‘Chaos Walking’ is an Impenetrable But Fascinating Piece of Dystopian Sci-Fi

March 3, 2021

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Chaos Walking (CREDIT: Lionsgate)

Starring: Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Mads Mikkelsen, David Oyelowo, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas, Kurt Sutter, Óscar Jaenada

Director: Doug Liman

Running Time: 109 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Wham-Bam Action

Release Date: March 5, 2021

Chaos Walking is one of those movies where I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but I kind of wish I did know more, because the things that I can make sense out of really do grab my attention. It’s an apt title then. Chaos really is walking everywhere, baby! That’s most obvious in the form of its signature visual motif: a swirl of inner thoughts dancing around people’s heads known as “the Noise.” All the men on this planet are afflicted by this condition, and it’s presented so matter-of-factly and therefore so effectively. I initially found it jarring, almost overwhelming, but within ten minutes it made all the sense in the world. I wish I could say the same thing about the plot, though. It’s driven by some sort of fight to figure out the secrets underpinning society, as is the case with so much dystopian sci-fi. I can tell that Tom Holland is earnest and well-intentioned and that Daisy Ridley is probably the key to everything and that Mads Mikkelsen doesn’t want them to succeed because he’s so grumpy, but beyond that, I feel like I needed to study the novel trilogy the film is based on to really understand the specifics.

If you can’t quite follow a movie’s storyline, you can at least vibe with it a bit if you can get on the wavelength of its action energy and its stylistic approaches. From a production design standpoint, Chaos Walking‘s decor is basically Hunger Games-esque arboreal but without the whiz-bang flamboyance. On a thematic level, it clearly has something to say about religion, though who’s to say what exactly that something is, though it’s at least fun to hear characters shout things like “I am the sinner! Purify my sin!” And on the action front, director Doug Liman is a reliable pro. He can even make you absolutely compelled by a chase scene that’s clearly a ripoff of Return of the Jedi‘s speeder bike sequence. (It even features Star Wars‘ very own Daisy Ridley, to boot!)

In many ways, Chaos Walking struck me as shouty, empty, and stitched-together. But I don’t want to dismiss it entirely, because it also struck me as intriguing, unique, and unburdened by expectations. This is a movie that’s comfortable being its own damn self, almost a little too much so. But that qualification is also why I admire it. At first glance, it looks like a generic slice of dystopian YA, but sticking with it allows it time to reveal that it’s a bit of an odd beast. Chaos is  indeed walking, and it’s reigning supreme, and I can’t argue with that.

Chaos Walking is Recommended If You Like: Lots of trees, Visually loud neuroticism, Differences between boys and girls writ large

Grade: 3 out of 5 Spackle Noises

This Is a Movie Review: The Tom Cruise-Starring Biopic ‘American Made’ is a Rollicking Indictment of Governmental Abuse of Power

September 27, 2017

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CREDIT: Universal Pictures

This review was originally posted on News Cult in September 2017.

Starring: Tom Cruise, Sarah Wright Olsen, Domhnall Gleeson, Caleb Landry Jones, Jayma Mays, Jesse Plemons, Lola Kirke

Director: Doug Liman

Running Time: 117 Minutes

Rating: R for High Stress Profanity and a Quick Sex Montage

Release Date: September 29, 2017

Did Barry Seal live the American Dream? The marks of such an achievement are all there. The former TWA pilot rose from relatively modest means, married a beautiful woman (Sarah Wright Olsen), had three beautiful kids, was enriched by his own government, used those riches to move his family into a huge plot of land, and now Tom Cruise is playing him in a biopic. But if this is indeed the American Dream, ideals are not immune to being warped by the harshness of reality. Spoiler alert for a true story: Barry dies at the end. He still manages to accrue an insane streak of good luck, and the deadliest parts of his story are filled with mythic iconography, but his example is a stark reminder that this country’s greatness is not always so straightforward as it purports to be.

