Chaos Walking (film)

Chaos Walking is an American dystopian action-adventure thriller film directed by Doug Liman from a screenplay by Patrick Ness and Christopher Ford. It is loosely based on the sci-fi trilogy Chaos Walking, primarily adapting its first book, 2008's The Knife of Never Letting Go by Ness. It's main stars are Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland, alongside Mads Mikkelsen, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, and David Oyelowo.

Announced in 2011, the film had undergone several rewrites from a first script draft written by Charlie Kaufman, with Jamie Linden, John Lee Hancock, Gary Spinelli, Lindsey Beer, Christopher Ford and Ness revising the screenplay further. Liman was later announced as the director in 2016, with principal photography fully started and finished around 2017. Originally set to release on March 1, 2019, it was removed from schedule to accommodate the films' reshoots in April 2019 following poor test screenings from audiences.

Chaos Walking theatrically premiered on February 24, 2021, in South Korea, and on March 5, 2021, in the United States. It received negative reviews from critics and fans, and was a box office failure, grossing $21 million worldwide against its $120 million budget.

Synopsis[]

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. From the director of The Bourne Identity and Edge of Tomorrow and based on the best-selling novel The Knife of Never Letting Go, Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland star with Mads Mikkelsen, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, Kurt Sutter, and David Oyelowo in Chaos Walking.

Plot[]

In 2257 AD, the men of the planet New World have been afflicted with the Noise, a condition that causes everyone to see and hear each other's thoughts. The colonists were caught in a civil war with the native aliens that killed all the women, but half the men survived. Todd Hewitt (Tom Holland) lives in Prentisstown with his adoptive fathers, Ben (Demian Bichir) and Cillian Boyd (Kurt Sutter). Other residents include the preacher Aaron (David Oyelowo), the town's mayor David Prentiss (Mads Mikkelsen), and his son Davy (Nick Jonas). A spaceship that lost contact with the First Colony approaches New World and a scout ship is sent to investigate, but it crashes. One day, while Todd is working, he spots someone stealing and chases the thief only to come upon the ruins of the scout ship.

Todd returns to the town and tries to keep quiet, but the other men hear and see his thoughts about the crashed ship; they head to investigate the ruins and sabotage some parts of it, but find no survivors. While Todd is alone, he meets Viola (Daisy Ridley), the crash's only survivor. He is shocked to see a girl, as he has never seen one before. The men from Prentisstown capture Viola and she is brought to the mayor's home, where she is questioned. Prentiss explains to her what the Noise is and what has happened on their planet. While he goes out to speak to the men, Davy is charged to keep an eye on her, but unwittingly toys with one of Viola's gadgets, which causes it to shoot sparks, helping Viola escape. Ben tells Todd about another village called Farbranch and says Viola will be safe there.

Viola escapes on a motorcycle while Todd chases after her on one of the horses. Prentiss and the men arrive at the farm, demanding Viola back as they believe she is a spy. Davy kills Cillian, and Ben is forced to join them. Meanwhile, Todd catches up to Viola and the two begin a journey to Farbranch, accompanied by Todd's dog, Manchee. During the journey, Viola reveals to Todd that she is from a Colony Ship carrying over 4,000 passengers and that her parents died during the journey to New World. Todd reveals he never knew his real parents. When they encounter one of the native aliens, Todd tries to kill it, but Viola stops him because it does not appear to be dangerous. They arrive at Farbranch, which is inhabited by men, women and children, and are displeased to see Todd there because he is from Prentisstown.

Todd discovers his mother's diary, but Viola reads it to him because he cannot. The diary reveals that the women were not killed by the native aliens, as Prentiss has claimed, but rather by Prentiss and the men. This angers Todd, as he realizes that everything he was told was a lie. Prentiss and his men arrive, again demanding Viola. Ben tries to get Todd to surrender Viola, but Todd is angry with him for lying. Instead of capturing Viola, Ben uses an image of her to distract Prentiss and his men while Todd and Viola escape. Aaron chases them. They come upon a boat, and, as they escape, Aaron kills Manchee, further enraging Todd.

The next day, Viola and Todd arrive at the ruins of the first colony ship. They enter it and try to send a signal to the colony ship, but the antenna is damaged, so Todd goes to fix it. When Prentiss and his men arrive, Todd surrenders himself, as Prentiss is holding Ben hostage. Aaron goes inside to kill Viola, but she immolates him with one of her gadgets. Todd appears, but Prentiss shoots Ben. Todd goes to him and, unknown to Prentiss, gives him a knife. Todd engages Prentiss, but he uses illusions of himself to distract Todd. As he is about to strike Todd, Todd uses illusions of his mother and every woman, calling Prentiss a coward. Viola attacks Prentiss, who seemingly falls to his death. The colony ship appears in the sky, causing Davy and the remaining men of Prentisstown to flee.

