Movie review
February 24, 2021 · 109 min · PG-13
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
The movie keeps pushing toxic masculinity and patriarchal violence the whole way through. Men in the all-male town enforce hyper-masculine culture, shame weakness as “acting like a woman,” and murdered every woman because they couldn’t stand the Noise of female thoughts while their own crude thoughts stay exposed. Todd grows up with two gay dads. Viola shows up as the competent woman who exposes the lies and fights the misogynist mayor and preacher. The story constantly lectures on gender differences, male chaos, and female privacy as the fix.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Chaos Walking.
Woke representation / casting
visible queer rep with lead character's gay dads
Woke political dialogue
enforces hyper-masculinity and shames feminine weakness
Identity-driven story themes
centers on gender conflict, toxic masculinity, and men killing women over thought differences with queer element
Western institutional / cultural critique
patriarchal town leadership and culture shown as violent and oppressive to women
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
limited complaints of feminist anti-male messaging with no major backlash
Creator track record context
Patrick Ness frames project around gender politics and has progressive track record
Production
