Chronicle chronicles the lives of three ordinary turned extraordinary teens who, after making a fantastic discovery, realize they have been given the gift of telekinesis. The teens decide to use the new gift for entertainment purposes,and it's all fun and games until one of them decides to use the gift to unleash years of pent up rage.
The teen who turns bad is Andrew (Dane DeHaan), the main focal point of our story. He has been picked on for years by his peers and by his own father as well, who seems to take joy in beating Andrew senseless. Andrew is one of the ultimate social outcasts, and I assume many audience members would be able to relate to his character and his actions throughout the film. He is essentially what Darth Vader/Anakin should have been in the Star Wars prequels. When he finally loses control, it's a completely liberating and yet terrifying thing to watch. The other teens in the story are Steve (Michael B. Jordan), the popular kid in school who is running for class president, and Matt (Alex Russel), Andrew's cousin who acts as the main "hero" of the film.
One of the strongest things about the film is the friendship dynamic found within it. It is completely believable that these three characters are best friends, and it's fun to watch their bond strengthen before it ultimately falls apart at the end.
I really do love this film, but if I had to choose one element that I consider to be the weakest, it would have to be the found footage angle. It doesn't feel as if characters are recording this with cameras, and this aspect of the film is never used to its full potential until the final, exhilarating fight that serves as the climax for the film. During this fight, multiple cameras are used to capture the action including news footage, Iphones/cameras, police dashboard cams, etc. It's very fast-paced and is sure to leave your head spinning in a good a way. This scene marks one of the most original uses of the found footage gimmick I've seen, it's too bad the rest of the film only shows glimmers of the greatness to come. Also, some of the effects could have been better, but that never really detracted from my experience here.
Chronicle runs at a swift hr and 24 mins, it does its job and then leaves, never outstaying it's welcome. Many may claim it's short running time to be a detractor, but I say it's a plus. It's also fun to be able to watch these characters play with their powers, Flying through clouds, playing pranks on unsuspecting people in a toy store and finally putting on one heck of a talent show that not only wows the on-screen audience, it wows us too!!! It's nice that the film allows us to have fun with the characters before it all goes to hell (in a good way!!!).
The film does raise some interesting questions for the viewer. If given these powers, what would you do with them? Honestly, I'm not so sure I'd use them for good.
Chronicle is a very different kind of film, and it's actually pretty hard to describe what it is. To say it's a super-hero film would be lying because these teens aren't super-heroes nor do they act like super-heroes. I guess the best way to describe Chronicle is that it's a new kind of found footage film that puts a new twist on a story we have seen before. While it does take a while to get to the good stuff, once it does it's just about impossible to turn away. I'd say Chronicle feels like everything the Star Wars Prequels should have been. With Phantom Menace 3D being released tomorrow, my advice is see Chronicle instead. Not only is it the better film, but since it's not in 3D it costs less, so you'll be saving some hard earned dough.
4.5 / 5 Stars
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