Finally, Chaos Walking is now in theaters. It’s one of those films that got caught up in the pandemic and should have been released last year, but like so many films it got delayed. There hasn’t been much fanfare about this film, after all it was filmed a few years ago after the two stars, Tom Holland was done with the Infinity War movies and Spider-Man: Far From Home and Daisy Ridley who was about to begin filming the Rise of Skywalker. Based on the young adult Sci-Fi series of the same name, the story follows a girl who is on a scout mission to see how the settlements on a new world are living Like so many dystopian and futuristic stories, this is a series that deals with finding a new habitable world for humanity to live on, but space travel is not like what we see in Star Trek, it takes years and years of space travel to arrive at a destination. As she is about to scout the planet, her ship malfunctions and she crash lands on the very world that she is supposed to be scouting. And this is where we start to figure out that not all Is what it seems. It’s a strange world to humanity so the planet changes their physiology a little bet, but only to the men. All their inner thoughts are displayed in a haze above their head, which is called the noise. Every man can hear each other’s thoughts and it is very hard to control, but it doesn’t happen to women and now we have our conundrum in the story. The same themes that we often see in sci-fi stories are seen in this film, it’s a story about one group of people completely misunderstanding that which they do not understand and a loner or hero or sometimes both having to escape a group of people that only want to control them or use them for some nefarious reason. The themes are the same and the plot isn’t exactly original, but what is a different cake in a Sci-Fi story or humanity is finding a new world and the new planet causes problems for them is the idea that everybody’s inner thoughts can be heard. There’s not really any secrecy and so humanity’s violent and selfish nature is on full display. They call it Chaos Walking which is where the story gets named its name.

Let me first say that I did not hate this movie, but it’s an average science fiction story. Except for the uniqueness of inner thoughts being on display and not being able to hide what men are thinking, it doesn’t feel very original and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t see Chaos Walking. Personally, I’ve been waiting a couple of years ever since I heard they were making this film to see it because I love Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland… It was certainly worth the wait, but as someone that watches a lot of Science Fiction and grew up reading the greats like Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke… I’ve read and seen this kind of story before. But at the heart of this movie is an adventure tale and very much wrapped up in that Adventure tale is the hero’s path. Tom Holland plays a character who is misunderstood and throughout the film will find about Secrets regarding his parents especially of his mother’s tragic death. He wants to help the girl he found who crash-landed on the planet played by Daisy Ridley. Yes, he’s never seen a girl before, so not only is his thoughts giving him away, but also his sexual feelings. There are some great jokes about him imagining kissing her and when she’s being tough and honest, saying that she will not do that. It’s a tender moment between these characters that make you feel sympathy for them. But this story is about getting her back to her ship and away from the town’s people who only want to use her to find a ship and take it over in escape the planet. And of course, when you look at the antagonist, they are a group of people who tried to control the narrative by creating their own false mythology and the only way to do that is to burn books, and also have some ridiculous prophet who thinks those people who are not like, them should burn in fire.  So now you get elements of witch hunts and religious fascism. Again, not original themes because they are very popular in science fiction stories and the reason they are, is it’s the ultimate truth about the nature of humanity. That’s who we are.  But what’s great about this story is how these two characters come together to try to save each other. Their Journey becomes one in the same and you feel sympathy them. The chemistry between Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland is very good that’s why this film was recommended as one of those underrated films that movie buffs should see. And it lives up to that description. Daisy Ridley really doesn’t have a whole lot of lines in the film, it’s mostly Tom Holland and his inner thoughts doing the talking, but when she does, she’s good. Another thing that makes this film great is it has the ultimate bad guy played by Mads Mikkelsen.  I never seen him be NOT great! If you don’t think he can be a good bad guy, then you’ve never watched him as Hannibal Lecter in the Hannibal series, which will leave you with chills. But like most films that we review, it’s not perfect and I have a few complaints.

First, this movie is predictable, like I said it may not necessarily be a bad thing, but we’ve seen this before. I can make a lot of comparisons to Battlefield Earth, but don’t worry, this film is much better. And just because I’m making a comparison to that shitty movie shouldn’t sway you to not see Chaos Walking, I’m just pointing out that there are science fiction themes which are very similar. The worst part about films is when the filmmakers underutilize a great actor. You have David Oyelowo in this film and his character is so one-dimensional that it’s a waste of his talent. I feel like you could have put any actor as the crazy dark angel with visions of fire and brimstone in this film and it would have been okay. Don’t waste the talent of great actors. Also, take the time to establish your mythology, especially if this movie is going to be the first of a trilogy. We don’t know enough about these characters and while we get a few moments here and there explaining who they are and why they’re there, if you didn’t know anything about the story, you might feel lost about what’s really going on or wouldn’t care. If you don’t care, you may not finish the film and that never bodes well for any film if you can’t finish it. This should be part of a trilogy, but it’ll probably never get a sequel and we’ll never really dive into all the politics and strife of the settlers who are trying to inhabit the planet. We skim the surface, just enough to try to keep us interested but that leaves us more with questions. Sure, that’s good if you plan on making more films, but I’ll compare this to another great sci-fi film, Star Wars. At least the first film gave us just enough with its mythology that if we never got any other films we could have been satisfied. I don’t feel like Chaos Walking gives us that kind of closure so now I need more films which probably won’t be made. Honestly, this is a story that probably could have been a better limited series on a streaming Channel. The moments between Daisy Ridley and Tom Hollands characters are good but we certainly could have had more. It’s almost as if they give us just enough to somewhat keep us interested adult explorer that much about these characters. They have a lot of funny moments, but the most emotional that connects the two characters is when she reads his mother Journal because he doesn’t know how to read. This film should have more moments like that.

Overall, Chaos Walking is not a bad thing, but it is average at best. I liken the movie to a great short story that I might read and loved in that moment, but then quickly forget about. It would be nice to see what happens to Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland characters because they do work well together in this film and it’s one of be stronger aspects. Mads Mikkelsen is such a great bad guy that I want to know more about him and his motivation, he is certainly one of the bright spots of the film. So, while I am not disappointed by Chaos Walking, I also feel like it’s a film that could have easily been on Amazon Prime or Netflix and one can watch it at home without having to go to a theater. It’s not worth a full price movie ticket unless you’re seeing a matinee.  And if you know me, I always harp on performances so Daisy Ridley, Tom Holland and Mads Mikkelsen certainly make this film worth watching. The cinematography is gorgeous because the landscape very much feels like its own character, especially when it’s trying to kill the characters. This is a movie that has some great sci-fi elements to it and will make you want more, but doesn’t completely satisfied with just one movie. That’s probably the most disappointing aspect of Chaos Walking, but it’s director, Doug Liman, always gives us a good show and never leaves us fully disappointed, enough so that we usually watch his films again. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. I would definitely watch Chaos Walking again, but I would prefer to have seen this from the comfort of my own home rather than going to a movie theater.  That’s never the feeling you should have when it comes to good science fiction. Chaos Walking is an okay to adequate as a film. It’s not great, but it’s definitely not bad because of the performances from Daisy Ridley, Tom Holland and Mads Mikkelsen.