorist: Andrew Geary
  • Storyboard Artist: Jonathan Gesinski
  • Casting Assistant: Leigh Jonte
  • VFX Artist: Laurent Meste
  • CG Supervisor: Jordi Cardus
  • Visual Effects Technical Director: Tosin Akinwoye
  • Seamstress: Melissa Mundt
  • Unit Manager: Didier Communaux
  • Compositing Supervisor: Gaël Chopin
  • Grip: Charles Arnold
  • VFX Lighting Artist: Anurag Deshmukh
  • Textile Artist: Jonathan Girard
  • Digital Compositor: Alexandra Torelli
  • Digital Compositor: Jonathan Moulin
  • Digital Compositor: Danilo Ivanisevic
  • Hairstylist: Katie Ballard
  • Second Second Assistant Director: Gregory Santoro
  • Epk Camera Operator: Gabi Kislat
  • ADR Mixer: Sebastian Vaskio
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Lexi Koome
  • Actor’s Assistant: Harrison Osterfield
  • Digital Compositor: Antonio Ribeiro
  • Production Assistant: Charles Daghlian
  • Assistant Editor: Max Ethan Miller
  • First Assistant “B” Camera: Martin Lebel
  • Set Designer: Simon Théberge
  • Makeup Artist: Brie Puneky
  • Second Assistant “A” Camera: Olivia Aravecchia
  • Lighting Technician: Pierre Beaulieu
  • First Assistant “A” Camera: Antoine Masson Maclean
  • Foley Editor: Laura Heinzinger
  • Makeup Artist: Daniele Nastasi
  • Lighting Technician: Decoster Nicolas
  • Sound Editor: P. Daniel Newman
  • Compositor: Dipak Tarpara
  • Animation Supervisor: Raphael A. Pimentel
  • Script Coordinator: Shane Tanny
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Jack Dorst
  • Rotoscoping Artist: Danilo de Lúcio Arantes
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Brandon Uloho
  • Colorist: Tim Masick
  • Set Dresser: Cedric Levesque
  • Special Effects Coordinator: Natacha Williams
  • Assistant Art Director: Carla Martinez
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Nathan Parade de la Feraude
  • First Assistant Director: Jason Inman
  • Greensman: Isabelle Gasse
  • Visual Effects Production Assistant: Caroline Lachance
  • Foley Mixer: Connor Nagy
  • Special Effects Technician: Eric-André Paquin
  • Dailies Manager: Leeza Diott
  • Visual Effects Production Manager: Sofia Portantino
  • Special Effects Technician: Wayne Rowe
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Tiffany Herzog
  • VFX Artist: Reetu Aggarwal
  • Leadman: Tony Knight
  • Compositor: Mike Terrigno
  • Dolly Grip: Simon Vincent
  • Digital Imaging Technician: Jason Johnson
  • Additional Colorist: Jared Pecht
  • Travel Coordinator: Allison A. Millican
  • Set Designer: Kristen B. Adams
  • Construction Foreman: Dave Campbell
  • Rigging Grip: Wesley J. Ford
  • Graphic Designer: Maurice Roy
  • Camera Operator: Simon Blouin
  • Executive Producer: Iron Chen
  • Assistant Makeup Artist: Marie-Michelle Claveau
  • Makeup Artist: Areli Perea
  • Sound Mixer: Thomas J. Doolittle
  • Visual Effects: Emilien Breuillier
  • Visual Effects Compositor: Emily Abele
  • VFX Artist: Hosam Aboulmagd
  • Drone Operator: Martin Lemire
  • Digital Compositor: Keanan Ferrand
  • Visual Effects Production Assistant: Marc-Antoine Lamy
  • Props: Mary Lee-Maynard
  • Rotoscoping Artist: Samuel Tremblay
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Marion Jardin
  • Drone Cinematographer: Jacob Hale
  • Grip: Nicolas Lesage
