Chaos Walking is a futuristic take on survival and how mankind evolved. Based on a book by Patrick Ness, The Knife of Never Letting Go, it is a young adult science fiction that has been brought to live via the big screen. Chaos Walking is set in the New World, which presumably is on a whole other planet.

The main protagonist, Tom Hewitt, was first introduced to the viewers through his “noise” or thoughts that can be heard out loud by anyone in the vicinity. Throughout the movie, you will noticed that characters are being told to “learn how to control your noise.” It presented itself in this beautiful visual rainbow cloud everytime the person has a thought. But that is also my main grouse about this movie, there was no thorough explanation as to how the “noise” happens.

The town of Prentisstown in the New World is only populated by the male species. The men of that town are told of the tale of how the females were wiped out by the alien species called ‘Spackle’. When a spaceship crashed down in the New World, it brought with it the only survivor, Viola who inadvertently became the only female in Prentisstown, and became the target of the mayor and his followers.

With her, Viola brought with her a number of gadgets from the spaceship. It was eventually revealed that the residents of Prentisstown themselves came from earth via the first spacecraft. There are a couple of themes such as youths getting to know their opposite genders, women being leaders, some being quite real such as women knowing what men are thinking being depicted in the movie. Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley are the quintessential couple with a chemistry that is undeniable and cute.

The movie brought us through the adventure of how Tom and Viola tried to save the incoming spacecraft that has 4,000 people from the Earth (that have been travelling for about 65 years to get to New World), from the unpredictable nature of the habitants of Prentisstown.

I would rate this movie a 3.5 out of 5 popcorn as it lacks depth and it did not explain a few things. But I supposed it may be due for a sequel. It is a nice family movie that parents and young adults can bond over, discuss things that teenagers may faced when they grow up.

Catch Chaos Walking at the cinemas from 11 March 2021! 

The Fifth Parlour would like to thank Encore Films for the invitation!