Chaos Walking

This movie got into my watchlist mostly because Tom Holland is in it. Not that I am a huge fan of him, I just like to continue following the work of actors who I already liked some work of. Obviously, I only knew Tom Holland in his spider-man character in the Marvel movies. That wasn't a huge impact on me, hence the "mostly" in my first sentence. I had seen the trailer to this movie way back before the pandemic. It looked dark and interesting, plus I recognized an actor in it, so why not add it to my list? 

A few of the people who know me knows that I have a movie list for the whole year every year. Some people make new year resolutions for the upcoming year, I make a movie list of the upcoming year in which I write all the movies that interest me and that will come out in the new year. Normally, the list works pretty well, most release dates are already planned, etc. But when the pandemic happened, my movie list lost its meaning. It was very hard to keep track of the movies: some got moved to platforms like Netflix, some got postponed (and then postponed again, and again), some movies were bought from other parties and were given new names...It was chaos.

Last time I updated my movie list, I noticed some movies neither got released in theatres nor got moved on to a platform, they just ended up being movies that you can rent or buy. I feel bad for these movies, they got unlucky. Now, I am catching up with the movies that I wasn't able to see in theatres during the pandemic, like Chaos Walking. Before I rented the movie on the internet, I decided to watch the trailer again so that I know the money won't be a waste. 

At one point while searching the movie I had already came across with the information that Daisy Ridley is in it. Yes, Rey from Star Wars. I like both Marvel movies and Star Wars movies, so I thought, "hmm nice this movie has stars from both series, nice combination, cool". But then, when I watched the trailer, I noticed another familiar face. So I went on to Wikipedia to read about the movie. That's when I learned not only the movie has one actor from each of Marvel and Star Wars series but also an actor who had a role in both Marvel and Star Wars series. He was Kaecilius in the first Doctor Strange movie but also Galen Erso in the Star Wars: Rogue One movie. So the intersection is non-empty. The name is Mads Mikkelsen, by the way, and when I first saw the name I, of course, first thought of the Netflix Original series Dark (spoilers?). I even thought maybe he is Ulrich from Dark---I am very bad with faces. Now all my faults aside, let's get back to the movie.

When the movie was starting, I was thinking, does the name mean something like walking in chaos or does it imply some sort of walking in chaotic way? Then appeared some writing on the screen answering my questions: "The Noise is a man's thoughts unfiltered, and without a filter a man is just chaos walking". This pretty much clears up where the name of the movie comes from. In the setting of the movie everyone can hear everyone's thoughts, and they call it the Noise. I believe this was in the trailer or bio of the movie, so it's not really a spoiler. 

Hearing everyone's thoughts...it is not an original idea, but, there is perhaps one thing to notice here. It is not the classical "reading your mind". Instead everyone's thoughts are just loud. The thoughts are projected out in voice or in image form. And then of course there is a thought-control issue. When I say 'everyone', that is all men. Because in the town in the movie, there are only men for some reason. What I would expect in this situation is actually not much noise. I thought men wouldn't have that many thoughts---they tend to think simpler than women, but apparently it is still loud. Now before you call me sexist or anything, I want to point out how the brains of men and women are different. Anyhow, yes, the men in the movie were mostly like cavemen and their thoughts were violent and hence leading to fights. I thought in this situation there would be fights in the town more frequently, but I guess it wasn't too bad. 

When all of your thoughts are projected just like that, it makes you vulnerable. You have to be just the person you are, no hiding. Obviously, this can make many people uncomfortable. In everyday life, this would be horrible, but the setting in the movie is not like how we live right now, so it doesn't involve the usual conflicts that were probably covered in other shows with mind reading in it. The movie takes place in the future and on another planet. One might call it a dystopia and if you like dystopias maybe you should watch this movie. 

What did I think of "the Noise", the projected thoughts? I think the movie did a good job on this. When you are thinking, there is some repetition, not all your sentences are complete, and often you don't make sentences because it is not talking, it is thinking. I really liked how they illustrated this in the movie. They also didn't forget to include images. Sometimes when you think, your brain projects images in your mind. So in the movie, the voice of your thoughts are not picture-like, but what you imagine are like pictures. Also when you dream, someone can literally watch your dream---I thought that was cool. 

This whole thought-image thing being on requires some thought control for some threatening situations. I think controlling your thoughts is much harder than what you see in the movies, that is the movies you have seen by now. We usually see some heroes/superheroes being able to hide their thoughts from other superheroes/supervillains more or less easily. I never thought that would be so easy. In this movie, this is also reflected in a realistic manner. 

Even though it is supposed to be a sad/dystopian movie, there were several moments that made me laugh out loud (not very long laughs though, just a couple of 'ha's). Not that I laugh at people who are suffering, but if you think about it, this whole situation with all one's thoughts being manifested, there can definitely be some silly things (spoilers). 

What did I think of the acting. Daisy Ridley's performance was similar to Star Wars. It was like she was still playing Rey. It's not a completely bad thing, but didn't impress me. Tom Holland's character was well-played, in my opinion.

I won't be criticizing the movie makers on how the story might have been sexist or anything, the movie is based on a book anyways.

It was a good movie, glad I watched it. It actually felt like a gift I received. 

I give the movie 8/10. Well-done (special effects), well-played (by actors).