Tom Holland has a lot of great movies under his belt, but his 2021 box-office flop still makes me mourn its potential. From his first on-screen appearance in 2012’s The Impossible, Holland has made it clear that his acting skills are not to be underestimated. As one of the best young actors of the 2010s, Holland is best known for his role as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Spider-Man. Many, including myself, were anxious to see Holland’s portrayal of the iconic character. Yet he was quick to allay fears and made his version of Peter Parker easily one of my favorites.

This makes Holland’s 2021 cinematic flop all the more puzzling. Holland’s performance in the 2021 pandemic “dump” movie certainly wasn’t bad. However, its potential as a book-to-movie adaptation meant it could have been so much more — especially as this book series is both critically revered and award-winning for its in-depth discussions of war, gender politics, and the lines of morality. Though this movie is far from one of Tom Holland’s best movies, it is full of missed opportunities that are incredibly frustrating to look back on.

I’m Still Disappointed Tom Holland’s Chaos Walking Movie Wasn’t A Success

It Has All The Hallmarks Of A Box Office Hit

As someone who read The Knife Of Letting Go as a child, I was excited to see one of my childhood novels translated on screen. When big names such as Daisy Ridley, Tom Holland, and Edge of Tomorrow‘s Doug Liman started attaching themselves to the project, my anticipation for the movie grew even more. However, despite bearing all the right ingredients for a great book adaptation, Chaos Walking’s many issues resulted in an adaptation that failed to translate on screen.

Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley have already proven themselves to be incredible actors, so there was no questioning whether they could delve into the movie’s darker moments as Todd and Viola. Plus, Doug Liman’s critically-loved Edge of Tomorrow proved his capabilities within the sci-fi genre. Yet, one major flaw in Chaos Walking meant these elements couldn’t mesh together and create an adaptation worthy of their book counterparts.

Chaos Walking ultimately fell into the same trap as the terrible Percy Jackson movie adaptations and changed too much of the plot. Though I fully understand that some plot changes are necessary for an on-screen adaptation to work, Chaos Walking stripped so much meaning and key character moments from the book’s plot that there wasn’t much else besides a short look into the plight of toxic masculinity. This is especially sad as the Chaos Walking series delves into many important themes, but they are criminally under-explored in the movie.

Chaos Walking also fell victim to the pandemic, which made things worse for Tom Holland’s potential hit. It was originally scheduled to be released in 2019 but was subject to rewrites and reshoots after poor screen test results. This slowly ebbed away initial excitement for the movie and meant it never regained its initial momentum. Chaos Walking was then “dumped” in February 2021, leaving Lionsgate to suffer major losses at the box office thanks to the pandemic’s reputation for poorly produced movies.

Chaos Walking Could Have Been A Much Bigger Series Of Movies

The Original Book Series Is A Trilogy

Patrick Ness’ original Chaos Walking books are a trilogy, with the movie basing itself on the first book, The Knife of Never Letting Go. Despite changing the plot significantly from its source material, Chaos Walking hints that there is more to come from Todd and Viola’s story. Questions about the Spackle, Haven, and the new wave remain unanswered, yet there are plenty more references to draw ideas from. However, due to its overwhelming failure, this adaptation of Chaos Walking is unlikely to develop further.

Chaos Walking is the first attempt at an on-screen adaptation of Patrick Ness’ book series, making its lack of success more disheartening. Book-to-movie adaptations are nothing new in Hollywood, with The Hunger Games and Harry Potter being some of the biggest successes of recent years. These movie adaptations easily navigated fantasy and science-fiction concepts and proved that sometimes movies can be just as good as the books. Chaos Walking‘s failure to capture the original essence of its source material meant that it fell short. However, Patrick Ness’ books were always going to be hard to adapt on screen.

Why The Chaos Walking Books Were Always Going To Be Difficult To Adapt

They Rely On Knowing The Minds Of Its Characters Too Much

The Chaos Walking books are introspective. All men’s thoughts can be heard and seen through “Noise”, which is an interesting concept that author Patrick Ness himself stated was meant to represent the information overload of youth (via The Guardian). This information overload is portrayed excellently through the trilogy’s first-person narrative. However, it is a hard concept to translate on screen and do so without feeling forced.

Along with this, the Chaos Walking series is a dark commentary on social issues from a child’s perspective. In The Knife of Never Letting Go, the main character, Todd, is only 12 years old. In hindsight, this makes the aging up of his character in the movie make sense, as some of the things Todd experiences in the book are very traumatic. However, the movie also chooses to water down or simply not include some of the book series’ key events, which contradicts its casting choices.

Though there are likely many reasons why this happened, it’s possible that an in-depth exploration of Ness’ original intentions was sidelined in favor of a more family-friendly blockbuster. However, these changes proved fatal for Chaos Walking. Instead of relying on the books and adapting what made them successful, Chaos Walking disconnects itself from Ness’ original work and makes me truly mourn a book adaptation that could have been another great addition to Tom Holland‘s filmography.

Source: The Guardian