Todd wakes up in the colony ship's medical room, fully healed, and he and Viola, starting a relationship together, head out to meet the other colonists.

Cast[]

Óscar Jaenada was cast as Wilf, but was cut from the final film after reshoots. Harrison Osterfield, Holland's personal assistant for the film, also has an uncredited cameo as a farmer in Farbranch.

Production[]

In October 2011, Lionsgate acquired worldwide distribution rights to a film adaptation of Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy, to be produced by Doug Davison's production company Quadrant Pictures. In 2012, Lionsgate then hired Charlie Kaufman to write the first draft of the screenplay. He then subsequently left after that, confirmed by himself during a Q&A panel at the 2016 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. That draft would later be revised by Jamie Linden, Lindsey Beer, Gary Spinelli, John Lee Hancock, Christopher Ford and Ness himself. Deadline reported in 2013 that Robert Zemeckis was being considered as the director, but apparently nothing came to fruition. On June 10, 2016, Doug Liman was in talks to direct the film. On August 4, 2016, it was reported that Daisy Ridley joined the cast. She was a fan of the books, and was announced to be playing Viola. On November 28, 2016, Tom Holland joined the cast to play Todd.

On July 20, 2017, it was announced that Mads Mikkelsen joined the cast for the film as the villainous mayor. In August 2017, Demián Bichir, Kurt Sutter, Nick Jonas and David Oyelowo joined the cast. In September 2017, Cynthia Erivo joined the cast. In October 2017, Óscar Jaenada joined the cast. Principal photography on the film began in Montreal, Quebec on August 7, 2017, with additional uncredited financing from Bron Creative. The film was also shot in Scotland and Iceland. Principal photography wrapped in November 2017.

In April 2018, it was reported that the film was scheduled to have several weeks of reshoots in late 2018 or early 2019, following poor test screenings. Owing to Ridley's filming commitments to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Holland's to Spider-Man: Far From Home, the reshoots were not able to begin until April 2019, with Fede Álvarez directing them. These reshoots, which took place in Atlanta and lasted through May, added an additional $15 million to the film's budget. In September 2020, Ness and Ford were given final credit on the screenplay.

Release[]

Chaos Walking was theatrically released in the United States on March 5, 2021, with an additional IMAX release, following a debut theatrical release in South Korea on February 24, 2021. It was previously scheduled to be released on March 1, 2019, but it was delayed to accommodate the film's reshoots. It was then scheduled to be released on January 22, 2021, but was delayed again to March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Almost a month after the film's theatrical debut, it was released on PVOD on April 2, 2021, in both the United States, United Kingdom, and select countries where theaters were closed due to lockdown in response to COVID-19 surges.

Score[]

Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts scored the music for Chaos Walking (2021). It is available wherever music is streamed. Tracks are listed here.

Reception[]

While critics acknowledged the film's potential and premise, it was criticized for its poor characterization, editing, screenplay, and lackluster direction. Some fans even noted the film's contrasting plot points over the book, which they strongly reacted negatively over it.

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 23% of 124 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "Chaos Walking sets out on a potentially interesting path, but this dystopian adventure badly bungles its premise and limps toward the finish." Metacritic gave it an average score of 39 out of 100 based on 30 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported 70% of audience members gave it a positive score, with 43% saying they would definitely recommend it.

Future[]

Lionsgate has remained silent on the possibility of additional Chaos Walking films. Although a film adaptation of The Ask and the Answer should be expected if the first film had performed successfully at the box office. The COVID-19 pandemic and its continuing negative effect on the film industry, the production logistics, and box office returns ultimately makes the film adaptations of Chaos Walking: The Ask and the Answer and Chaos Walking: Monsters of Men extremely unlikely in the future.

Trivia[]

Daisy Ridley is a fan of the books, and contributed a lot in the reshoots, according to Ness himself.
Tom Holland has reacted negatively over the film. While he has shown positivity with the cast & crew when being talked about the film during his Cherry press tour, he has subtly expressed disdain over the project, with him deleting his Chaos Walking set pictures & videos on Instagram sometime in 2018 to 2019. Although no contributing factors was given, news outlets reported back in 2018 that Holland was in talks for a co-leading role in 1917, but when Lionsgate announced the reshoots on 2018 as well, he backed out due to contractual obligations. Additionally, he missed the Avengers: Endgame's world premiere because of the reshoots, with him responding in contempt on his podcast in 2021.
According to a behind-the-scenes featurette of the film, Chaos Walking (2021) combined certain aspects of all three books of the trilogy, instead of being a single-book adaptation. This might explain why there are some of the aspects from The Ask and the Answer and Monsters of Men are in the film adaptation of The Knife of Never Letting Go.

