Chaos Walking (2021)

Chaos Walking (2021)

A film that can be described as fantasy, science fiction, and adventure.

From the studio behind The Hunger Games? I should have known I wouldn’t like it!

Throughout the film, I had in mind the positive and negative reviews I had read just before. Yes, that happens to me sometimes! It was certainly tempting to see Mads Mikkelsen, Daisy Ridley, and Tom Holland in the same feature film, whose story is: Two unlikely companions embark on a perilous adventure across the desolate lands of an unexplored planet as they attempt to escape a dangerous and confusing reality where everyone can see and hear each other’s private thoughts.

Admittedly, the concept is interesting, but it quickly becomes irritating, improbable, and incoherent. It clearly reminded me of What Women Want (2000), which is also a film in which you can hear people’s thoughts. But after a while, it calms down, as if people were thinking less or not thinking at all! So these ideas don’t really hold up over time.

In fact, it’s typically the kind of concept that would have been a hit as a short film, and people would have been so enthusiastic that they would have demanded a feature film, which would inevitably have disappointed them! Whereas here, I think the opposite: it should have been a short film of about twenty minutes.

Mads is in one of his detestable roles here, but he still has his extraordinary charisma. Daisy is an excellent actress, but it doesn’t really show here. There’s nothing transcendent about her acting here. As for Tom Holland, we can see that he’s taking a break from his Spider-Man roles, without giving up his athletic side. I can see that he has the physique of the superhero he plays, with his agility, speed, and climbing strength. In fact, in the final fight, it feels like a scene from a Marvel movie!

Daisy isn’t necessarily recognizable to people who have seen her elsewhere; all it takes is a different haircut, longer blonde hair, and it changes everything. Tom, on the other hand, is always recognizable because he always looks the same. Mads too, apart from the large scar on his cheek in this role.

I was quite disappointed by this film, which wastes the actors’ talent. We don’t see much of the creatures, which clearly deserved to be explored further. We don’t see what happens to the people in the second village. The scenes are quite long and I found myself getting bored. It’s as if the director chose not to show too much rather than to dazzle the audience. He should have gone for a more lively pace, which would have made the film much more interesting. As it is, it’s just a film you want to rewind!

Mads is in one of his detestable roles here, but he still has his extraordinary charisma. Daisy is an excellent actress, but it doesn’t really show here. There’s nothing transcendent about her acting here. As for Tom Holland, we can see that he’s taking a break from his Spider-Man roles, without giving up his athletic side. I can see that he has the physique of the superhero he plays, with his agility, speed, and climbing strength. In fact, in the final fight, it feels like a scene from a Marvel movie!

Daisy isn’t necessarily recognizable to people who have seen her elsewhere; all it takes is a different haircut, longer blonde hair, and it changes everything. Tom, on the other hand, is always recognizable because he always looks the same. Mads too, apart from the large scar on his cheek in this role.

I was quite disappointed by this film, which wastes the actors’ talent. We don’t see much of the creatures, which clearly deserved to be explored further. We don’t see what happens to the people in the second village. The scenes are quite long and I found myself getting bored. It’s as if the director chose not to show too much rather than to dazzle the audience. He should have gone for a more lively pace, which would have made the film much more interesting. As it is, it’s just a film you put on in the background!

We touch on a lot of things, but we never go any further. So many topics are abandoned along the way! But that’s okay, thanks for trying!

I’ve never been too attracted to Doug Liman’s films, even though he’s considered a genius by his fans. I thought Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) was really bad and Jumper (2008) was really not great. Plus, I’m not a fan of Jason Bourne at all. Sorry!

Anti-wokists will of course see a vindictive, misandric, anti-pararchal post-feminist message… but then again, they see that everywhere! They’ll also complain that the hero is sensitive and label him a soy man lacking in charisma. Nothing very original on their part, as usual! If we want to criticize, let’s at least do it for the right reasons!

I found this opening line of the review quite interesting: “Seeing the potential first episode of a teen sci-fi saga, adapted from a successful young adult novel (Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking trilogy), hit the screens in 2021 seems almost heretical, given that the movement’s glory days seem to be behind it!”

Come on… in a single line and to conclude: promising cast, much less promising story. Next!

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