Chronicle Review

TITLE: Chronicle

DIRECTOR: Josh Trank

STAR(S): Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan

WRITER: Max Landis

RATING: PG-13

GENRE(S): Action, Sci-fi, Drama

            What would you do if you had super powers? Would you use it for good? Would you spread terror throughout humanity? Would you just take your new found gift and play pranks on unsuspecting people? For the most of us, I suspect the later would be our main choice; at least for a while anyway.

            Chronicle is a story about three seniors in high school that stumble across some unknown object that grants them the power of telekinesis. Andrew Detmer, played by Dane Dehaan (True Blood) is a boy whose life has brought him nothing but misery. With his mother’s health rapidly deteriorating and his alcoholic father always abusing him, school life shows any doesn’t comforts either since he’s socially an outcast among his fellow peers and constantly harassed by bullies. His cousin Matt Garetty, played by Alex Russell, (Halloween Knight) along with friend Steve Montgomery played by Michael B Jordan, (Gears of War 3) join a pact with each other as they strive to improve their new found powers. At first all is fun and games but after awhile it becomes apparent that after all the abuse bestowed on Andrew, he is very angry inside and that his new powers are causing him to dish his hostile feelings in dangerous ways. Anyone who’s familiar with Akira will immediately relate Andrew to Tetsuo as they almost step by step go down the same path. Though Matt and Steve try their best to help fix their emotionally disturbed friend by boosting his popularity and making him feel wanted, life always seems to throw them a curve ball sending Andrew’s psyche into even darker levels of hate and anger. It’s no surprise from the trailer that eventually Andrew’s temper gets the best of him and that things start to get out of hand later on.

           

            Chronicle is another found footage film that in my opinion is the best example of the genre out there. It does suffer from the obvious abnormally that everybody in the city of Seattle carries a video camera recording everything no matter how mundane or crazy things get but it works better here then in any other film of this type. The pacing never gets so slow that it’s boring and holy crap when things get crazy the cinematography is right on par with Cloverfield. I’d even go as far to say that it’s even better. Some of the shots here were masterfully put together showing new and exciting scenarios of blending normal activities in intense situations. I am not one to care about the super bowl but football never looked so fun as it did to me here. Even scenes that couldn’t possibly be recorded by the main characters are cleverly caught by surveillance cameras surrounding them, sending home a message that no matter what you do, odds are you really are being filmed without your knowledge in today’s society.

            The special effects in this film are absolutely jaw dropping. Everything from damage inflicted on buildings to throwing cars and launching people through walls bests the effects of any film in this genre that I can think of. There’s some blatant green screen and CGI to be found but the main climax scene is second to none. Some of special effects are the next best thing to a point-of-view action screen ride in an amusement park.

            Dialog between the main cast and the many supporting characters are very believable and never once forced me out of the movie. Written by Max Landis who wrote both the story and screen play, you really do get a sense of chemistry forming between the three main characters and truly feel for Andrew knowing that he is a time bomb waiting to go off. You can’t help but feel for Matt as he tries to be the voice of reason for the trio while Steve uses his popularity to present Andrew to a fun world that any teen would love to be apart of. You really can’t hate Andrew at the same time though because seeing all the torment and helpless situations he goes through everyday, you can’t help but understand why he acts the way he does when he begins to finally feel invulnerable towards everyday threats. With that said, when the time eventually comes for things to go wrong it really grabs hold of your emotions.

            The sound in Chronicle is what one would expect out of a found footage movie. There is no music to be mentioned except what’s caught on camera in the background thus the film is driven solely on the dialog and acting which is all of good quality. The sounds used for the special effects fits perfectly with the amazing special effects as mentioned earlier.

           

            Overall, Chronicle is not another superhero flick but instead a cleverly put together tragedy piece about what can happen when great power falls into the wrong hands. Not being a fan of the found footage genre I can’t help but make an exception of recommending this one to others. It is a fun look at what superpowers could bring but at same time takes a dark mature look on it as well. It may not be for everyone, but to those who love stories about super powers this is a must see.

Rating 4 out 5

Ryan Pierce