What can I say? Chaos Walking is the latest in a long list of Hollywood dumpster fires where all one can ask is “WTF did I just watch”? I’ve been scratching my head the last few days trying to figure out how to write this review and I am continually dumbfounded on what to say. The movie is based on a series of popular YA “young adult” books but doesn’t really know how to adapt them.
Chaos Walking stars Tom Holland who you might know from the MCU’s latest Spiderman adaptations. Daisy Ridley who you may know as Rey from the latest Star Wars trilogy. And Mads Mikkelson who you may know from Casino Royale, or Star Wars Rogue One. We are talking about a star-studded cast of incredible actors, and not a single one of them could redeem this movie. Although it did at least make it tolerable.
What’s To Like?
Alright, so they do play with the noise concept, being able to hear/see thoughts, in interesting and fun ways. The cinematography is also really well handled and does a fantastic job with the world-building. The creatures in the movie look awesome, even if they are barely seen. There are some funny jokes created from the dynamic between Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland. And probably most importantly it was entertaining enough for my 7-year-old son to actually sit through the whole thing.
What’s Not To Like?
Oh I dunno, maybe the characters, dialogue, setting, gimmick, inconsistencies, and plot? Remember how I said that they did some fun and interesting things with the noise? So that’s the gimmick. And while there are fun and interesting things with it, it’s very inconsistent. There are moments where it’s built up to be an essential tool for the character, but in the end, it’s really just used as a plot device to change the direction of the story when it’s convenient to do so.
The dialogue in this movie is really bad. It’s not Revenge of the sith bad? But it was really trying to be. And when I said there are some funny jokes? Well, they were funny to my 7-year-old son anyway. While I do love hearing him laugh, the jokes didn’t work for me. They were as base level and cliche as you would expect. The aliens/creatures in the movie were pointless. I’m sure fans of the books will be very disappointed. They looked fantastic, but they are barely even in the film. You could take them out entirely and it wouldn’t change a single aspect of this story.
Chaos Walking Score
This movie was a long boring string of events that barely tie into each other. It was painful to sit through and the only laughs I got were pity laughs at the failed attempts at character development and humor. It had a lot of potential to make interesting points and ideas, maybe even send a clever message out about communication or relationships. But it didn’t. It just sucked. Start to finish. I am curious how fans of the books feel about this movie? Because as a standalone piece? It’s complete and total garbage. I’m giving Chaos Walking a 3 out of 10. Mostly because there were 3 good actors that really tried their hardest to make something of this turd sandwich. What are your thoughts?
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