As American Made portrays him, Seal is an opportunist, but the opportunities come straight to him, from sources that are pretty hard to say no to. A mysterious CIA agent (Domhnall Gleeson) shows up out of the blue and offers him a deal to fly reconnaissance missions and then act as a courier to the Latin American political figures that the U.S. government covertly supports. His presence leads him into the clutches of Pablo Escobar and the Medellín cartel, who strongarm him into smuggling their product. You might think this would be the end of the road for Seal, but the U.S. is kinda-sorta allies with the Medellíns (anything to oppose the commies!).

Seal’s smuggling does attract the ire of just about every major American law enforcement agency, but he keeps sliding free. While the bulk of his work is illegal, it is also mostly government-sanctioned, even when the CIA erases his existence from their files. Ultimately, though, his government – the same one that made him very rich – hangs him out to dry. As the affairs in Latin America ultimately lead to the Iran-Contra scandal, it becomes unavoidably clear that the highest echelons of government are populated by international geopolitical criminals. And yet it is the Barry Seal’s of the world, who nominally remain private citizens, who bear the bulk of the suffering. True, he chooses to play his part and is not exactly the most upstanding person, but he is never really free to live as he pleases. His life looks pretty fun, but it is not hard to notice the gross abuse of power underneath that slick veneer.

With American Made and 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow, director Doug Liman is now a specialist in subverting the aura of Tom Cruise. If you know nothing of the actor’s personal life, it is pretty much impossible not to be charmed by him. And even if you do know about the Scientology shenanigans and all the rest of it, he still might win you over a bit despite yourself. Cruise cranks the charm at full throttle to get Seal out of so many sticky situations, but it only works if the powers that be say so. American Made shows that his star still shines on but also that he (just like the myth of the American Dream) only endures because powers greater than any one individual allow it to.

American Made is Recommended If You Like: Top Gun, Re-evaluating Top Gun, Deconstructing Tom Cruise, Narcos

Grade: 4 out of 5 Kilos

This Is a Movie Review: Aaron Taylor-Johnson and John Cena Evade an Iraqi Sniper Behind ‘The Wall’

May 10, 2017

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CREDIT: David James/Amazon Studios

This review was originally posted on News Cult in May 2017.

Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, John Cena 

Director: Doug Liman

Running Time: 90 Minutes

Rating: R for Sniper Bullets Whizzing By and the Expletives You Yell When Blood Mixes with Sand

Release Date: May 12, 2017 (Limited)

The Wall feels like the type of movie that should have been released at the end of the George W. Bush era, as the national tide was becoming significantly less supportive of any Middle East military efforts. But considering that the War on Terror and nation-rebuilding operations tend to have no end in sight, the premise is unfortunately evergreen. It is 2007 in Iraq, Bush has declared victory, and the war is supposedly winding down. American soldiers Isaac (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Matthews (John Cena) find themselves at the mercy of the deadly Iraqi sniper Juba, with only a makeshift brick wall to serve as protection.

The film mostly consists of a battle of wits between Taylor-Johnson and Juba, who hacks into the Americans’ local radio. Juba is in control of the situation, and he is mostly toying with Isaac until what is almost certainly an inevitable execution, making for essentially the combat version of Phone Booth. Regarding how this plays out as a cinematic thrill ride, there is certainly constant tension, but there is also constant labored breathing from Taylor-Johnson, and that is never the ideal sound mix.

The most universal truths are often best expressed in the most intimate stories, and that micro-macro metonymy is at the forefront of the tightly composed The Wall. Juba somehow knows the most relevant details of Isaac’s story, taunting him about how he just cannot leave a complete mission well enough alone. His personal struggle mirrors his country’s boondoggle. Taylor-Johnson is not the most compelling actor to bring this point across (he excels more in something more depraved like Nocturnal Animals), but a devastating conclusion ensures that The Wall gets its point across. This film is not exactly anti-war, and not even necessarily anti-Iraq War, but rightness or wrongness does not account for much when all you stand for and behind is crumbling around you. 

