History Film / ChaosWalking2021

On the planet of New World, a devastating war between human colonists and the native aliens resulted in all the women and half the men being wiped out, while the surviving men are afflicted with Noise, a condition that means everyone can see and hear their thoughts. Todd Hewitt (Holland) is one such survivor, living in Prentisstown under the leadership of the power-hungry David Prentiss (Mikkelsen), but everything changes when he meets Viola Eade (Ridley), a girl who crashlands on New World and is unaffected by Noise. Together, Todd and Viola uncover a dark secret that will change both their worlds.

* AdaptationTitleChange: The film is largely based upon the book ''The Knife of Never Letting Go''; the ''Chaos Walking'' title comes from the overarching name of the trilogy.

* TheFilmOfTheBook: It is based upon the 2008 novel ''The Knife of Never Letting Go'', the first installment in the ''Chaos Walking'' trilogy from which the film takes its title.

* MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness: Lies somewhere between Science in Genre Only and World of Phlebotinum (closer to the former). Spaceships can't instantly travel between star systems, but can still travel between worlds within a few generations (Viola states her grandparents boarded the ship with her parents when the latter were young children to create a better life for their descendants, Viola was born on the ship and is in her late teens by the time it reaches New World, and no other ships have been to New World since the first one arrived decades ago). Some of the gadgets and weaponry are more advanced than what's available in 2021, but not implausibly fantastic. The Noise is probably the most fantastical thing in the story and it's generally consistent in how it works.

* UniquenessDecay: Viola's appearance on New World is treated as a huge deal because she's the first and only human woman on New World in nearly two decades, but also because she's the only human there who lacks Noise (which doesn't affect women) and so her thoughts are far more private. [[spoiler:About halfway through the movie it turns out that there's a whole town full of Noiseless women ([[TrailersAlwaysSpoil which the trailer itself spoiled to an extent]]) so Viola’s presence is't so big a deal, though she still has a bit of a unique factor in that she wasn't born or raised on New World and is the only one who can communicate with the colony ship.]]

* EndlessDaytime: Viola remarks that the sun never seems to set on New World and it indeed remains daytime for the entire movie. In a deleted scene, Todd says that the only time he remembers the sun setting was ten years ago, which lasted months and killed off a lot of their crops.

* AllPlanetsAreEarthLike: For the most part New World looks no different from Earth save for it having planetary rings; its atmosphere is breathable for humans and plants from Earth can be cultivated there. The weird part is that everyone's thoughts can be heard and seen.

* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler: Seemingly David Prentiss. He's very much alive at the end of ''The Knife of Never Letting Go'', while here he's seemingly killed when Viola shoves him off the edge of a crevasse into the lower levels of the old ship. However, [[UncertainDoom we don't see a body]], so he could possibly have survived]].

** [[spoiler:Aaron. In the book Viola stabs him and shoves him off a waterfall. In the film she sets him on fire; he also dies much later in the climax]].

* HasTwoDaddies: After his mother died when he was a baby, Todd was raised by two men, Ben and Cillian (who are a couple), and regards them both as his fathers.

* SanitySlippage: [[spoiler:Many of the men of Prentisstown slowly began becoming unhinged and paranoid living in isolation from other communities, unable to hear what the women were thinking while they had difficulty shutting off their own thoughts. David and the Preacher inflamed their distrust of the women, leading to them turning on them with [[AxCrazy deadly consequences]]]].

* UniquenessDecay: Viola's appearance on New World is treated as a huge deal because she's the first and only human woman on New World in nearly two decades, but also because she's the only human there who lacks Noise (which doesn't affect women) and so her thoughts are far more private. [[spoiler:About halfway through the movie it turns out that there's a whole town full of Noiseless women ([[TrailersAlwaysSpoil which the trailer itself spoiled to an extent]]) so Viola’s presence is't so big a deal, though she still has a bit of a unique factor in that she wasn't born or raised on New World and is the only one who can communicate with the colony ship]].

* AdaptationalSelfDefense: In the book Todd attacks and kills the Spackle in the river in cold-cold, assuming it would attack them. In the film the Spackle attacks Todd first, dragging him from his hiding spot and he fights back with his knife.

** Todd is never concerned about inadvertantly infecting and killing Viola with the germ that caused Noise, as in the film the Spackle are said to have killed the women in a direct assault and it's established that Noise is harmless to women early on (this isn't revealed until much later in the book).

* PromotedToLoveInterest: {{Downplayed|trope}}. Todd and Viola having a romantic connection is made a lot more prominent here compared to the book (mostly from Todd's end); while they're close friends in the books their relationship is largely platonic until the ''Monsters of Men''. It may partly be because of the AgeLift; in ''The Knife of Never Letting Go'' Todd and Viola are both around thirteen, while here they're in their late teens.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chaoswalking.png]]

->'''Todd:'' Well, it's strange for me too, not knowing what's going on in your head. I mean, I don't know, you might not like my dog, or you want to hit me over the head with a rock or something.

* PromotedToLoveInterest: {{Downplayed|trope}}. Todd and Viola having a romantic connection is made a lot more prominent here compared to the book (mostly from Todd's end); while they're close friends in the books their relationship is largely platonic until the third book. It may partly be because of the AgeLift; in ''The Knife of Never Letting Go'' Todd and Viola are both around thirteen, while here they're in their late teens.

* PromotedToLoveInterest: {[Downplayed|trope}}. Todd and Viola having a romantic connection is made a lot more prominent here compared to the book (mostly from Todd's end); while they're close friends in the books their relationship is largely platonic until the third book. It may partly be because of the AgeLift; in ''The knife of Never Letting Go'' Todd and Viola are both around thirteen, while here they're in their late teens.

* DemotedToExtra: Davy Prentiss Jr. In the book he has quite a significant role, including [[spoiler:Todd choosing to spare his life and Davy shooting Viola near the end]]. In the film neither of this incidents occur; the only notable things Davy does is [[spoiler:[[NiceJobFixingItVillain inadvertantly helping]] Viola escape]] and initially serving as a rival for Todd. 

* TheDulcineaEffect: Todd is instantly drawn to Viola and quickly vows to protect and help her. In fairness, she ''is'' the first girl he's ever even seen so he finds her fascinating, though he aso empathizes with her situation.

''Chaos Walking'' is a 2021 American dystopian science fiction action film. It is based upon ''The Knife of Never Letting Go'', the first book in the ''Literature/ChaosWalking'' trilogy by Creator/PatrickNess. The film was directed by Creator/DougLiman and the screenplay written by Ness and Christopher Ford [[note]]Jamie Linden, John Lee Hancock, Gary Spinelli and Lindsey Beer also contributed, revising the first draft written by Creator/CharlieKaufman[[/note]]. It stars Creator/TomHolland, Creator/DaisyRidley and Creator/MadsMikkelsen.