After a while, Chaos Walking became one of those films where the behind-the-scenes mythology threatened to overshadow anything in the actual film. Across a checkered production history, it’s had multiple directors and writers attached (including tantalisingly, at one point, Charlie Kaufman). There were reports of extensive reshoots after the initial cut was deemed, according to one source, as “unreleasable”. A pandemic got in the way too.
The film that finally arrives now, more than two years after its original release date, has none of the rich potential offered by the acclaimed series of books by Patrick Ness it’s based on; nor is it quite the laughably bad disaster that some pessimistic prognosticators implied. Instead it’s just a thoughtless trudge through some of the genre’s most recognisable clichés, the shadow of the film it should be — despite some admirable attempts by the cast at lifting the watered-down material.
Which is a shame, because the premise is rich with possibilities, and appealingly weird. A world where men’s unfiltered thoughts are constantly on display — think What Men Want, but with aliens — is an idea thick with implications and opportunities for a satirical look at society and gender roles (only amplified by the male-only environment it’s set in — like a futuristic, reverse take on Y: The Last Man). But it feels disorientating and incoherent. At a basic filmmaking level, ‘the Noise’ is just that: a cacophony of background characters’ thoughts projected into a CG bubble, making it oddly hard — especially in crowd scenes — to keep track of what’s going on, who’s actually talking and who’s just thinking it.
A thoughtless trudge through some of the genre’s most recognisable clichés.
It’s treated as a blunt way to get to character motivations, too, rather than an ingenious and creative study of the male psyche. In Tom Holland’s boyish lead character Todd, it plays out like an adolescent version of Dug from Up, his Noise often blurting out one-word descriptions of what he can see or what he’s feeling (“Girl!”, “Pretty!”). An accurate insight into a teenage boy’s mind, certainly, but not the most elegant storytelling device.
Sadly, the Noise is the film’s most interesting asset. Everything else about it feels like a cynical attempt to ride an already outdated Young Adult wave started nearly a decade ago by The Hunger Games, and repeatedly repackaged by Hollywood. The humourless tone, muted cinematography, generic CG threats, cheesy dialogue, unsurprising twists and depressing futurism are all staples of a genre that has arguably long run out of ideas.
At least the cast give it a good go — particularly Holland and Daisy Ridley, who both know how to hold a blockbuster stage with strength and humanity; and Mads Mikkelsen, who is seemingly incapable of giving a bad performance. His brooding, mysterious mayor is made ever more compelling by furtive looks and cunning smiles, Mikkelsen going above and beyond what the material gives him; we can only speculate sadly on what happened to that material during the adaptation process.
