FILM REVIEW: Chronicle (2012)

By Aaron Jankowski

Chronicle is the perfect bastard son of three of Hollywood’s flavors of the month right now: origin stories, superheroes and found footage style films.

This doesn’t mean it is a bad thing. Heck, I love a good superhero/origin story (See X-Men: First Class). Though, I am not a fan of found footage. Like all styles, it can be used effectively and creatively. However, I find it is mostly used in the exact same way and it lends itself to lazy editing and awkward “real talk” dialogue that sounds so forced in its attempt to be natural it’s painful.

Chronicle, directed by Josh Trank and written by Max Landis, falls prey to the trap of trying to sound real and failing, causing a lot of the interactions to come off as well as those acting troupes that go to high schools and do mandatory attendance plays about saying no to drugs, and not making the sex without a condom.

This not to say that Landis’s story is not a good one, or even that Trank executed it poorly. I loved Chronicle’s story, and though some of the character development was seemingly written paint-by-numbers style, it worked. We believe the characters.

Chronicle jumps right into letting us know everything is not alright with Andrew Detmer (played by Dane DeHaan). His father is an alcoholic and abusive and his mother is very ill. Because of this, Andrew retreats from life and hides behind a camera, vowing to film everything from here on out, because it makes him “safe.”

This is a little weak of a set up, but it gives an excuse for why the revolution that is coming will be televised.

Andrew, camera in hand, goes to a party with his cousin and bona fide cool guy, Matt Garetty (played by Alex Russell). Matt hangs out with Andrew, and tries to involve him in social activities because they are cousins, but he knows Andrew is an outcast and just does not fit in.

At the party, we are introduced to a character that has a vlog, and thus, is filming everything also. She is basically a means of giving us more depth into the characters when Andrew isn’t around.

The party also serves to show us, Andrew does not fit in. He gets picked on, abused and insulted.

As the night grows old, and Andrew as resided himself to hanging out outside and crying, Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan), the all-around loveable high school athlete / class president / popular guys, comes and gets Andrew to join him and Matt in exploring a hole in the ground they discovered.

Long story short, what they find in the hole gives them telekinetic powers. Some may be angry that Landis does not explain what exactly happened, but the who why and hows don’t actually matter in this story. The film is not about how they get the powers, but what these young men do with it when they have it.

At first, the powers bond the three boys, as they become close exploring their powers together. Had this not been a found footage film, we would be treated to a montage of them lifting objects with their minds, throwing baseballs and all sorts of general tomfoolery. But it is found footage. So instead, we sit through each of these things as their own half hearted full length scenes. (I never thought I would be advocating for a montage!)

Chronicle, though it has a good story, holds no surprises. The two already popular boys can handle their powers, but Andrew, the poor loner who has been picked on, beaten and bruised by everyone, takes his new found power with a chip on his shoulder.

The visual effects in Chronicle were excellent. When I saw the trailer which had Andrew crushing a car, I figured that was the big budget effect. Their load was blown. But I was dead wrong. I have never seen a found footage movie with such good effects. Trunk managed to infuse the film with a lot of excellent action scenes.

All in all, Chronicle left me wanting more. Much more. And not only because it is a ridiculously short 84min film, but because the story had so much potential it never reached.

With great power comes great responsibility. If only with a great story came a great movie.

SCORE: 4/10
ACTING: 5/10
EFFECTS/VISUAL: 9/10
WRITING: 6/10
DIRECTING: 7/10
OVERALL: 31/50

TAKE AWAY THOUGHT: I wish Hollywood would use one more of its favorite tricks right now, and do a gritty reboot of this story in the next few years. This story had so much potential, but I think the found footage style acted as a governor for the film, stopping it from hitting full speed.

Scott's Take: Pathetic, cinematic wank.