Based on bestselling 2008 young-adult science-fiction novel “The Knife of Never Letting Go,” “Chaos Walking” has an intriguing-enough premise: Men from earth, about 230 years from now, live on another planet, where their thoughts are projected outward in what is referred to as “the noise.”
It also boasts a fun duo of stars in “Star Wars” sequel trilogy anchor Daisy Ridley and the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man, Tom Holland.
Maybe best of all: The talented Doug Liman sits in the director’s chair.
Unfortunately, “Chaos Walking” serves as a reminder that what works on the page may not translate well to the screen.
While the noise can be irritating to the characters in the movie creating, hearing or even seeing it — it is illustrated audibly and, creatively, visually in “Chaos Walking” — it also can be abrasive to and tiresome for the viewer.
To be fair, it’s hard to see how Liman could have incorporated this concept from the book any better. Nonetheless, that he didn’t leaves “Chaos” sitting several notches below the director’s previous sci-fi effort, the excellent 2014 alien-occupation/time-loop affair “Edge of Tomorrow.”
We first meet Holland’s Todd Hewitt, who seems to be somewhere closer to the book version’s age of 13 than the baby-faced Holland’s actual 24 years. Out in the woods with his loyal dog, Manchee, Todd encounters some of New World’s native life — not all of it as intimidating as the human-sized creatures referred to as “Spackle” — and then runs afoul of Preacher (a fiery but underused David Oyelowo of “Selma”).
After instructing the resistant Todd to open his mind — to not hide his noise — he slugs him in the face.
Well, this planet seems like a blast.
Todd helps his loving dad, Ben (Demian Bichir of “Land”), one of the many farmers in Prentisstown, grow beets. However, Todd also is fond of the settlement’s namesake mayor, David Prentiss (Mads Mikkelsen). He, in turn, serves as a mentor to Todd, much to the dismay of his actual son, Davy (pop star Nick Jonas, “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”).
As far as Todd knows, there are no other settlements — he’s wrong — and that all the females that came to the planet were killed years ago by the Spackle, whom Todd thinks of as “aliens” despite their being native to the planet.
Todd’s never even seen a woman, that is until the young Viola (Ridley) crash-lands on New World. Part of a small ship’s crew, the rest of whom perish in the crash, are from a mothership bringing 4,000 new folks to the planet.
We learn females don’t generate the noise, so when Viola is brought to the mayor, he has to try to get information from her the old-fashioned way, but she isn’t saying much.
Todd begins to fear for the girl, and, with the help of Ben, flees with her. His dad tells him to take her to Farbranch, another settlement, but not to tell the people there that he’s from (gulp) Prentisstown.
Viola’s not sure she can trust Todd. It doesn’t help that she can hear his every thought — many of which are, understandably, about just how neat-looking she is and that maybe she’ll want to kiss him — but she has no better option.
For all it’s sci-fi seasonings, “Chaos Walking” plays like a Western. Essentially, our heroes are chased by men on horseback and encounter folks willing to help them, if reluctantly, as they search for a way for Viola to contact her ship.
When you get past the hook of the noise, nothing all that much interesting happens in “Chaos Walking.” Punches are thrown, guns are fired and, as the book’s title would seem to suggest, there eventually is a knife.
Fortunately, though, English actors Holland, also front and center in the new film “Cherry,” and Ridley, whose other credits include the 2017 version of “Murder on the Orient Express,” make an appealing pair. (We truly can’t get enough of Ridley; whatever problems the aforementioned “Star Wars” trilogy has, she is anything but one of them.)
And while the mayor — more adept at shielding his thoughts from others than most — isn’t a particularly memorable villain, Mikkelsen (“Hannibal,” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”) brings that extra something to the role.
Because Liman (“The Bourne Identity,” “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”) is so dependable — in the last year, he made the quickly shot but compelling quarantine film “Locked Down” — we’re left to lay some of the blame for the lackluster story with the screenwriters, Ness — whose credits include the excellent 2016 movie version of his book “A Monster Calls” — and Christopher Ford (“Cop Car”).
Ness’ “The Knife of Never Letting Go” is the first book in his “Chaos Walking” trilogy which is filled out with “The Ask and the Answer” (2009) and “Monsters of Men” (2010).
It’s hard to see this film generating enough return on investment for the studio behind it to greenlight a sequel, but perhaps a whole lot of folks are ready to hear all this noise.
“Chaos Walking” is rated PG-13 for violence and language. Runtime: 1 hour, 49 minutes.
