Chaos Walking (2021)
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In a world where everyone can hear each other's thoughts, a young man must protect a mysterious woman who has just crash-landed on his planet.
The story
In the year 2257 AD, on the colony planet New World, the male colonists are afflicted with the 'Noise,' a condition causing everyone to hear and see each other's thoughts. This condition led to a war with the native humanoid Spackle, who killed all the women on the planet. Todd Hewitt lives in the settlement of Prentisstown, where he encounters a girl named Viola after she crash-lands on the planet. Because he has never seen a woman before, Todd is shocked by her presence. He must navigate the dangers of his environment and the suspicious authorities of his town to keep her safe from those who would exploit her.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 2257 AD, on the colony planet New World, the male colonists are afflicted with the 'Noise,' a condition that allows them to hear each other's thoughts. This led to a war with the humanoid Spackle, who killed all the women on the planet. Todd Hewitt, a resident of Prentisstown, discovers a crashed ship and finds its sole survivor, a girl named Viola. The men of Prentisstown, led by the suspicious Mayor Prentiss, capture her. Todd and Viola eventually flee together, traveling toward a settlement called Farbranch. Along the way, Viola reveals she is from a colony ship. They eventually reach the ruins of the first colony ship. During a final confrontation with Prentiss's men, Todd is captured, but Viola manages to defeat the men. In the aftermath, the colony ship appears in the sky, and Todd awakens in a medical bay where Viola shows him the new colonies her people are building.
- First release year
- 2021
- Runtime (minutes)
- 109
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Doug Liman
- Writers
- Patrick Ness · screenplay; Christopher Ford · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Daisy Ridley · Viola; Tom Holland · Todd; Mads Mikkelsen · mayor; Demián Bichir; Cynthia Erivo; Nick Jonas; David Oyelowo
- Genres
- dystopian; science-fiction; action-thriller
- Themes
- survival; communication; isolation
- Tone and mood
- dystopian; tense
- Setting
- The colony planet New World in the year 2257 AD.
- Premise and plot tags
- sci-fi; post-apocalyptic; action
- Source material / true-story basis
- Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness, specifically the first book, The Knife of Never Letting Go.
- Reception
- The film received generally negative reviews from critics who criticized its execution and character development. It was also considered a box office failure.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 38 · scale: 100 · review count: 32; CinemaScore · score: B · scale: A+ to F; PostTrak · score: 70% · scale: percentage
- Production trivia
- The film was originally set to release in March 2019 but was delayed due to reshoots and the pandemic.; The script was initially drafted by Charlie Kaufman.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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