Canada: Friday, March 05, 2021
Nationwide: Friday, March 05, 2021
Lionsgate
for violence and language.
In the not too distant future, Todd Hewitt (Tom Holland) discovers Viola (Daisy Ridley), a mysterious girl who crash lands on his planet, where all the women have disappeared and the men are afflicted by "the Noise" - a force that puts all their thoughts on display. In this dangerous landscape, Viola's life is threatened - and as Todd vows to protect her, he will have to discover his own inner power and unlock the planet's dark secrets.
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Gregory M. - Rated it 3 out of 5
"Chaos Walking" In the not-too-distant future, Todd Hewitt (Tom Holland) discovers Viola (Daisy Ridley), a mysterious young woman who crash lands on his planet, where all the women have disappeared and the men are afflicted by 'The Noise', a force that puts all of their thoughts on display. 'The Noise' is a man’s thoughts unfiltered, and without a filter a man is just 'chaos walking'. In this dangerous landscape, Viola’s life is threatened, and as Todd vows to protect her, he must discover his own inner power and unlock the planet’s dark secrets. A global theatrical experience for all audiences, "Chaos Walking" is packed with action, heart, suspense, and mystery. What if your innermost thoughts are always on display? In the year 2257 A.D., on a distant planet known as 'New World', the male settlers are bombarded every second of every day with each other’s thoughts, in the form of an unrelenting cacophony of sounds, called 'The Noise'. It drove the men insane because women could also hear and see their thoughts, while the women’s remained hidden. After the women were killed off, purportedly by the planet’s indigenous species, the men remain haunted, if not tortured, by the endless barrage of their thoughts come to life. 'The Noise' is everything you think, fantasize about, wish for, and believe in. It’s the human mind, completely unedited. The disparity between the sexes, which was triggered by 'The Noise', makes up so much of the history of 'New World'. The audience will experience what’s happening in the character's heads. The film wants them to understand, right away, the importance of 'The Noise' and what it's revealing about 'New World'. 'The Noise' becomes a part of that world; it becomes a physical thing. Each character’s noise is unique. The Noise' feels organic and not like magic or pixie dust in the sky. 'The Noise' is very much a byproduct of 'New World'. Each character’s noise is unique. It's brings to life the phenomenon’s unique terrors, from which no character can hide their truth. Todd’s signature 'Noise' can be powerful and realistic because he's born of the planet and of 'The Noise'. For example, when he conjures up a snake. In addition, Todd has a kind of 'Noise' mantra, in which he repeats his name over and over again as a way of hiding his secrets from others. But some of his deepest thoughts and yearnings, especially those about his new companion. Todd strives mightily to control his 'Noise', especially when he encounters those who wish him harm or attempt to probe his thoughts to learn things he doesn’t want them to know. To that end, he repeats his name over and over again. His ability to shield at least some of what he’s thinking and feeling intrigues the town’s leader, Mayor Prentiss (Mads Mikkelsen), who possesses a similar ability. The secret to Todd is that he hasn’t been able to numb himself to being able to hear what everyone is thinking. He still feels the sounds and emotions as keenly as if he had just been dropped into this world, even though he’s been there his entire life. Viola crash-lands on 'New World', the sole survivor of a spacecraft scouting for the larger mothership, which was bringing a second wave of settlers to this distant planet. Viola and her crewmates had traveled to 'New World' believing they're going to find a better life. But after she crashes on the planet, Viola must recalibrate her expectations and somehow make the best of it. She's isolated and has lost everyone she knows. At the same time, Viola is also the funniest character in the film, not in the sense of making jokes, but in the way she perseveres despite incredible obstacles. She’s relentless on her journey, but naïve about her new environment. Viola is strong, but there are moments when she’s tentative, like Todd. She's a fully human, complicated person because that’s what teenagers are about, discovering that they're a contradiction. Viola resist even a seasoned 'Noise' practitioner’s control. This points to what terms 'The Noise’s' final level, when images of people or animals appear. 'The Noise' renders an audio and visual manifestation of his attraction to Viola, as well as a stew of confusing signals, which surprise, repel, and intrigue the young woman. The story is about them both learning that they've the capability of relying on someone other than themselves, which is a huge step. Their adventure is not about how to avoid failure; it’s about how you address those failures. Her impact on the men, who haven’t seen a woman in years, is immediate and powerful, especially on young Todd, who had never before laid eyes on a member of the opposite sex. What happens if something drastic happens to one gender and not the other? How does that affect the dynamics within a community? When Viola is targeted by the town’s leader, Mayor Prentiss, Todd helps her escape and they run off into the woods. There they struggle to survive the rugged terrain, the Mayor’s approaching posse, and their confusing feelings for one another. Viola and Todd are on a big adventure, but there's so much underneath that they’re figuring out. It’s really about a boy and girl trying to figure out how to interact with one another. It’s such a relatable theme, and that’s why it’s grabbed so many readers, especially young people, who are beginning to try and figure out all those things. The clothes are the remnants of two worlds, space tech and western, where the image of an old western man whittling on the verandah is created by using an old spacesuit cooling vest that stands in for western longjohns or a union suit. Space tech overalls become farmer's working gear, reappropriated as coveralls. Viola's first look are items scrounged together from the medic emergency kit found in the crash. For Todd, it’s a matter of growing into his wardrobe. When we meet him, he’s wearing remnants of other men’s clothes, and they look a little big on him. His belt is borrowed and his knife is smaller than others. As Todd progresses on his journey, he begins to wear his clothes, instead of the clothes wearing him. Another major character, Mayor Prentiss uses his 'Noise' like a Zen Master'. He has mastered his thoughts. Like Todd, he has a