E-BOOKS CHAOS WALKING Review
The planet is not Earth. The environment may be similar, but with one big difference. No women were seen there. The small town where Todd lives, all of its inhabitants are men. From the story that Todd heard Mr Mayor, the women in their town – including Todd's mother – were massacred by the natives of the planet. It's because girls don't have Noise. Yes, this is another stark difference between this planet and Earth; on this planet, the thoughts and words of men's hearts can be heard by everyone. It manifests in sound bubbles, which are also fog-like, around each individual's head, which is referred to as Noise. Todd and the townspeople are used to living with Noise, their unity is formed on the basis of mutual trust. Until then, a spaceship crashed into the forest. Viola, a daughter of Todd's age, is the only survivor. Todd now held the key to Viola's safety, for the girl was of course being hunted at once. And it was in their escape that the dark history/secret of this colony community gradually became exposed.
The setting of this film's entirely male-inhabited world does remind us of Maze Runner. Heck, even Wonder Woman uses a closed world setting like that. So yeah, the setting it has may not add much to the identity of this film. Which we must turn our head to the other 'gimmick'. Noise concept.
It is this concept that makes the film adaptation of the Young Adult novel entitled The Knife of Never Letting Go different from the others. Director Doug Liman does a lot of exploration here. We see how Noise becomes an obligatory part in the foundation of society in the story. But at the same time, it becomes a kind of restriction for the protagonist, namely Todd. Compared to other characters, it is Todd who feels the most 'normal'. He wasn't comfortable with his thoughts and feelings being heard by everyone, so he created his own defensive technique. He tried to hide his thoughts by repeating the sentence in his own head. Liman makes this noise controllable if one is strong enough. It can be hidden, or it can even be strengthened so that it appears in a visual form. Liman also made this Noise as part of the comedy, and was integral in the build-up of love between Todd and Viola. We'll see a lot of scenes of Todd clumsily trying to cover up Viola's dreaming of having a crush on him.
Although it's also strange that guys who have never seen girls can understand and imagine what it's like to be dating.
Unfortunately, the concept that Chaos Walking has only feels fun when discussed on paper. It looks exciting when we read it, then imagine what it would be like for real. Because, when we watch this film, it actually only feels half cool. In fact, it took me quite a while to get used to the scenes filled with reactions and character treatments for the surrounding noise. And when you get used to it, the story doesn't necessarily turn out to be fun and attract sympathy. There is still a dull void in the middle of the noise. The characters never manage to appear as attractive as the concept itself. Certainly, this is not a bad acting game. There's Tom Holland here, as Todd. There's Daisy Ridley, as Viola. They try to bring the character to life. They perform well on their own. But simply, there is not much chemistry between the two of them.
This problem of course comes from the writing. The relationship between these two characters, by design, has developed. Namely, the two of them did not trust each other at first, but they had to work together, and then slowly a genuine love grew between the two of them. These developments have never been properly communicated to us. Because their characterization is written very little. Todd gets a lot more, because he's the main character, but most of the time (before meeting Viola) is spent hiding his thoughts from the people around him. We are not shown what his personal motivation is. On the other hand, the characterization of the Viola is almost non-existent. In fact, this character spends most of his screen time without dialogue; in keeping with the idea that the film is aiming for, namely that women are unpredictable. The result is that we see a strange adventure partner. A versatile and independent girl, driven to safety by a boy trying not to die; there is potential here. Especially since Todd would have preferred this girl to stay with him instead of being escorted to safety. It's just that movies don't take much time for relationships. Instead, they continue to dwell on the pursuit of action, such as the devil chasing the duration of time.
Men's minds are easy to guess, while it's very difficult to guess what women are thinking. The film's concept of Noise, as well as the history of infighting among the planet's inhabitant groups, symbolize this. It actually shows men who are afraid have no control over women who can think for themselves, so they are hostile to her. Destroy it. We can parallel Todd's journey as a person's journey to accept and acknowledge the existence and empowerment of women. You could say, this is Todd's journey to become a feminist.
Just like most Young Adult novels that were given a green light to be turned into a film, the Chaos Walking story also has a contemporary element that is more sexy to discuss. That is the problem of 'boy against girl'. Feminism against toxic masculinity. This element is very clearly stated. The group of men who are hostile to women because women are unpredictable and completely secretive. Women who become more just leaders. Guys who are considered the same as girls when they try to maintain privacy. This film has no problem playing these elements even to the most 'over' settings. Making this film's story basic and no challenges. I'm even more interested in the subtle elements that the story presents, namely the problem between human immigrants from Earth and the natives of this planet. Here, the element surrounds what appears to be oppression, and the spread of hoaxes. I want to see more of what really happened. But even the natives only appear randomly in one scene.
Those whose thoughts are just awful, it's guaranteed to be terrible living on this planet
The chaos of writing and the direction of Chaos Walking came as a result of the reshoots and rewrites that were carried out. We can still find a glimmer of sweet and exciting things from time to time, but the rest of the film feels like a continuous story that has no clear narrative structure. The action in this film is all just a chase. What's not fun is that we can never understand the stakes. This relates to the motivation of the antagonist which is also strange. Why was it so important for the evil character to prevent Viola from summoning another plane. This film forgets to discuss the backstory of why they all chose to live on the planet. More precisely maybe not 'forgetfulness'. But on purpose. Why on purpose? Yes, especially if it wasn't for the intention of a sequel. This film deliberately does not discuss the world of the story, because it will be placed as a discussion in the story of the second film. But to be honest, given the under-performance given by this film, I doubt any audience will want this sequel. It seems more certain, the audience asked for their money back.
This is one of the disappointments for me because this film actually carries an interesting concept around the human mind. But the writing feels messy, like forgetting what is being discussed in the middle, and continues to change into a new topic. We never know the big context of the film's narrative. So in the end, for us, this film is just an obscure riot, with bland characters, which we can't really care about. Which does not feel the chemistry.
The Palace of Wisdom gives 4 out of 10 gold stars for CHAOS WALKING.
That's all we have for now.
Is it really that easy for you girls and boys to read? And is it really hard for you guys, girls to guess? The film says such things are unfair. What do you think, is it really better for us to know everything our partner is thinking?
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Remember, in life there are winners.
And there are losers.
