Some films have a rough time getting to the screen. Those notorious productions that were so troubled that just seeing the light of day seems like a win in itself. Chaos Walking is one of those films. With a script which underwent rewrites as far back as 2011 to initial filming taking place in 2017 and reshoots in 2019, it has taken a whopping 10 years for this adaptation of Patrick Ness’ young adult novel to see the light of day. Enter brilliant director Doug Liman of the supremely underrated Tom Cruise flick Edge of Tomorrow, and a phenomenal cast of Mads Mikkelsen and then-unknown, now household names Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland. Surely nothing can go wrong now? Unfortunately for Chaos Walking, almost nothing outside of its leads’ star power seems to work, with poor editing, downright annoying plot devices and shallow character development resigning it to the long list of failed young adult franchise starters based on popular books.
In a dystopian future on a far off planet cleverly named “New Earth”, Todd Hewitt (Holland) dreams of more from life than the small farm he shares with adoptive fathers Ben (Demián Bichir) and Cillian (Kurt Sutter) in the town of Prentiss, a curious place inhabited only by men who share a unique affliction: Noise. All the inner-most thoughts of the males on the planet are broadcast visually and audibly in a hazy, mist-like speech bubble directly above their heads, making it difficult for anyone to have even the smallest of secrets. Life is made even tougher for Todd when he discovers Viola (Ridley) on his property, last survivor of a crashed spacecraft on a mission to survey the planet for her colony of Earth survivors. When the town’s mayor Prentiss (Mikkelsen) gets wind of Viola’s existence, he sees it as an opportunity to finally leave the barren planet and hatches a plan to sabotage her message and hijack the spacecraft, pursuing the two young teens across the planet as Todd struggles to hide his innermost – and awkwardly projected – feelings for Viola.
Let’s take a look at the gimmick here that sets Chaos Walking slightly apart from the myriad of other YA novel adaptations these days: the Noise. The concept sounds interesting on paper, playing with the thoughts of its protagonist in a way that makes it inherently difficult to hide the one, huge secret in his life. It may work in the medium of a novel, with different streams of text separately identifiable as dialogue and the jumble of thoughts involuntarily projected. However when translated film, it comes off as extremely annoying and disorientating as you are met with a deluge of Tom Holland’s voice spouting dialogue as bad as automated side-character speech in a video-game. As annoying as this constant commentary is for Viola, it is doubly so for the viewer and Liman seems to realise this, ignoring the rules of his own world as Todd seems to be the only character whose thoughts are interminably broadcast. There is a big song and dance made about Mayor Prentiss being the only being powerful enough to have full control over his Noise yet almost everyone else in the town seems to be able to stop theirs from blurting out secrets at every turn, indeed some don’t ever seem to experience it at all.
There are attempts to give the film some shallow commentary on what it means to be a man, with Todd’s Noise constantly berating him to bottle up his feelings and thoughts and “be a man” but it never really goes beyond that. It’s nice to see a more non-traditional family structure in Todd and his two adoptive fathers but again the script never seems concerned to address this either. Instead it breezes through the traditional hero’s journey stereotype without ever trying to give the audience more. Holland and Ridley are both more than capable actors but fail to ignite with their chemistry. Ridley’s Viola is literally the only woman on the planet to this group of men but you wouldn’t know how she feels about that from her responses to the situations she is put in, and for a film so clearly interested in defining and breaking down gender stereotypes, it has infuriatingly little to offer. Holland’s character seems more attached to his dog than to the woman he is supposedly infatuated with, but at least that relationship offers some kind of an emotional kick, even if it does tug at the heartstrings with the cardinal sin of almost every action film involving a canine companion. Even the great Mads Mikkelsen can’t do much to save the film, playing the stereotypical villainous Mayor to menacingly cold effect. There simply isn’t much he can do with the role outside of what he does, with some third act character development so obvious from the get-go that it seems crass to make it into the big reveal that it is.
The troubled history of Chaos Walking may just be the most telling indicator of its faults, with poor Doug Liman and a talented cast forced to bear this undercooked, middling adaptation on their resumés. It may not be at the bottom of the pile of YA novels-turned-films but its boilerplate hero’s arc storyline and lack of character depth make it a generic, instantly forgettable affair. Thankfully we’ve seen Ridley, Holland and Mikkelsen go on to bigger and better things since filming what will hopefully never make any Noise again.
Chaos Walking stars Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Demián Bichir, Kurt Sutter, David Oyelowo, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas & Mads Mikkelsen – In cinemas now.