Differences from the book[]

Main Elements[]

These are major glaring changes throughout the film and its source, which are all collectively listed here:

Manchee (Todd's dog) is male in the books, but is presented physically as female in the film.
Manchee is killed by Aaron and it is witnessed in full view by Todd in both the novel and film, yet they differ. In the books, Aaron kills Manchee by snapping his neck while Todd escapes with Viola in a boat floating down the main river. In the film, Manchee is drowned in the rapids of a river by Aaron while Todd and Viola flee in a boat. This was possibly done by the studio out of fear of unnecessary controversy over certain animal rights activists and the American Humane, as it would be considered "cruel" or "exploitative" to portray Manchee's death in the books on-screen.
In the film, Todd does not get sick and hallucinate throughout infection, which is shown in graphic detail in the original novel. Furthermore, Todd gets sick from becoming sleep-depraved after losing Viola to Aaron in the novel, which is also not shown in the film. However, the scene in the book where Todd gets called a "coward" by hallucinations of Aaron, Viola, and the river Spackle due to his illness was modified to appear at the finale where Todd and David "Noise-fight".
The appearance of the Spackle in the film drastically diverges from their book counterparts. However, their ability to use Noise to communicate with their world is still the same.
Aaron is insane in the film. However, the difference being that in the film, he's presented as an religious extremist, than a schizophrenic in the book.
The friendship between Viola and Todd morphed to have Todd be romantically involved with Viola over the course of the film, although Todd and Viola's romantic relationship actually begins in book three of the trilogy. It is unknown how the relationship would play out in the other two films, if the other two books of Chaos Walking would possibly be adapted.
New World is a completely forested planet, similar to Endor in Star Wars, not a planet with diverse ecosystems as shown in the original novel. However, New World being a habitable planet is the same in both the film and original series.
Although the scene is similar in both the book and film, the purpose of Todd killing the Spackle is completely lost in the film, as compared to the scene in the original novel.
Karyssa's journal is read at the climax of the film, not at the end. Furthermore, the journal is read in Farbranch, not in an abandoned settlement as shown in the novel.
The only settlement Prentisstown burns in the film is Farbranch. In the books, Prentisstown burns, massacres, slaughters, and pillages all New World settlements to obtain global dominance.
Aaron is killed by Viola in both the film and book, except the deaths are different. In the film, Aaron is killed by Viola through immolation by her gadgets in the spaceship ruins while trying to contact her ship; in the books, Viola stabs Aaron to protect Todd in an abandoned church cut into a cliff.
Viola and Todd never reach Haven in the film. The finale of the film takes place in the ruins of an abandoned spaceship and ending takes place in a spaceship's hospital.
Viola and Todd find their way to Haven by following monorail supports after a wild goose chase to find it, rather than following a main river like in the original novel.
The film ends with Viola presumably killing David at the spaceship ruins to protect Todd, with Todd going into a coma for days because of blood loss and shock, and that new settlers have landed on New World. This gives the film's tone a sense of hope, unlike in the book's original ending, starkly contrasting the books' mature themes. In the original novel's ending, Viola is shot by Davy on the road to Haven, nearly killing her. Todd scares Davy off, alongside Davy's horse, to protect/defend Viola and enters Haven with her nearly-dead body, desperate to keep her alive. Todd finds that Haven has been abandoned and that David has completely conquered all the settlements of New World, becoming its first (and only) self-proclaimed president. Haven has also been renamed New Prentisstown, the new capital of New World, leading into Chaos Walking: The Ask and the Answer.
Tam, Wilf, Jane, Dr. Snow, Jacob Snow, the people of Carbonel Downs, the caravan of settler refugees, The Things, the cassors, Francia, the Prentisstown swamp, the crocodiles, Ben's map in the diary, Carbonel Downs, Haven, and the other settlements never appeared in the film.
The age of Todd has been aged up to eighteen-years, in order to accommodate both actors, whereas in the book he's twelve-years, about to turn thirteen-years. The ages of Viola (twelve-years in the original novel) and Davy (fifteen-years in the original novel) have been also aged as well.

Other Elements[]

These are the other elements from the rest of the trilogy in Chaos Walking (2021).

The Ask and the Answer[]

The scene where Davy unintentionally blows up David's house is akin to the event where Con unknowingly blows the Haven cathedral up with a Thrace bomb.

Monsters of Men[]

Todd being healed from his wounds in a spaceship hospital is akin to Todd being healed in the Pathway's End from an acid rifle wound
The "Noise-fight" at the spaceship ruins between Todd and David in the finale
David indirectly influencing Todd.
The colonists landing on New World.