REVIEW: I Can Read Your Mind, Emotion Stirring Sci-fi Western ‘Chaos Walking’ Starring Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley Will Have Your Mind Swirling With CGI

Based on Patrick Ness’s book, The Knife of Never Letting Go, Chaos Walking stars Tom Holland as Todd Hewitt, Daisy Ridley as Viola Eade, Mads Mikkelsen as David Prentiss, the mayor of Prentisstown, Nick Jonas as David Prentiss Jr., the mayor’s son, David Oyelowo as Aaron, the town’s preacher, and Cynthia Erivo as Hildy, the mayor of Farbranch. The movie is directed by Doug Liman, who is best known for directing the films, Swingers, The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Edge of Tomorrow, and American Made. Patrick Ness is also one of the screenwriters, alongside Christopher Ford, who was a screenwriter for the Spider-Man: Homecoming.

On New Earth, in a not-too-distant future, all of the men of Prentisstown are affected by The Noise, which makes them constantly vulnerable, never able to hide their thoughts, which seems to drive most of them mad. Viola crash lands on New Earth and is the only survivor of the entire crash. Our hero, Todd Hewitt, has been told since he was little, that it was the Spackle, the native alien species, that killed all of the women, but spoiler, it’s not them at all. In order to calm their thoughts, Prentiss teaches his townsfolk to chant, “I am the circle and the circle is me.” We never find out what it means though, at least not yet. Considering this movie is based on a trilogy by Ness we figure we’ll learn what it means eventually.

However, if it’s the same as the book it means that you cannot fight destiny, everything is part of the same circle, and it’s easier to be part of the circle than fight it. What Todd’s true destiny is though is still not revealed. He’s a kind and moral man so maybe it’s to protect everyone, native species, and those who aren’t psycho maniacs.

Mayor Prentiss wants to take the fleet she was on as his own. The viewer finds out later that she was born on a ship, which was orbiting up in space for over 64 years. Her parents have since died, but her grandparents were from Earth and they wanted a better future for them all, whatever that might be. Like other women, she can hear his noise, so Todd’s thoughts are never his own, making the scenes between Todd and Viola laugh-out-loud funny at times, which breaks up the tension of them constantly running for their lives, trying to find safety. Along the way, they run into a Spackle, which Todd almost kills because of what he thinks they did to his mom and the other women, but Viola stops him from doing anything drastic, and the Spackle’s life is spared, which we think will pay off in a big way in future movies.

Viola and Todd make their way to Farbranch where they meet Hildy, the mayor of Farbranch, who also happens to be a woman. She tells them the germ never affected the women and she will keep them safe while they rest and find their way to another town called Haven. Ben and Cillian, Todd’s caregivers, made sure that Todd had his mother’s diary in his bag, and he comes to Viola one-night when he can’t sleep and she asks what’s in his hand. He tells him his mother’s diary, but he cannot read. Her name was KH, Karisa Hewitt. Viola volunteers to read the diary for him, and as the diary entries unfold, he realizes that it was the town’s men, not the Spackle, that killed all the women in his town when he was little. This angers Todd, who finds out that the men are truly mysogenistic a**holes, most of them at least, only a few of them are still decent human beings in Prentisstown.

Prentiss and his men are never far behind and come to town with Ben, one of Todd’s caregivers, as his hostage. Ben volunteers to go in where he talks to Todd, and Ben apologizes to Todd for not telling him, saying they were only trying to protect him, but he will protect him now. The viewer thinks Ben has Viola with him, but Ben is extremely great at projecting his thoughts, which makes you think that he has Viola captured; however, that’s just his thoughts, and as Viola disappears, Todd and the real Viola run away.

They continue to run, and the men continue to chase them. Preacher catches up with them and tells them that women have no souls and that men hated that the women knew all the men’s thoughts, but they knew nothing about them, which is what led them to kill all the women. Preacher tries to kill Viola as well, but when he cannot kill her, kills Todd’s dog, Manchie, by drowning him in the water instead. Todd grieves a bit and then they keep walking and find a transport pod, but the antenna is down. Todd climbs up and attaches the power to the antenna and it’s connected again, but before Viola can type in the code, Preacher tries to kill her again. She ends up setting him on fire and he finally dies.

Prentiss catches up with them and kills Ben, Todd’s only remaining family, since Todd refuses to tell Prentiss where she is. Prentiss shoots at Todd, injuring him, and Todd cannot hide because his thoughts are constantly on display. Prentiss finds Todd, but Todd projects all the dead women, including his mother, and then Viola comes back, after sending a message to the ship. She knocks Prentiss into the ship, we think killing him.

Viola’s ship rescues them both and the med pod in the ship heals Todd. The ship stays and Todd thinks he and Viola will finally kiss, something he’s wanted her to do throughout the movie, but she just gives him his shirt, and the movie ends with him smiling at her.

Chaos Walking will have you on the edge of the seat, wondering what will happen next, and not everything is as it seems. In fact, so many questions are left open. Where are all the Spackle? While we’re told they’re killed in a mass genocide, that planet is huge, there’s surely more there in hiding. What about the other towns on the planet? The rest of Viola’s ship just landed so what will happen now that there’s more people on New Earth? Was Ben, Todd’s father, or did his father flee? Did all the women of Prentisstown really die, or did some escape? We’re sure they’ll announce a second movie soon! Chaos Walking opens in theaters on March 5.