Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Chaos Walking Blu-ray Movie Review

The Woman Who Fell to New World.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 16, 2021

Considering some of the patently odd non disc swag Lionsgate Films kindly sent along with the Blu-ray disc currently under review, you might think this film could have very well been better titled Walking Chaos, at least if Chaos were the name of a dog, since among the accoutrements Lionsgate sent were a roll of "doggie clean up bags" housed in a little white plastic bone and a portable water dish. Now, there is a dog in Chaos Walking, but its name is Manchee, and while there are certain elements at play that make this a kind of weird (canine?) sibling to A Boy and His Dog, especially with regard to quasi-telepathic communication, Chaos Walking uses the pet as an adjunct to its main tale (tail?) rather than as a focal element. Chaos Walking was culled from a trilogy of so-called "Young Adult" books by Patrick Ness, who rather interestingly co-scripted the feature film. But a perhaps kind of snarky dismissal of contributions to the screenplay by Charlie Kaufman (who evidently left the production over "creative differences") made by director Doug Liman in a making of supplement included on this disc as a bonus feature indicates as well as anything that the aforementioned "focal element" was up for debate among the collaborators, leading to a kind of, well, chaotic viewing experience. The most perplexing thing about this adaptation, especially since Ness was evidently heavily involved, is just how much redaction has taken place, and how many things have been rejiggered, not necessarily for the better, in the film version, from the original source novels, at least insofar as I have been able to discern by reading various online accounts of the narratives (I admittedly have never read them myself). A few years ago, Chaos Walking probably would have been granted a multi-film roll out over several years, a la either The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner, and it's perhaps an ironic asset of sorts that there's probably going to only be one Chaos Walking film.

There are a couple of interlocking conceits at play at the core of Chaos Walking, which takes place on a planet handily named New World in the 23rd century. A band of colonists has been settling the planet for some time, but a number of "issues" have arisen, including an affliction called The Noise that beset all the male colonists, but not the females. Adding insult to injury, a war with the indigenous species known as the Spackle ended up killing all of the females, leaving a band of often unruly males wandering around a kind of quasi-Western environment.

Any boy who has ever been told to "control your emotions" by some mentoring male will probably feel a kinship to main protagonist Todd Hewitt (Tom Holland), a teenaged boy who is frequently trying desperately from keeping his noise from being overheard by the other men, notably seemingly deranged preacher Aaron (David Oyelowo). With no women around, Todd has been raised by two surrogate fathers, Ben (Demián Bichir) and Cillian (Kurt Sutter), though Todd has also attracted the seemingly fatherly interest of David Prentiss (Mads Mikkelson), the head honcho and Mayor of eponymous Prentisstown where Todd lives, much to the distress of Prentiss' real son, Davy Jr. (Nick Jonas).

When a teenaged girl named Viola Eade (Daisy Ridley) crash lands on the planet as part of a scouting party, with none of the other party members surviving, things become decidedly more convoluted. Todd kind of stumbles upon Viola and the ruins of her spaceship, and because he can't always keep his noise on the "inside", it's not long before the whole town, and Mayor Prentiss in particular, know about things, though interestingly it's Prentiss who first discerns that the survivor is a female, since Todd mentions he didn't experience any noise emanating from her. Prentiss seems almost obsessively interested in Viola and her assertion that a ship carrying 4000 colonizers, known as the Second Wave, is due immanently on New World.

Suffice it to say that the story ends up with Todd and Viola hightailing it for something resembling safety, with Prentiss and his posse following quickly behind. There's nothing really markedly wrong with this film, other than it feeling decidedly derivative at times, but there are all sorts of unexplained or at least underdeveloped aspects that crop up. One of these is the fact that some characters' noise is able to manifest optical illusions or hallucinations, which is really never adequately dealt with, and another is the whole history behind Prentisstown and the place that Todd and Viola end up, Farbranch, which evidently was somewhat humorously called Haven in the source novels. With so much unexplained narrative weighing this effort down, it's really not surprising that there is next to no emotional attachment to any of the characters.

It's perhaps notable that while there's a making of featurette where Doug Liman kind of disparages Charlie Kaufman, there's another featurette where Daisy Ridley just flat out admits she was confused about what has going on during the shoot. Similarly, David Oyewolo mentions how uncertain he was about how to "act" his character's noise. This may point to a lack of real control on the part of Liman, or it may just indicate that a story built on this particular conceit needed some more effective method than voiceover and wavy hallucinatory lines emanating from heads to indicate the noise. In that regard, maybe Charlie Kaufman could make a new version of Adaptation. dealing with how he would have approached things.

Chaos Walking Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Chaos Walking is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists the Arri Alexa 65 and a 4K DI as relevant datapoints, and this is by and large a really nice looking transfer with typically excellent detail levels and really appealing clarity. In both wide vista aerial flyovers as well as more "grounded" close-ups, the fine detail levels in the frequent forest scenes is generally great looking, so much so that when some less sharp looking CGI intrudes, the contrast is actually notable. That said, if the CGI Spackle is a little on the soft and ill defined side, the noise effects, which look kind of like rainbow colored waves emanating from heads, adds a relatively distinctive look to things. That said, in scenes where a prevalence of noise is being documented, the practical photography "in back" can look soft due to the hazy waves overlaying things. There's a refreshing lack of really aggressive grading in the film, with the lush forested scenes looking appropriately green, but a lot of the rest of the palette exploiting everything from pastels to some nice vivid primaries.

Chaos Walking Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Chaos Walking features an often fun Atmos track. Surround activity is very well handled throughout the presentation, aided and abetted by the glut of outdoor material, where ambient environmental effects can alternately sweep around the listener or be anchored in discrete channels. The Atmos channels get good workouts in various scenes, including Viola's ship's disastrous entry into the atmosphere of New World, and a skirmish with a Spackle in a forest river. Even various characters' noise can waft up and over the listener convincingly. There are frequent uses of panning effects, including a nice chase involving both a motorcycle and several horses. The score by Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts is also afforded a spacious presentation. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

Chaos Walking Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Director Doug Liman, Producer Alison Winter and Editor Doc Crotzer


• A Director's Noise (HD; 18:10) offers Liman's thoughts on the production (and Kaufman), along with some fun behind the scenes footage.


• Inner Thoughts with Patrick Ness (HD; 9:03) features the original source novel(s) author and co-screenwriter detailing his history with the project. Interestingly, he evidently insisted no film be made until all three books were out.


• The Source of the Silence (HD; 7:18) is an aggregation of scenes from the film, candid footage and a fun interview with Daisy Ridley.


• Citizens of Prentisstown (HD; 10:09) looks at some of the supporting "villagers".


• The Music of Chaos Walking (HD; 4:17) profiles Brandon Roberts' and Marco Beltrami's contributions to the film.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 45:01) feature optional commentary by Doug Liman, Alison Winter and Doc Crotzer. These play with timecode captions.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:24)

Chaos Walking Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'd love to find out why Patrick Ness so drastically rewrote his source novels for this film adaptation, and my hunch is those who have read the books will feel even more strongly about that (as mentioned above, I have not read Ness' books). There are some fun elements here, including a nice scenery chewing performance from Mikkelson, but way too much is left unexplained and/or underdeveloped for the film to ever really register very strongly. Technical merits are first rate and the supplementary package very enjoyable for those who are considering a purchase.