CHAOS WALKING | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Doug Liman (12, 109 mins)
A belated release for this adaptation of Patrick Ness’ YA novel The Knife of Never Letting Go, a potential sci-fi trilogy that, despite the star wattage involved, is somewhat of a mess. Tom Holland is Todd Hewitt, a young man on an offworld human colony a bit like a town in the Wild West – lots of horse riding and cowboy hats. The planet has also gifted men a poisoned chalice: the Noise, a mist emanating from all men and expressing their every thought, from the inane to the pervy.
What starts off as an interesting device soon becomes incredibly annoying, unfortunately, as the thoughts have little of real note or insight to add to the action. Mads Mikkelson’s Prentiss is mayor of and outpost town where Holland works on a farm run by his father (Demian Bechir). Mikkelson can control his Noise and may be using it for ill ends, influencing others. Women are conspicuously missing – all supposedly slaughtered by the Spackle, alien natives that cameo. When Daisy Ridley’s Viola crashlands on the planet, that narrative ends up being questioned. She has no Noise – no one can hear or see her thoughts – and Holland begins to uncover the truth, finding himself on the run with her, heading to another outpost where she can signal her mothership with Mikkelson in hot pursuit.
There are many logic plotholes here, likewise underdeveloped characters. David Oyelowo’s mad preacher is particularly ill-served, as is Cynthia Orivos, mayor of a neighbouring town. Ridley and Holland gamely carry the whole thing, making logic leaps and puzzling action sequences barely work amidst the continuing fog of the sound design. Director Doug Liman (Mr And Mrs Smith, The Bourne Identity) rushes through many aspects of the story whilst lingering on dog flashbacks, in a rather confused sea of ongoing Noise that never thrills or excites the way it should. The novel itself, and its subsequent sequels, has some really interesting ideas about toxic masculinity and gender roles – ones that are mostly lost in this inert, unsatisfying adaptation.
Released on Fri 2 Apr
words KEIRON SELF
