Doug Liman is one of those directors whose name alone piques my interest in a film. HBO Max recently premiered his quarantine thriller Locked Down in January and now audiences get our second Liman movie in three months with the sci-fi thriller Chaos Walking.
Chaos Walking stars Tom Holland (recently seen in Cherry) and Daisy Ridley (she dazzled as Rey, most recently seen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker). The film is based on the book The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, who adapted his novel for the big screen with Christopher Ford. The story takes place in a future where the Earth has become not-so-habitable and therefore the human race has sought out and found a planet that can sustain life. Simply called New World, it is all that Holland’s Todd knows as he was born there. He has no memory of his mother because when he was a baby she was killed, along with all the other women there by the locals, the Spackle.
The second wave of colonists was supposed to arrive two years ago but never showed. In the meantime, Mayor Prentiss (the always awesome Mads Mikkelsen) oversees their “village,” the appropriately monikered Prentisstown. The thing about the New World is that all of men’s thoughts can be heard (and can take a physical manifestation too). Prentiss has mastered the ability to get inside men’s heads and literally rule by the power of suggestion. The other thing of note is that women’s thoughts were never able to be heard, and therefore manipulated.
Enter Ridley’s Viola, who arrives as part of a search party when those in charge on Earth failed to hear anything from the New World for years. Somehow, she survives her pod’s entry into the atmosphere that kills everyone else on the tiny ship. She wants to warn the mother ship about the conditions on the ground and to rescue her, and then get out of dodge.
Before Todd’s mother was killed, she asked Cillian (Kurt Sutter) and Ben (Demián Bichir, who recently moved us immensely in Robin Wright’s directorial debut Land) to raise Todd. They have, but there have been secrets that come to light—inadvertently through the arrival of Viola.
The idea of “noise”—those thoughts that men emit—is a fascinating narrative tool. In novel form, readers are quite accustomed to hearing characters’ inner thoughts. It’s something much more difficult to capture through the medium of film. With the gifts of Liman and having the author co-write the screenplay, what could have been a stumbling block proves to be the most creative of cinematic tale-telling. When Viola first encounters Todd and every other man on this planet, it is off-putting. Over the course of Chaos Walking, Liman utilizes this tool efficiently.
It’s also a powerful means of building suspense. Todd and Viola are on the run through this woodsy planet and to get an idea of how close Prentiss and his men are, the pair simply has to look over the trees and all those male thoughts light up an area. It’s a fascinating and inventive plot moving device in addition to adding layers to the thrills.
This is exactly the type of role and the kind of film that Holland was born to play. The manner with which he has established Todd is pitch-perfect to play off of Ridley’s Viola. He has an awe-shucks quality to him, yet he is innately strong and as he starts to learn the truth of his existence and the true, i.e., real, landscape of New World, he shows a command of his craft that was somewhat missing from Cherry. His Todd is a product of his surroundings, yes, but at the same time, he has an independent streak and when faced with life or death challenges, discovers aspects about himself that in the hands of Holland, are pure bliss to witness.
He and Ridley have effortless chemistry. Their being together is purely out of necessity, at least at first. But as they keep running and searching for some way to contact her ship, the friendship that emerges between these two is as organic as can be achieved.
There was a reason that audiences adored Rey in the Star Wars sequels—Ridley. She is a gifted actress and Chaos Walking is her first post-Rey role and proves that she is one to watch. Her Viola backstory is complicated and whether we learn what it is—specifically—is never a given. I love that. There is exposition that is forced upon an audience, simply by writers who feel they need to spoon-feed viewers the goings-on of the world they created. With Ridley driving the film (after all, this world wouldn’t have been forced to look itself in the mirror had her ship not crash landed), the actress delivers priceless plot points when one least expects it and in hindsight, when it is most needed.
Kudos to Ness and Ford for utilizing some creative storytelling techniques and for their seamless adaptation of Ness’ novel. A film such as Chaos Walking is equally driven by its protagonists as its antagonists. What they created with Prentiss and the way with which his backstory is revealed, is also not forced upon the viewer. All told, the script delivers three-dimensional characters right on down the line—even souls with little screen time, but with incredibly important parts to play—such as Nick Jonas’ Davy Prentiss Jr., David Oyelowo’s Aaron, and Cynthia Erivo’s Hildy.
It is often said that film is a director’s medium and after witnessing a Liman feature, that could never be truer. The storyteller can effortlessly move from “gimmick” filmmaking, such as Locked Down to a science fiction tale that has countless layers to it in Chaos Walking. The latter is closer to 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow with Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Both Chaos and Edge are expertly crafted by a storyteller who knows exactly when to reveal secrets and plot points that other, less gifted filmmakers, may be tempted to throw out there without giving it much thought. Both Edge of Tomorrow and Chaos Walking has mysteries intertwined with their sci-fi and thrills. How that mystery is pieced together via clues—and eventually solved—is handled with such an impeccable touch by Liman that, as I said earlier, his name alone sells it.
Chaos Walking could have been a run-of-the-mill sci-fi flick in anyone else’s hands. Between the electric ensemble—particularly the two leads—gifted writers, and Liman’s divine directorial vision, it is a film that is engrossing, makes you think, and above all else, is sublimely entertaining.
Grade: B+