Do you like fantasy for teenagers? 'The Hunger Games', 'Divergent', 'The Maze Runner'? Then you probably wanted to watch 'Chaos Walking' as well. Let's figure out if this desire should be satisfied.

A Little About the Plot of 'Chaos Walking'

Humanity mastered space and set out to colonize distant planets, but one of those planets turned out to be not quite ordinary.

The fact is that people who set foot on it can no longer contain their thoughts, which are projected into reality as a stream of consciousness, words, and images, hovering around their bearer. This phenomenon was called the Noise. There is no hiding in your own head.

Some managed to master the art of restraining their thoughts, but the main character named Todd Hewitt (Tom Holland), who lives in the town of Prentisstown, inhabited only by men, has difficulties.

And then a spaceship crashes onto the planet; only one person from the crew survives — a girl named Viola (Daisy Ridley). So now Todd must learn to control his Noise and try to protect her from the threats of his home planet.

Oh, and Mads Mikkelsen is in it too.

'Chaos Walking' Doesn't Offer Anything New

Just like that. For this reason alone, the film could have been written off, but let's try to dig a little deeper.

It would seem that we have already had so many examples of banality. Does any of you remember 'The City of Ember'? 'The Host'? 'The 5th Wave'? Well, 'Chaos Walking' can confidently be added to those forgettable, standard films with an interesting setup and poor execution.

Hollywood filmmakers still cannot understand: what is tolerable on the pages of a young adult novel sometimes translates very poorly to the screen. Moreover, the film's gimmick, the Noise, is completely unbearable. Behind the intriguing concept lies a complete catastrophe. In books, we are used to 'hearing' the characters' thoughts, sometimes described in sufficient detail by the authors, but something clearly went wrong if for half the movie you, as a viewer, want to shout at the screen: 'Just shut up already!'

Actors and Characters

They say that in the early stages, the great and terrible Charlie Kaufman was involved in writing the script. If that is true, then nothing of his work was left, and it shows. Kaufman approaches the development of his characters' personalities very thoroughly, and what do we see in 'Chaos Walking'?

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A gray protagonist, distinguished by nothing except his love for his dog. A gray heroine, distinguished by nothing except her silence. A gray main villain, distinguished by nothing except his desire to catch the protagonists.

By the way, I want to dwell a little more on the motivation of the character of the Mayor of Prentisstown. More precisely, on its absence. Throughout the film, you rack your brains trying to figure out what, why, and for what reason this man does things. Mads Mikkelsen's charisma cannot be a cure-all for the stupidity and meaninglessness of what is happening. And it is often said that a film is only as strong as its main villain is interesting.

And the actors cannot save this outrage in any way. It is clear that effort was made (not the most, but there was some), but Holland and Ridley are not interesting, Nick Jonas (whose character could have been cut without consequences) is not interesting, no one is interesting.

You had Mads-friggin'-Mikkelsen at your disposal — how could you waste him like that, you monsters?!

Chaotic Narrative

It is quite simple to ruin a decent concept. Let's recall, for example, 'In Time' with Justin Timberlake. An amusingly invented world — a wildly absurd plot consisting of a mix of Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, and Robin Hood.

'Chaos Walking' was supposed to be an exciting journey story from point A to point B. But instead, we get a huge pile of unnecessary things, piled on top of each other like horrifying and collapsing Jenga sticks. You have your teenage romance, aliens, oh-so-twists, action movie, and a clash of brute force with futuristic gadgets.

The film itself doesn't know what it wants to be besides 'dark fantasy for teenagers'. A new 'Hunger Games' won't appear if you grab at everything, throw it at the viewer, and hope that at least one aspect of the plot will resonate with them.

Conclusion

The main problem with the film lies in the lack of originality, second-rate quality, and dullness. It is always sad to see someone ruin a good idea.

But despite everything said above, I do not rule out that one can enjoy the film. If you are still young and not jaded by teenage Hollywood, you might give 'Chaos Walking' a chance. For me, however, it was a waste of time.