I went into Chronicle with expectations unusually high for a film like this; I had previously noticed several positive reviews, and a high IMDb score. By no means confirmation of a good movie, but it gave me hope. I also kept in mind previous attempts at this style of film making. I enjoyed Cloverfield, and The Blair Witch Project was okay, but the shaky-cam and intensity of these films never really interested me. Especially the Paranormal Activity films.
Anyway, as you can tell by my score given, Chronicle is different. It's set up very well. Andrew, our protagonist, is bullied and a bit antisocial. He has a mother dying of some unnamed disease and a violent alcoholic of a father. In his boredom, Andrew decides to start filming his day-to-day life. Whether or not the character believed this would help his social life, is debatable. But it's all for establishing the world of Chronicle.
Andrew is accompanied by his cousin, Matt, and Steve, who is running for class president. I was pleased to see that the writers didn't have the typical "popular kid bullies outsider" type of thing going on. If anything, Steve is the kindest and most likable character in the film. When attending a rave, the three guys (two of them clearly under the influence) stumble upon what appears to be a hole in the ground that is emitting slight tremors. They go inside, see some weird stuff, and it's history from there: they have superpowers.
Next we see the guys in someone's backyard, messing around, levitating a baseball. And here's where the movie gets good. It's just FUN to see these guys fool around with their newfound powers. It's believable stuff. Just goofing off. And they get more powerful. They can fly. They're having fun. They're bonding. But when Andrew starts to abuse his power, we see a gap put between the boys. It's the classic story of the weak man given the ultimate power.
Andrew becomes the strongest of the three, and he knows it. He believes he has become the "apex predator", which really is an accurate description. "You don't feel guilty when you squash a fly" Andrew says to the camera. It's true; compared to Andrew, everyone else is a fly. Even Steve and Matt. But not until the end of the film does he really use his power as a form of leverage. But when Andrew becomes angry, instigated by his father, he takes it out on everyone and everything around him. And that was another great part of the film. Seeing what was basically a battle between two superheroes in downtown Seattle from the perspective of hand-held and security cameras. It's exciting stuff.
The drama in the film is often hard-hitting, especially the pivotal moment I won't spoil here. I think it's because we get to know these characters as who they are; teenage boys. We see them around their friends, being open and honest. That's what makes what would otherwise be meaningless important.
I'm sure Chronicle won't be the last of these found-footage films (I'm trying to think of another term for them; I sound redundant!) but in a genre that is growing by the day and often times getting worse with each release, Chronicle stands out. Hopefully it influences a wave of other films of it's genre. And I'm going to go on record and say that I think that Chronicle is the best of it's kind yet.
Anyway, as you can tell by my score given, Chronicle is different. It's set up very well. Andrew, our protagonist, is bullied and a bit antisocial. He has a mother dying of some unnamed disease and a violent alcoholic of a father. In his boredom, Andrew decides to start filming his day-to-day life. Whether or not the character believed this would help his social life, is debatable. But it's all for establishing the world of Chronicle.
Andrew is accompanied by his cousin, Matt, and Steve, who is running for class president. I was pleased to see that the writers didn't have the typical "popular kid bullies outsider" type of thing going on. If anything, Steve is the kindest and most likable character in the film. When attending a rave, the three guys (two of them clearly under the influence) stumble upon what appears to be a hole in the ground that is emitting slight tremors. They go inside, see some weird stuff, and it's history from there: they have superpowers.
Next we see the guys in someone's backyard, messing around, levitating a baseball. And here's where the movie gets good. It's just FUN to see these guys fool around with their newfound powers. It's believable stuff. Just goofing off. And they get more powerful. They can fly. They're having fun. They're bonding. But when Andrew starts to abuse his power, we see a gap put between the boys. It's the classic story of the weak man given the ultimate power.
Andrew becomes the strongest of the three, and he knows it. He believes he has become the "apex predator", which really is an accurate description. "You don't feel guilty when you squash a fly" Andrew says to the camera. It's true; compared to Andrew, everyone else is a fly. Even Steve and Matt. But not until the end of the film does he really use his power as a form of leverage. But when Andrew becomes angry, instigated by his father, he takes it out on everyone and everything around him. And that was another great part of the film. Seeing what was basically a battle between two superheroes in downtown Seattle from the perspective of hand-held and security cameras. It's exciting stuff.
The drama in the film is often hard-hitting, especially the pivotal moment I won't spoil here. I think it's because we get to know these characters as who they are; teenage boys. We see them around their friends, being open and honest. That's what makes what would otherwise be meaningless important.
I'm sure Chronicle won't be the last of these found-footage films (I'm trying to think of another term for them; I sound redundant!) but in a genre that is growing by the day and often times getting worse with each release, Chronicle stands out. Hopefully it influences a wave of other films of it's genre. And I'm going to go on record and say that I think that Chronicle is the best of it's kind yet.