“Chaos Walking” was directed Doug Liman who previously did “The Bourne Identity”, “Mr. & Mrs. Smith”, “Edge of Tomorrow” & “American Made”. The film was written by the author of the book trilogy its based on, Patrick Ness. This film follows the first book in the trilogy, “The Knife of Never Letting Go”. It stars Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Madds Mikkelson, Nick Jonas, David Oyelowo, Demian Bichir & Cynthia Erivo. This film was shot & wrapped in 2017 and was scheduled for a 2019 release but was delayed after reshoots began in April of 2019 and was released in March 2021.

On a world with no woman and everyone can hear each other’s thoughts, a young man, Todd Hewitt (Holland) discovers a spaceship that has crashed outside his father’s (Birchir) farm. The mayor of this local town, David Prentiss (Mikkelson) and his son, Davy (Jonas) are eager to discover more about the wreckage and search for any survivors. Todd later discovers the ship’s female survivor, Viola (Ridley) who has comes to their planet in search of refuge for a colonizing space mission. When Todd tries to help Viola, they are stopped by The Preacher (Oyelowo) who plans get back to Mayor Prentiss. When Viola & Todd discovers the Mayor’s nefarious plan for her & any other survivors, they must head for the peaceful town of Farbranch to avoid Prentiss & warn the rest of colony mission. Todd & Viola travel through the mysterious & vast world that is populated by an alien race who are supposedly responseable for Todd’s mother’s death. Todd & Viola discover a lot of dark secrets beyond the human cities & must stick together or die trying.

This movie seemed to be a cool sci-fi flick as movie theaters began reopening but unfortunately the film is not all that great. I think had it not been for the star of the 2 leads, this movie would’ve been nothing more than a sci-fi channel flick. Tom Holland & Daisy Ridley give solid performances as does Madds Mikelson but its the rest of the movie that makes it difficult to watch. The story is bit cliche and reminded me of another sci-fi disaster, 2015’s “Jupiter Ascending”, not as bad but then again not all that great either. Its also very convoluted and hard to follow. It has callbacks to other sci-fi films like “Valerian & the City of A Thousand Planets”, following 2 different characters on a mission. The chemistry is a bit bland despite having great actors in those roles. The visuals are pretty good but don’t save the movie. Basically, a thrilling sci-fi adventure that falls flat and leaves you asking more questions and not having any answers.

Overall, this film wasn’t all the great despite having great actors in the leads. I think the reshoots cause some of film’s downfall and not coming out around the same as “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” & “Spider Man: Far From Home”, make this film easily forgettable. If there is one thing I can say about this film is that Tom Holland’s performance both emotional & physical give hope to see his portrayal as “Nathan Drake” in the upcoming “Uncharted” film.