  • Second Assistant “B” Camera: Raphael Capel
  • EPK Editor: Glen Michel
  • Costume Illustrator: Miriam Silvester
  • Costumer: Yasmin Ali
  • Set Costumer: Dominique Williams
  • Wardrobe Specialized Technician: Oleksandra Lykova
  • Payroll Accountant: Jeremy N. Caves
  • Production Assistant: Marine Lacour
  • Production Assistant: Jonathan Meunier
  • Production Assistant: Carly Plasha
  • Production Secretary: Ines Steinmezer
  • Contact Lens Technician: Clove Bovee
  • Hairstylist: Candace Wessinger
  • Key Hair Stylist: Frederic Belanger
  • ADR Recordist: Alexander Lowe
  • Sound Assistant: Chantal Allard
  • Assistant Editor: Shelby Hall
  • Dailies Operator: Chase Commins
  • First Assistant Editor: Andrew Pang
  • First Assistant Editor: Adam Schaefer
  • Second Assistant Art Director: Gabriella Douglas
  • Art Department Coordinator: Jena C. Sarappo
  • Carpenter: Sylvain Boudreau
  • Carpenter: Alain Vachon
  • Carpenter: Dwight Tank Woodruff
  • Concept Artist: Cosmin Hrincu
  • Concept Artist: Yohann Schepacz
  • Construction Buyer: Ian Volpi
  • Greensman: Daniel Auclair
  • Greensman: Maya Jarvis
  • Greensman: Jessica Surendorff
  • Set Dresser: Chris McGlamery
  • Storyboard Artist: Stefania Gallico
  • Storyboard Artist: Lanny Markasky
  • Compositing Artist: Alexandra Turmel
  • Compositor: Madhuka Gunasekera
  • Compositor: Francesca Milde
  • Compositor: Jeff Penick
  • Compositor: Siqi Tang
  • Compositor: Manon Ghys
  • Compositor: Meagan Green
  • Compositor: Shannagh Robertson
  • Compositor: Lalit Om Prakash
  • Compositor: Ehsan Ramezani
  • Compositor: Pembrooke St. Cyr
  • Creature Effects Technical Director: Gianluca Siciliano
  • Digital Compositor: Jean-Alexandre Dufour
  • Digital Compositor: Benjamin Scabell
  • Digital Compositor: Victor Vilceanu
  • Digital Compositor: Keaton Cardoza
  • Digital Compositor: Aditya Pravin Kalane
  • Digital Compositor: Richard Noun
  • VFX Lighting Artist: Marie-Laurence Hudon
  • VFX Lighting Artist: Honghao Zhu
  • VFX Lighting Artist: Cecile Cazes
  • VFX Lighting Artist: Névin Ricquebourg
  • VFX Lighting Artist: Wilson Virassamy Sacri
  • Pipeline Technical Director: Jessica Koubi
  • Rotoscoping Artist: Nicholas Campbell
  • VFX Artist: Christopher Bozzetto
  • VFX Artist: Matthew Dorazio
  • VFX Artist: David Ertsinian
  • VFX Artist: Tara Mason
  • VFX Artist: Kate Xagoraris
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Mark C. Livolsi
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Christian Seel
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Casey Roberts
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Liat Har-Gil
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Alexia Levieuze-Palancade
  • Visual Effects Coordinator: Nelli Nedeltcheva
  • Visual Effects Production Assistant: Timothy Bellm
  • Visual Effects Production Assistant: Victoria Jayne
  • Visual Effects Production Assistant: Josh Hackett
  • Visual Effects Production Assistant: Tim Glover
  • Visual Effects Production Assistant: Jessi Lin Johnson
  • Visual Effects Supervisor: Thomas Hullin
  • Visual Effects Supervisor: Andy Walker
  • Special Effects Technician: Eliot W. Smith
  • Special Effects Assistant: Louis Payeur
  • Assistant Unit Manager: Lawrence Sabella

