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Mar. 7th, 2021 04:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
martasficYesterday I got to see Chaos Walking in an actual cinema, and in IMAX no less. It's been pretty well panned by the critics, but I found it really interesting. I guess this is what I love about good science fiction- it gives you a set up that lets you step outside the usual way we think about ethics and the way we assume life ought to work, and pose those questions in a fresh way. It gives us permission to think outside the box I think, and for me at least this movie definitely did that.
The basic premise is that humans flee earth to colonize a foreign planet where there's a natural phenomena that basically broadcast's peoples' inner thoughts. But only for the men. So there's some fascinating world-building on just what it means to be masculine in a situation where there are no secrets and where this lack of control is particular to the men. It also looks at life in poverty , why people are impoverished. Because for the main characters life is a bit "nasty, brutish and short", but ther's enough glimpses at people living a different kind of life, both settlers in other settlements and in the new settlers coming from earth to make you think about why life is like this for these people in particular, and why they tolerate it or aren't able to do anything but tolerate it. Some other questions, too, which I can't really explain without giving too much away. Suffice it to say I found it thought-provoking and relevant without coming off as preachy, and even though I didn't have many answers at the time the movie ended, I really enjoyed having the space to live with the questions.
Plus you have Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley and Mads Mikkelsen all in the same production, which is great fun for any fantasy lover. On top of which you have David Oyelowo, who I don't think of as a fantasy star but he's a longtime favorite actor of mine and he doesn't get much screentime in most major movies because he's I believe British rather than American (and, you know, not white) which means American films tend to not make much space for him. But he has such a great presence of him, I loved him as Javert in the BBC Les Mis, and so I was really pleased to see so much of him!
Made me want to read the books, but who knows when I'll find the time to do that. I do hope the movie succeeds as well as anything could "in these trying times," critics be damned.
The basic premise is that humans flee earth to colonize a foreign planet where there's a natural phenomena that basically broadcast's peoples' inner thoughts. But only for the men. So there's some fascinating world-building on just what it means to be masculine in a situation where there are no secrets and where this lack of control is particular to the men. It also looks at life in poverty , why people are impoverished. Because for the main characters life is a bit "nasty, brutish and short", but ther's enough glimpses at people living a different kind of life, both settlers in other settlements and in the new settlers coming from earth to make you think about why life is like this for these people in particular, and why they tolerate it or aren't able to do anything but tolerate it. Some other questions, too, which I can't really explain without giving too much away. Suffice it to say I found it thought-provoking and relevant without coming off as preachy, and even though I didn't have many answers at the time the movie ended, I really enjoyed having the space to live with the questions.
Plus you have Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley and Mads Mikkelsen all in the same production, which is great fun for any fantasy lover. On top of which you have David Oyelowo, who I don't think of as a fantasy star but he's a longtime favorite actor of mine and he doesn't get much screentime in most major movies because he's I believe British rather than American (and, you know, not white) which means American films tend to not make much space for him. But he has such a great presence of him, I loved him as Javert in the BBC Les Mis, and so I was really pleased to see so much of him!
Made me want to read the books, but who knows when I'll find the time to do that. I do hope the movie succeeds as well as anything could "in these trying times," critics be damned.