CHAOS WALKING

CHAOS WALKING is a dystopian science fiction thriller set 200 years in the future on a distant planet where a woman from another planet crashes into this world, and a young man’s life is turned upside down. CHAOS WALKING is well made, entertaining and provocative, with a strong moral worldview about helping other people in need, but extreme caution is advised because of lots of foul language and some action violence

CHAOS WALKING begins with a young man, Todd Hewitt, walking in the woods with his dog, Manchee. Something different catches Todd’s eye. Around Todd’s head, there’s a whispy looking hue that seems to echo Todd’s thoughts. Moments later, when Todd comes across a character he calls Preacher, it seems he has this same hue too.

Todd returns home to his colony only to identify the hue around his head as The Noise. Apparently, The Noise is an outward display of people’s inner thoughts. So, anyone can see what one person is thinking, but it’s paramount to try to control one’s thoughts too so others don’t possess too much insight.

Todd lives with his dad and a man named Cillian. They work on the land. One day, Todd notices a figure who he thinks is a thief. Come to find out, it’s a woman who’s been shipwrecked on the planet. Viewers learn that Todd and all the other members of his colony are the only humans on the planet who survived a war with the native people of the land, who killed all the women of the colony. Todd, who’s the youngest member of the colony, has never seen a woman before, until now.

This young woman has an audience with the town mayor, but something’s not right, and she doesn’t trust him. Todd cares what the mayor thinks about him. However, once he discovers the woman has taken shelter in his family’s barn, he goes all in to help her feel comfortable and evade the hands of the town mayor, even if it means he’ll never see his family again.

After a scene of successfully running out of harm’s way, Todd and the woman become allies on their quest to stay away from the mayor. This woman reveals her name is Viola. Todd and Viola come upon another colony of church settlers who take them in and give them shelter, but the mayor is hot on their trail. Will they evade him and his minions once more?

CHAOS WALKING is well made and entertaining. The characters have clear motivations, and the action is spaced out sublimely throughout the movie’s runtime. All the actors give stand-out performances, and Mads Mikkelsen makes a formidable power-hungry villain. However, some viewers might be annoyed by the constant “Noise” bubbles that float around the characters. Therefore, viewers need to be very dialed into the movie’s dialogue to discern if the words are in a character’s thoughts versus them speaking the words aloud. That said, unlike many of today’s science fiction movies, CHAOS WALKING doesn’t take up excess time but comes in at a reasonable, concise length.

CHOAS WALKING has a strong moral worldview where helping others in a time of need motivates the lead characters. It’s clear, though, that the villain is out for himself and displays some humanistic characteristics. Regrettably, another character appears to have Christian principles, but it becomes evident he’s a false teacher and has a warped theology of judgment and martyrdom, along with some subtle relativistic comments about “your truth.” Eventually though, this character admits to failing to distinguish The Noise from the Voice of God. Positively, though, the movie includes a group of characters who are church settlers and are depicted in front of a church building. Due to excessive foul language, strong violence and some miscellaneous immorality, MOVIEGUDE® advises extreme caution for CHAOS WALKING .

Ultimately, CHAOS WALKING will remind discerning viewers that Christian too can fall into the trap of falling prey to listening to wrong voices in our heads. To combat this, viewers would do well to remember 2 Timothy 3:16, that God’s Word can penetrate through any lies!