Chaos Walking is a 2021 American dystopian science-fiction action-thriller film[5] directed by Doug Liman and written by Patrick Ness and Christopher Ford.

It is based on Ness's science fiction trilogy Chaos Walking, adapting its first book, 2008's The Knife of Never Letting Go.

It stars Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley, Mads Mikkelsen, Demián Bichir, Cynthia Erivo, Nick Jonas and David Oyelowo.

Announced in 2011, the film underwent several rewrites based on an initial draft by Charlie Kaufman, with Jamie Linden, John Lee Hancock, Gary Spinelli, Lindsey Beer, Ford and Ness revising it further.

Originally set to release on March 1, 2019, it was removed from the schedule to accommodate the film's reshoots in April 2019 after poor test screenings.

In 2257 AD, on the colony planet New World, the male colonists have been afflicted with the Noise, a condition which causes everyone to see and hear each other's thoughts.

A spaceship that lost contact with the First Colony approaches New World and a scout ship is sent to investigate the planet, but crashes.

As she does, Viola overhears Prentiss talking about preventing her from contacting the colony's mothership, intercepting their landing, killing them while they are still under cryosleep, and scavenging the ship.

En route, she reveals she is from a Colony Ship carrying over four thousand passengers and her parents were too ill for the journey from Earth to the New World.

They arrive at Farbranch, a town inhabited by men, women, and children, some of whom are displeased with Todd's presence, as he is from Prentisstown.

In October 2011, Lionsgate acquired worldwide distribution rights for a film adaptation of Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking trilogy, to be produced by Doug Davison's production company Quadrant Pictures.

[7] Kaufman subsequently left, a fact he himself confirmed during a Q&A panel at the 2016 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

[8] His draft was later revised by Jamie Linden, Lindsey Beer, Gary Spinelli, John Lee Hancock, Christopher Ford and Ness himself.

[16] Demián Bichir,[17] Kurt Sutter,[18] Nick Jonas[19] and David Oyelowo[20] joined the cast in August 2017.

[27] Owing to Ridley's filming commitments to Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Holland's to Spider-Man: Far From Home, the reshoots could not begin until April 2019, with Fede Álvarez directing.

The site's critics consensus reads: "Chaos Walking sets out on a potentially interesting path, but this dystopian adventure badly bungles its premise and limps toward the finish.

"[42] According to Metacritic, which calculated a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 based on 32 critics, the film received "generally unfavorable reviews".

[37] Writing for IndieWire, David Ehrlich gave the film a grade of C− and said, "Despite its strange conceit and a few buried hints as to what a more courageous film might have done with it, the movie version of the first Chaos Walking book (published as The Knife of Never Letting Go) is such a dull and ordinary thing that it can't help but get engulfed by the shadow of its own missed potential.

"[44] Peter Debruge of Variety said that the film "quickly wears out its welcome", and wrote: "When it comes to confrontations, the movie wimps out, putting more effort into New World-building than in the largely generic characters who populate it.