Chaos Walking

Synopsis: In Prentisstown, Todd has been brought up to believe that the Spackle released a germ that killed all the women and unleashed Noise on the remaining men. After discovering a patch of silence out in the swamp, his surrogate parents immediately tell him that he has to run, leaving him with only a map of the New World, a message, and many unanswered questions. He soon discovers the source of the silence: a girl, named Viola.

Movie Review:

“Chaos Walking” is directed by Doug Liman and it is an adaption from the Young Adult novel, “The Knife of Never Letting Go” -- it stars Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley. I found this movie to be somewhat enjoyable with an interesting storyline, but it suffers from slow pacing, and retelling of past science fiction films; it tries way too hard to set up for future sequels. Easily, the best thing in the movie is Tom Holland’s performance. He plays Todd Hewitt a young man who goes on the run to find the New World. His character is easily relatable, interesting and full of humor. When he meets a strange woman, Viola played by Daisy Ridley, he instantly forms a connection with her. Holland and Ridley have great on-screen chemistry and that keeps the audience engaged from beginning to end. Although Daisy Ridley’s character starts off quiet with little personality, she does evolve to a likeable character by the end of the film. The movie does fall in the same trap of other Young Adult novels that are adapted on to the big screen, it never truly finds the time to explain everything. Madds Mikkelsen plays David Prentiss the governor of Prentisstown and the main villain. I thought he was just a one-dimensional bad guy with not a lot of substance to his character. In my opinion, the worst thing in the movie is Nick Jonas who plays David Prentiss, Jr. He portrays the second villain and the son of the Governor. Nick Jonas’ acting ability and weird accent is cringe worthy and hard to watch. Both David Oyelowo and Cynthia Erio were good in their roles, but they felt wasted. I really enjoyed the action scenes – they were intense and fun to watch. The last part of the film felt rushed and incomplete, especially the ending. “Chaos Walking” does have an interesting story, an intriguing premise and two very good performances from its leads. I am giving “Chaos Walking” a 3 out of 5 stars.

Director: :Doug Liman

Cast: Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Mads Mikkelsen, Nick Jonas, David Oyleowo, Cynthia Erivo, Kurt Sutter and Demian Bichir

Runtime: 109 minutes