Alright, I've got a brand new Looking Back at the Films of 2021, and this time I've got two movies to review. So enough of this intro, let's get into Chaos Walking and Nobody.
Why Didn't I See Chaos Walking?
Now I was looking forward to Chaos Walking because of Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley. Yes, it was because one is Spider-Man and the other was in Star Wars, but other than that I was interested in what they do outside of those projects. And there was also the fact that Doug Liman was directing, and he's made so good movies, such as The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and Edge of Tomorrow. So why didn't I see it? It's simple really, my theater didn't have a showing.
What is Chaos Walking?
Chaos Walking is a sci-fi dystopian action film based on the Patrick Ness' Chaos Walking trilogy, mainly the first book of the series, 2008's The Knife of Never Letting Go. The movie was produced by TIK Films, Quadrant Pictures, Allison Shearmur Productions, 3 Arts Entertainment, and Bron Creative and distributed by Lionsgate. Chaos Walking was written by Patrick Ness and Christopher Ford and directed by Doug Liman. The story is young Todd Hewitt lives on a planet without women. His world also consist of all living things being able to hear each other's thoughts with stream images, words, and sounds. One day Todd's life is turned upside down when he meets a woman named Viola Eade who crash lands on his planet. Soon Todd has to do what he can to keep her safe and help her escape.
My Thoughts
The Good: The only two things that are saving this movie from me given it a lower rating is the performances from Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley's performances and the visual effects. Despite the movie's script/story being pretty bad, Holland and Ridley still manage to give it their all for this movie. Those two really did help the movie just slightly. Same with the effects. If they they did look as great as they were it probably would've hurt the movie even more so, thankfully that wasn't the case.
The Bad: One major problem with the movie is our characters motivations. I don't know if Holland's character even had a really true motive of why he's helping Ridley's character. I don't know if this is just me simply forgetting something, or the motivation was so poor that it's forgettable. Either way, not a good thing. And then Ridley's character's motive completely changes during the movie. One point we're told she needs to get a signal out, so her crew won't get ambushed. Then later on she says that she needs to get the signal out so she's not stuck on the planet she landed on. Which is it? I don't know. The movie didn't explain. She just changed her plans all of a sudden. What I also found not bad but odd about the movie was the humor. It would've been okay if it happened once or twice, but they try other times and it really didn't clash well with the movie's action and/or dramatic tone. A lot of times it felt really out of place. Then we had odd pacing. For the most part the movie is being this very character driven and slow film then we're all of a sudden in an action scene. What made those not work was it really messed with the pacing in a way that really made it feel uneven. So for a good portion of the movie you get a slow-burn, then out of nowhere a fast-paced action sequence. Then we have the biggest problem of them all, and that's just adding too much. At first we focus on "the Noise" (the special power in this) and Todd having to protect Viola. Then we get aliens, and this and that and what's this over there and what that over here?! It just felt very overwhelming. It's like the filmmakers weren't just satisfied with the Noise and our main characters needing to survive, so they threw in other things, to I guess keep people interested? But instead they just made a jumbled mess.
The Okay: I've got nothing.
Final Verdict: Bad.
Why Didn't I See Nobody?
The reason why I didn't see this one was because I didn't know about. I didn't know it existed until I saw one the YouTubers that I watch (I forget which one it was), have a picture of it on their thumbnail. Then I saw the movie later on, and boy did I miss out.
What is Nobody?
Nobody is an action thriller comedy movie. It was produced by Perfect World Pictures, 87North Productions, Eighty Two Films, and Odenkirk Provissiero Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures. Nobody was written by Derek Kolstand and directed by Ilya Naishuller. The story is Hutch Mansell seems guy like every other ordinary guy. He's life seems to be fine, until one night a group of burglars bust into his home with him and his family still there. After this incident Hutch returns to his dangerous life. However, this doesn't go unnoticed. Soon an anger drug lord finds out, and wants to kill Hutch for he's actions.
My Thoughts
The Good: One thing that rightfully deserves praise is Bob Odenkirk's performance. Didn't know this guy could pull off being a badass. He did a great job showcasing the character trying not to want to get involved, but at the same time they call to action is really tempting for him. What made he's acting even better was the fact that he did all of his own action scenes (okay maybe not all of them, but a good majority). Despite being as old as he is, he still managed to make his fight scenes look awesome. What I also liked about the film was the dark sense of humor. Lot of jokes really landed their mark, and were quite funny. This was one scene with Christopher Lloyd's character that got a huge laugh out of me. Then we have Ilya Naishuller's directing. This guy really knows how to direct good action movies. He doesn't have too many quick cuts, keeps everything focused, and it's all wrapped up in a lovely widescreen format. Which now brings me to the action. It was truly intense and fun, I loved every moment. It may not be as crazy as Naishuller's previous action flick [Hardcore Henry], but I think if you're a fan of that movie, then you'll still get a good kick out of this.
The Bad: The only problem I had with Nobody was the main bad guy, Yulian. The writer tried to give us something, but it still came off as a very generic character.
The Okay: Got nothing.
Final Verdict: Good.
Okay, that's all for me. Come back on Thursday, Mar 31st for my Classic Film Night review of the Robin Williams' classic, Good Morning, Vietnam. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.
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