Chaos Walking

Doug Liman's long-delayed adaptation of Patrick Ness's young adult novel The Knife of Never Letting Go is an ambitious but misconceived bid to launch a franchise. Even if its themes of male violence resonate, the tonal footing needed to ground them proves elusive, despite the leads' best efforts. Tom Holland (aka Marvel's Spider-Man) brings his twitchy best to Todd, a farm boy on a future planet where the all-male population's thoughts - or "Noise" - are audible to all. When a spaceship crashes nearby and Daisy Ridley's Viola emerges, Todd's understanding of his world is rocked. As the duo go on the run, a glum dystopian trudge unfolds that is low on tension and pace. As for levity, the gag of Todd's lusty thoughts betraying him wears thin fast. A mess of half-hearted set-pieces, ill-developed plot details and underused co-stars, the result leaves only a sense of potential wasted, lost in the Noise.