Movie Reviews:

  • garethmb: Adapting a series of books into a movie is often a daunting task. As anyone who has seen many Stephen King adaptations can attest; plot complexity, characters, and depth are removed in order to condense the story into a two-hour or less run time.

    The rise of streaming services has allowed many books to be adapted into series without having to cut much of the adult content in the books which would make it difficult for network television.

    As such it makes adaptations such as “Chaos Walking” a delicate undertaking. The film is based on a series of books and stars Tom Holland as Todd; a young ma living on a distant world where there are no women and people can hear and see each other’s thoughts by a process known as “Noise”.

    Their rustic colony is run with a firm hand by their Mayor (Mads Mikkelsen); who keeps those around him from seeing his thoughts which gives him a big advantage over those who rule.

    When a landing craft from a mothership filled with a new wave of colonists crashes on the planet; Todd is shocked to find that the only survivor is a woman named Viola (Daisy Ridley) whose arrival disrupts the community.

    The Mayor wishes to keep her from contacting her ship so they can seize it when it lands to maintain control of his empire as he sees the arrival of new individuals as a threat to his power.

    Todd and Viola escape trying to reach a distant colony where she hopes to find a way to warn her ship about the danger the Mayor and his men present and they pursue the duo to keep this from happening.

    The film lightly touches on the native race that Todd believes killed all the women of their colony but they are not visited save for a brief appearance. It is clear that the Mayor is hiding something and the reveal of what and why is fairly underwhelming which reduces him and most of his followers as thinly developed stock characters.

    There is also the mystery as to why the Mothership does not bother to do any sort of follow up when they did not hear from their lander and like many aspects of the film; require the audience to simply go along with things and not ask too many questions to make things work.

    Thankfully the two leads are interesting enough and they hold attention even when the story is slowly moving along with scene after scene of rivers, woods, and a little conversation.

    One big issue with the film is the Noise as the visualization of thoughts as well as hearing them mixed in with verbal communication can get very confusing as it is like multiple voices in a crowded room.

    Despite the issues, the potential is there and I found myself wondering what was next for the characters and hope that they do adapt future books in the series. While the film on its own does not work as a fully developed story’ as an introduction to the series it does enough to peak the interests for more.

    3.5 out of 5

  • MSB: If you enjoy reading my Spoiler-Free reviews, please follow my blog @
    https://www.msbreviews.com

    After decades of experiencing so many films and understanding the respective industry, I rarely get extremely excited for an original sci-fi movie starring famous actors. I wouldn’t be surprised if Chaos Walking is the most anticipated film of the month for thousands of viewers, which isn’t an easy decision having in mind March is releasing tons of highly expected movies, such as Raya and the Last Dragon, Cherry, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Godzilla x Kong, amongst others. It’ almost impossible not to feel remotely interested in watching a film with such a phenomenal cast – Tom Holland (Spider-Man, The Devil All the Time), Daisy Ridley (Star Wars, Murder on the Orient Express), Mads Mikkelsen (Doctor Strange, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story), Demián Bichir (Land, The Grudge), Cynthia Erivo (Widows, Bad Times at the El Royale), and more.

    Add Doug Liman (The Bourne franchise, The Edge of Tomorrow) as the director and screenwriters with tremendously successful credits as Patrick Ness (A Monster Calls) and Christopher Ford (Spider-Man: Homecoming), what could go wrong? Well… almost everything. I possess no knowledge of the source material, but from what I could gather, the book trilogy of the same name was very well-received, which I don’t doubt for a second. If there’s one thing no one can take away from Chaos Walking is its incredibly captivating concepts and imaginative visual ideas. From the premise of people being able to hear men’s thoughts (noise) to the actual visuals of said brain activity, I felt deeply invested during the first act.

