Movie Review: ‘CHRONICLE’

A movie like Chronicle was bound to happen. Superhero films have blossomed in popularity over the past few years with The Dark Knight and Iron Man being successful and impacting among the rabid film geek culture. By balancing a non-established or branded superhero film with an economical found footage execution, you are able to bring the story to theaters with as minimal financial impact as possible.

Chronicle is the brainchild of screenwriter Max Landis (yes, John Landis’ son) and director Josh Trank.  While the story isn’t wholly original, it is the way it is delivered is what makes it more interesting than a simple retread of what was already covered in Marvel comics of the past. We are quickly introduced to high school outcast Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan) who gives a very logical reason on why everything is being recorded on a newly bought camcorder. Through the progression of the footage, Andrew gets to a point where he has been beat up and bullied to no end and has no way out. Conveniently, this is when he meets Steve (Michael B. Jordan). Steve and Andrew’s only friend, his cousin Matt (Alex Russell), convince him to film something extraordinary that they found. All three of them explore a hole in the ground and what has seemingly crashed into the earth is something extraterrestrial. Quickly after the exploration, they find out they have telekinetic powers which they try to hone and master – as one of the characters say, we need to treat this like a muscle.

You have three different characters with three different personalities that deal with their new found powers. With the fragile personality of Andrew, it is essentially a ticking timebomb. No matter how Steve and Matt try to  discourage him from using his powers based off of his emotions, it is inevitable. Andrew becomes unstable and starts to use his powers negatively.

One of the flaws of the film could be the believability of the CGI effects as they are not the best and at times look really bad, the other major flaw is essentially what differentiates the film from other origin  type superhero stories. At first Trank, is smart with some of the camera logic by showing the different resolutions of the cameras in one scene it later gets lost – for example, the end scene by the Seattle tower. However, the “found footage” angle brings you closer to Andrew’s character and gets you into his head as everything is from his point of view. The homemade footage really makes you identify with him because it cannot break away from him.

Actors DeHaan and Jordan are believable and genuine while Russell’s performance weakens the further the film goes along until you get to the hokey self confessional ending. Chronicle was supposedly made for $15 million which once you see it will make you wonder where all that money went until you consider that it wasn’t actually filmed in Seattle which can only tell the audience that the majority of the film’s finale was CGI – and it kind of shows.

There are a lot of strong suits in Chronicle with its storytelling that elevate it from mediocrity even if the latter third of the film is rushed. Director Josh Trank shows tons of promise and definitely puts him on my radar. His handling of the found footage with logical reasons as opposed to gimmicky means to sell a movie should be commended. Comic book fans and fans of previously released superhero films might want to give this breath of fresh air a try either at a matinee or once it is released on cable.