mantra, 'I am the circle; the circle is me', to hide his innermost thoughts. He doesn’t want people to know what he’s thinking, so the film creates a 'Noise' imagery for him of an ethereal blue spiral, as if he's meditating. He's the story's principal antagonist, the leader of the village outside of which Todd resides. Prentiss is a charming, ruthless, and power-hungry figure whose goal is to rule over all of 'New World', having already taken control of the settlement that bears his name, Prentisstown. But there’s an intriguing complexity to Prentiss that sees him assume an almost paternalistic interest in Todd, who’s impressed the imposing leader with his ability to control some of his 'Noise'. He thinks Todd has a certain brilliance and potential that he does not see in Davy (Nick Jonas). Prentiss sees Todd as the future of this pathetic town, and is intrigued that Todd can manipulate 'The Noise' in a more effective manner than others. Prentiss calculates that Viola is both a threat and a hope for the entire planet, and Prentiss wants to control both that hope and threat. He recognizes that Viola’s arrival represents an immediate threat to keeping that secret. To that end, he recognizes that taking control of the massive mothership that brought her to 'New World', and which is waiting miles above the surface for Viola’s signal, is the means by which he can take absolute control of all of 'New World'. The ship has resources beyond anything Prentiss has on the planet, and he wants those resources. A decidedly less than peaceful figure is the former clergyman known as 'Preacher' Aaron (David Oyelowo). Minus a congregation and haunted by the town’s horrific secret, 'Preacher' spews hate, anger, and vengeance via his Noise, which is overrun by sounds of fury and fiery imagery. 'Preacher' is a renegade who has a clear view of 'New World’s' spiritual landscape. 'Preacher' is very single-minded and moves anything in his way. With most people, their choices are not always black and white, but 'Preacher' is always laser-focused. There’s a purity to that. What makes 'Preacher' so dangerous is that he’s never less than certain about everything. He’s positive that everyone on 'New World' has a destiny, and that can make for a terrifying figure. He possesses a kind of mercilessness you can’t argue with. The figure of 'Preacher' is all about fire and brimstone, so his 'Noise' needed to frighten the other characters. His 'Noise' is a swarming, flaming mass that would flare and recede around him, and give a violent feeling, who admits this is his favorite 'Noise' to devise. Todd’s actual guardians are Ben (Demián Bichir) and Cillian (Kurt Sutter), who toil endlessly in their beets farm, outside of 'Prentisstown'. While Todd sometimes bristles at the hard labor that comes with living with Ben and Cillian, he knows the three of them have an unshakable bond that dates back to the passing of Todd’s mother, when he was an infant. Ben made a promise to Todd’s mother to take care of him. It’s an almost old-school dynamic. Ben and Cillian try to live in peace with everyone on this planet. The character’s hardscrabble existence sees the two dads, especially Cillian, try and instill a demanding work ethic in their young charge. But their approaches are quite different. Cillian is strict and conservative in his demands on, and life for, Todd, and has a difficult time expressing affection, or just communicating at all, while Ben is more nurturing and more of a peacemaker. "Chaos Walking" merges futuristic and pre-industrial designs to create a frontier-like environment, into which the film.places a few remnants of the '23rd Century Earth' technology the settlers had left behind. All of the technology that had brought them to this world had become too old and antiquated in the 50 years since they had crash-landed on the planet. And they were unable to update, so nothing new was created. Eventually, all of this rundown tech wouldn’t work. So, it isn’t like the colonists chose to live in a rugged frontier environment; they simply have no other choice. The only things they could use are from nature and 'New World’s' resources, including water, wood, stone; whatever they've, they use. The colonists’ principal settlements, 'Prentisstown' and 'Farbranch', offer a study in contrasts. The all-male enclave 'Prentisstown' is dripping with testosterone, a 'tough guy' residents who organized the city like an army camp. The men from 'Prentisstown' are whalers; they create their own waterproof slops with whatever leftover resources they've. They’re isolated from the rest of the world, and vestiges of the women that were once part of that world are hinted at. The dwellings are more like barracks. 'Farbranch" is a society of farmers, created by women and run by the formidable Hildy (Cynthia Erivo). It’s a more welcoming environment than the militaristic 'Prentisstown'. Before a fateful showdown with Prentiss posse, which is hunting the newly arrived Viola, Ben and Cillian insist that Todd flee with the young woman to a neighboring town, 'Farbranch', where Viola can perhaps learn where she can send a signal to the mothership about her situation. Arriving at 'Farbranch', the pair discover that not only do its residents include women, but it's leader, Hildy, is a 'badass' with a lot of heart. She’s relentlessly honest; nothing that comes out of her mouth is a lie. Hildy has an inner strength and really wants to do right by her townspeople; and to ensure Viola’s safety. Hildy has an equally powerful effect on Todd. She’s a kind of entryway for him to a life that could be very different from the one he knew in 'Prentisstown'. Hildy is crusty and powerful but still very human,. She’s not soft but there’s a warmth there that you don’t see in 'Prentisstown', except between Ben and Cillian. Todd absolutely needs that warmth. Hildy is the pebble that starts the avalanche of discovery for Todd and Viola. Patrick Ness first book in his 'Chaos Walking' trilogy, 'The Knife Of Never Letting Go', was published in 2008, and immediately drew attention for it's central conceit; an inventive extrapolation of our world under siege from information overload. It feels like we're already loud, especially if you’re a sensitive soul. It’s a terrifying idea because the brain is a messy place and 'The Noise' is the living, breathing face of that mess. When teenagers read 'The Chaos Walking Books', and when they see the film, they aren’t seeing a distant future. They’re seeing an emotional representation of their daily lives, It's a kind of emotional dystopia and an extension of today’s social media landscape, where people put things out into the world without perhaps thinking of the repercussions. The film reflects our current states of information overload and oversharing. written by Gregory Mann