The Wall is Recommended If You Like: Lone Survivor, Phone Booth, the ending of Night of the Living Dead

Grade: 3 out of 5 Poetic Snipers

This Is A Movie Review: Edge of Tomorrow

June 12, 2014

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , 2 Comments

edge-of-tomorrow
Edge of Tomorrow is a lot like a video game, and this is the first movie for which that is a compliment.  I’m not the first critic to make this observation, but I still feel compelled to mention it, because it is an observation that ought to be repeated.  Tom Cruise plays Major William Cage, who is stripped of his rank and forced into the front lines of battle in a war against an alien race known as the Mimics.  Cage is burned to death by the blood of an unusually large Mimic, and this sanguinary transition grants him the ability to repeat the same day over and over.  It may sound like it is just repeating the same time-looping concept that Groundhog Day perfected over 20 years ago, except with aliens and giant mechanical suits, but it actually proves that this is an idea that is far from exhausted.

Edge of Tomorrow is not based on a video game (in fact, it is adapted from the novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka), but it feels like it is based on EVERY video game.  Or, at least every video game with a consistent storyline in which you can’t save your progress.  The environment and plot turns of each repeated day remain the same, so Cage knows, for example, after a few loops that a fellow soldier will be crushed by a plane.  So he pushes him out of the way, but that results in Cage being crushed by the plane.  Whenever one challenge is overcome, several more present themselves.  All of his deaths are certainly frustrating, but they are all followed by a more rewarding round through the game.

No effort is spared with the black comedy of Cage’s demises, as a series of whimsically edited montages present him crushed, exploded, run over by a Humvee, and shot in the head several times over.  If you have ever hated Tom Cruise, you will surely enjoy him getting wrung through the ringer, but I implore you to try to actually like him by appreciating his unbridled energy.

I have been a fan of Cruise for a while, so he does not need to win me over, but he hustles as hard as he can to convince everybody else.  The supporting cast shines as well, particularly (obviously) Emily Blunt as Rita Vrataski, a sergeant who was previously infected with the time-looping Mimic blood.  Her heroic exploits have earned her the nickname “Full Metal Bitch.”  It is a somewhat annoying moniker, but she no doubt lives up to it.  After meeting her in battle in the first loop, we are re-introduced to her (over and over) with an admiring shot of her in a one-arm plank in the training center.  The role is a tricky one, as she is expected to take absolutely no gumption from Cage (she’s no GI Jane trying to prove herself, it is just a given how awesome she is regardless of her gender) but also work at a disadvantage, considering that Cage keeps building up experience that she can never match.

Bill Paxton has more fun than any other actor this year as the sergeant in charge of Cage.  He kills it with a relish that suggests he has been waiting years for a role in which he can put Tom Cruise in his place.  Noah Taylor provides some expositional flavor as Dr. Carter, the only character that Cage and Vrataski can confide in regarding the time looping.

With a male and a female co-lead, it would seem inevitable that Edge of Tomorrow would throw romance into the mix.  That did not strike me as the best idea, as the relentlessness of the Mimics made it so that there really could not be enough time to focus on love.  Although, considering that Cage can always start over, he more or less had all the time in the world.  Unsurprisingly, spending the same day again and again with Rita leads Cage to fall in love with her.  So the real issue here with any potential romance is that she only has a day to develop feelings for him.  For the most part, EoT recognizes and abides by this limitation.  It does get around it a little bit in a way that may seem to be forcing the issue but is actually justified by the chemistry between Cruise and Blunt that is informed by the effect that Vrataski has on Cage during all his loops.  A final comparison to Groundhog Day is worth making: Phil Connors’ repetitions allow him to learn how to be the ultimately selfless person that everyone loves, while William Cage is in a lonely endeavor in which he knows that the fruits of his efforts may never be fully recognized by anybody. B+