Chaos Walking

This is a version of a review airing on ABC Radio Ballarat and South West Victoria on March 19, 2021.

(PG) ★★★

Director: Doug Liman.

Cast: Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Mads Mikkelsen, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, David Oyelowo, Kurt Sutter, Ray McKinnon.

He had the weirdest case of headlice she had ever seen.

Sometimes a great premise is enough to get a film across the line, even when other aspects of the movie fail. Chaos Walking is one of those films.

Even as the inconsistencies pile up and the story sputters out via a couple of underwhelming confrontations, the ideas at play and the committed cast bringing them to life manage to bring this unwieldy beast home in a vaguely enjoyable way. It's like that pilot who landed the plane on the Hudson - it wasn't pretty but it got there (although, perversely, the film version of that story is a fine example of a solid premise failing to get a film home satisfactorily).

Based on the first book of Patrick Ness' YA series of the same name, Chaos Walking is set in the future on a new world colonised by humans. Into this world crashes Viola (Ridley), who discovers two alarming things upon arrival - all the women on the world are dead, and the unfiltered thoughts of men are always on display due to a phenomena known as the Noise.

The Noise is the film's strongest aspect, although the full capabilities of this power could have been better represented earlier in proceedings to save some head-scratching moments later. Displayed with a fair amount of visual (and audio) flair, it's a hook that helps keep the plot rolling.

It's also timely. It's hard to discuss this without spoilers (though you probably know where this is all going), but in the real world, the filtered thoughts of many men are bad enough, without all their unfiltered thoughts also being on display. It's a terrifying prospect, and a compelling premise.

The setting and story are solid enough too. Working from a script co-written by Ness that deviates a long way from his own book, the film unfolds as a journey to find not only safety but the truth. Some of those truths are unsurprising, some raise more questions than they answer, and some make no sense, but somehow the whole thing holds together, even as it promises to fall apart. Just enough of the world and its happenings are compelling.

Credit is due to Holland, Ridley and Mikkelsen, who give strong, believable performances. Ditto to the bit players - Bichir, Erivo and Oyelowo - who are all fully invested to this world and help it overcome its inconsistencies. Ridley particularly does so in the face of an underwritten character who is unfortunately more plot-instigator than fully-fleshed-out person, while Oyelowo's firebrand preacher is similarly under-developed.

Another saving grace seems to have been the reshoots (which unfortunately explain Holland's changing haircut throughout, and apparently made the film's title all the more fitting). That this long-delayed and troubled production has finally seen the light of day and isn't as unwatchable as it was purported to be is probably a minor miracle.

Chaos Walking isn't great, but it's good enough thanks to its premise and its cast. It falters as it approaches the finish line, but it's not as bad as many would have you believe.