Tom Holland stars as Todd, a teenager who has grown up without any women around him. In fact, he's led to believe they don't exist anymore - thanks to an alien that released something that killed ALL of them! So what should he do when he happens upon a spaceship with... you guessed it! A survivor who is a female. Oh, and did I mention that men's thoughts can be seen and heard? Nightmare much...
So Todd is the youngest of the villagers, and as far as he's concerned it was a great tragedy when the Spackle released a germ that wiped out all of the women, and there's something a lot more personal which is revealed quite quickly - everything that you think can be heard, thanks to the noise. In some cases it can be seen too. The noise is something that everyone is learning to live with, but was not something that affected the women because they were all gone when it came about. Or, that's what we're supposed to think.
This movie has a great concept. The idea that men can't have a filter is along the same lines as What Men Want, also a funny movie. The characters in the movie find it somewhat bothersome, making attempts to cover over their real thoughts with distractions so that they can have some kind of privacy. Once our heroine Viola arrives poor Todd doesn't know what to do with himself! He's yet to master the extra level of thought to disguise the sometimes inappropriate and unruly paths his mind wanders along, with the added bonus of Viola being the first girl he's ever seen. Whilst, at first, they may appear to be pretty incompatible, we see their bond grow once they flee from the mayor and the rest of Todd's village. Todd didn't know there were other colonies, let alone places where there are still women. His father directs him to a distant land via a treacherous route, with his new friend by his side.
Tom Holland is fun and charismatic, as is usually the case for him, with a touch of childlike behaviour from his character too. I think this is probably to highlight that he's the youngster. We have Mads Mikkelsen as the local mayor who has many a secret that he's hiding from not only his son but many of the other villagers. Nick Jonas makes a good spoilt child to Mads the powerful dad! He's great at being immature, stirring up trouble and being the most disliked person in the village. Daisy Ridley however... there was no oomph about anything. I couldn't find any charm or personality, but I don't know if what I was searching for was there to begin with. Her performance was really flat, and I don't know if the writing had anything to with that or if it was just down to Daisy specifically. This was one of the reasons I couldn't rate the movie as well as I hoped I would have.
I don't want to spoil the movie at all so details will be vague: the ending was a long, drawn out non-event. Was something exciting supposed to happen and it just ended up being left on the cutting room floor? I didn't understand the direction it was going in initially, though that was rectified in the latter part of the movie, but then it really didn't wrap itself up well either. Another bunch of points knocked off the score! I was hopeful that there'd be an unexpected twist thrown in down the line, perhaps another adventure, just something to further a plot that I deemed inadequate.
A disappointment to say the least, but atleast Tom Holland can't do any wrong in his career it seems, as he performed a great part once again. He's been able to show that he's diverse with his roles, and I look forward to seeing his next project (non-Marvel that is, as Spidey isn't up for debate).
Review by CB
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