Rating: ***/*****, or 7/10
It had to happen sooner or later: a
superhero kind of film that applies the so-called 'found footage'
style of filming to display its overall narrative. And why not? So
far it worked well in the horror genre on multiple occasions (of
which The Blair Witch Project still rules supreme as the most
memorable and original example), as well as in other genres such as
the monster movie (Cloverfield).
It seems a logical step to apply this tactic to a genre which remains
ever popular after more then a decade of successful (and a few less
so) entries, and still shows no signs of slowing down (with The
Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers and The Amazing
Spider-Man just around the corner). Chronicle takes a
smaller, less bombastic approach though. Now that the emphasis of the
superhero genre is increasingly often put on ordinary people
as superhumans, either equipped with extraordinary powers or
not at all (Super, Kick-Ass), all it took was a
talented young director to jump on the 'found footage' bandwagon and
make a decent movie out of the simple premise of some young people
video taping their experiences with unusual abilities. Newcomer Josh
Trank did it first, and given his extremely limited directorial
experience (this is his first full-on motion picture), the result has
turned out rather positive, so it seems likely we'll be seeing more
work from Trank soon.
Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan) is having a
tough time. His mother is very ill, his father is an abusive
alcoholic, he lives in a trashy neighbourhood and he's not very
popular at school. He records his personal trials on video – his
reasons for doing so remain somewhat vague, but let's just call it
self therapy – so we see his daily struggles through the eye of his
camera, and our viewing perspective stays with him for the better
part of the film. His only friend is his cousin Matt (Alex Russell),
a cheerful guy with obviously less personal problems, who tries to
lighten him up a bit and gets him to participate in the kids'
activities regardless of his low social status at school. So far,
nothing remarkable. That soon changes when the pair, together with
Matt's friend Steve (Michael B. Jordan), find an odd hole in the
ground out in the woods. Kids being kids, they go in and stumble upon
a dazzling display of lights emanating from a sort of big crystalline
contraption. What exactly this is supposed to be and where it comes
from are left entirely up to the viewer to decide. It could be
anything ranging from an extra-terrestrial device to a freak natural
anomaly to a government experiment gone awry, but the truth is it
simply matters not what it is, but what the effects are it has upon
the protagonists. Trank makes this very clear when upon touching it,
the guys are knocked out and so is the camera, so what exactly
happens to them remains shrouded in mystery. The trio soon finds out
their close encounter with the light show has given them fantastic
telekinetic abilities, the full extent of which they start testing by
playing childish pranks on unsuspecting victims. And this is where
the film really kicks into gear and the actual fun begins.
Of course, power corrupts and absolute
power corrupts absolutely, but teenagers with power just do the same
as regular teens always do: hanging about, screwing around. Of
course, the effects of telekinetic teenagers doing this are a bit
more severe. In an often very amusing sequence of separately
videotaped scenes we see the boys first practice their newfound
powers on themselves, throwing balls at each other's heads from
impossible angles and sticking forks into their hands just to find
they can bend them, but the more mischievous they get, the more other
people suffer from their irresponsible actions. Little girls being
terrorized by floating teddy bears and people finding their cars
having been moved across the parking lot soon turn out to be the
vanguard for things far more sinister. It comes as no surprise the
troubled Andrew is the first to cross the line when he pushes a car
and its driver into a ravine and shows little regret for doing so.
Matt and Steve soon realize they should stop acting so immaturely,
but Andrew has only just begun, at which the movie takes a more
serious direction and once again reaffirms the age-old message that
with great power must come great responsibility. However, traumatized
teenagers seem to care little about acting responsibly...
And this is where the movie looses some
of its own power, considering the rather predictable turn of events
where the agonized boy turns out to be a menace to himself and
everyone around him. Andrew's character just offers little surprise
when he starts to abuse his power for his own satisfaction. The only
real question remaining here is how long it will take before he kills
his lousy father. At least DeHaan does a terrific job portraying the
poor boy, which is all the more noteworthy considering his fairly
short resumé as an actor. Despite being able to predict his
emotional outbursts from his overly simply written character, DeHaan
makes you feel for poor Andrew all the way, and you feel no moral
qualms when he starts talking back at his abusive environment with
deadly results to the many who've hurt him earlier in the movie. Of
course, since most of the movie is shot with his camera, we are given
no choice but to emphasize with Andrew, so us rooting for him the
most is a logical result. DeHaan acts out the basic fantasy of being
able to take out bullies effortlessly to great dramatic effects,
which ultimately overcomes the fact that as a character, Andrew is
fairly standard and never exceeds the sum of his parts as a boy
tormented a few times too often.
Andrew's buddies Matt and Steve, also
never surprise the audience as characters, though they too are
performed with skill by Russell and Jordan. Considering most of the
movie is shown from Andrew's point of view, neither of them has to
carry the movie as much as DeHaan does, so as far as acting is
concerned, the latter impresses us the most. Still, they too do a
very adequate job of portraying two average kids who get powers they
shouldn't get and mess around with them a little too much. Unlike
Andrew, they know when to quit, which at least makes us respect them.
It will shock nobody when they soon find their friend too far gone to
reason with him and have to violently confront him with his
mishandling of his abilities with no regard for other people's lives.
However, Andrew turns out to be more
than a match for his former mates, which eventually leads up to a
typical large scale conflict involving SWAT teams, helicopters and a
lot of explosions, as the boys try to take each other out in downtown
Seattle (utilizing the iconic Needle building to the fullest). From a
narrative point of view, this too offers little news, but considering
the fairly low budget (the movie cost only 15 million dollar to make) this
climax looks suprisingly expensive, showing us Trank knows what he's
doing in making his film look good on a shoestring budget. It's
obvious though that most of the FX money went into the final
showdown, since some of the visual effects earlier in the movie,
including various floating objects and flying people, look less
convincing, but still good enough not to fully ruin the film's
credibility. Overall though, Chronicle shouldn't be considered
an FX movie, but more of a character study of teenagers gifted with
superhuman abilities, and why we should pray this never happens for
real. Of course, most teens aren't as stereotypical as Andrew
(though Hollywood obnoxiously often thinks they are), but that
doesn't change the fact we really like to see him take revenge on his
tormenters, and dream we could have done the same during some of our
own less shining moments as teenagers.
And watch the trailer here:
