Chaos Walking

Director Doug Liman has made a couple of my favorite movies with Swingers, Go, and Edge of Tomorrow, so whenever he has a new release coming out, it is instantly on my radar. Then when I heard he was teaming up with Tom Holland (Spider-Man) and Daisy Ridley (Star Wars) for a new Sci-Fi adventure. You could say I was quite intrigued. Based on the book The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness who also co-wrote the screenplay with Christopher Ford, Chaos Walking takes place in a world that would be every guys worst nightmare. On this planet, everyone can hear your every thought and and to make matters worse, there are no women either.

In this world Todd (Holland) is kind of a lost soul. He was young when his mother died, and he has had no encounters with women of any kind. Todd mostly tries to ditch work on his family’s farm and instead wander’s around the forest with his dog. It is on one such walk that he comes across a wrecked space ship. After chasing this person he later comes across them in his barn and discovers it is a girl named Viola (Ridley), who is a little more than shaken up. Now having Rey from Star Wars meet Peter Parker sounds like a nerd dream and it goes exactly how you would want it to go, really good. Todd takes Viola to the village mayor who is named conveniently, Mayor Prentiss (Mads Mikkelsen) to see what to do next and that is when things start to go sideways. Liman who is no stranger to action, knows how to direct this kind of film and while this started as a YA series, it is pure action through and through, it even manages to have the soul of a classic western. Maybe it’s the horses or the posses or the magnificent outfit Mayor Prentiss wears, whatever it is, this definitely has an old west kind of vibe.  Not since Cowboys & Aliens ten years ago has a film blended space and the western so well, but this one goes even further with just two main characters to follow. As the pair go on the run, Todd vows to get Viola to a place where she can contact her people.

The one major drawback about the film is the “noise” where you can hear thoughts out loud even as characters are talking, and talking over each other at the same time can get a little disorienting. The concept is cool though as the men can’t hear what the women think, but they can be heard by either sex. As you would expect if you were a guy and you would have seen your first girl, of course Todd falls for Viola. The good thing is the chemistry between Holland and Ridley is pretty scorching and it really helps the final product. Add a supporting cast with the likes of Demián Bichir and David Oyelowow, who plays a crazy preacher, and you have everything you need. I am here for a cool new Sci-Fi concept, that is also an entertaining movie and Chaos Walking pulls it off.