    The futuristic setting is somewhat familiar, but the production/set design definitely set an engaging atmosphere. The score (Marco Beltrami, Brandon Roberts) also features interesting tracks that create a sense of wonder in this new world. Unfortunately, this is as far as I can go compliment-wise. Sure, the cast offers remarkable performances, especially Holland and Ridley, who obviously share most of the screentime as the underdeveloped protagonists, but sadly this is one of those movies where it’s hard not to find a significant flaw with everything. The lack of proper characterization is one of the main issues. While Holland’s character misses a regular arc – he has no evolution whatsoever, ending the film with the exact same defects as in the beginning – Ridley’s character raises dozens of questions that remain unanswered about herself, her past, her abilities, and her origins.

    The new world presented to the viewers packs hundreds of unquestionably innovative and exciting ideas, but none reaches even a fraction of its potential. The “superpower” of hearing thoughts is rarely seen in a different manner other than chaotic, annoying noise, which is hugely disappointing, having in mind the scarce showings of its real power. Nevertheless, the most frustrating component of the narrative is the introduction of massively important story elements that are completely forgotten by the end of the movie, namely – without getting into spoilers – an entire native population that remains as one of the most fascinating aspects of the screenplay that wasn’t remotely explained.

    Nowadays, people have more knowledge and understanding of how much studios impact the production of any film. Honestly, I don’t know if this is one of those projects ruined by awfully dumb corporate demands or if Doug Liman and his team of writers screwed the pooch. One thing is for sure: director, screenwriters, and/or producers, they’re the people to blame for such a frustratingly terrible adaptation. I apologize to Doc Crotzer, but this is one of the worst editing jobs I’ve seen in years, though I want it to be clear: Crotzer is far from being the sole or main culprit of such a horribly put-together movie. The camera work is also all-over-the-place (Ben Seresin).

    Finally, I don’t know if this following story detail is as explicit and barely explained in the source material as it is in this film, but due to the lack of any decent explanation besides “because”, I strongly dislike the whole “everyone can hear men’s thoughts, but no one can hear the women’s”. To be clear, my issue isn’t related to the idea but to its evolution in this movie. Men, especially Holland’s character, are shown to think like a primate with sexual thoughts concerning women and offenses to everyone and everything. Men’s thoughts represent them as utter pigs. However, the whole “women’s thoughts are hidden from everyone” can easily be interpreted as “women don’t have brains”, especially considering the film’s failed attempt at elaborating this concept.

    Chaos Walking will end up as one of the most disappointing, frustrating movies of the year. In addition to this, it’s also another entry in the list of “films with innovative, interesting concepts that fail to reach half of their potential”. Besides the engaging production design, a cool score, and decent performances, any viewer will struggle not to find a massive flaw in every single aspect of the narrative. From the dozens of unanswered questions regarding Daisy Ridley’s character to the lack of a proper arc for Tom Holland’s role, the underdeveloped protagonists are just one of many screenplay issues. Critical plot points and story elements either miss an explanation or are entirely forgotten by the end of a horrendously edited movie. Transitions between cuts are very choppy and make zero connection between storylines. The whole “men’s thoughts are seen by everyone, but women’s thoughts are not” is depicted in a way that leaves men portrayed as pigs and insinuates women have no brains. I genuinely don’t know if this massive disaster is due to studio interference and/or to the director and screenwriters team-up, but one thing is for certain: personally, it’s one of the worst films of the year.

    Rating: D+

  • JPV852: It should first be noted I have never read (or even heard of) the novel this was based upon, so I don’t have any preconceptions or expectations on how the adaptation was handled. With that out of the way, I found this to be… fine. A little messy in narrative and structure but I suppose moderately entertained. I also liked Tom Holland in the lead for the most part and Daisy Ridley grew on me though her character isn’t very well developed. It’s probably worthy of a rental but doubtful I’ll revisit this very soon other than to listen to the commentary by Doug Liman considering the behind-the-scenes issues and major re-shoots. **3.0/5**
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