Chronicle

Oh my my, where have all the reviews gone? No I'll admit that I've seen my fair share of films since the critic class, and that I haven't posted anything about them. Now this has changed with my recent viewing of the film Chronicle.

Chronicle is the newest film in the found footage genre. This genre has been hit and miss since The Blair Witch Project from the nineties. Of course, these movies are mainly found in the horror genre, which works for some like Paranormal Activity....and not so much for Quarantine (or REC for our Spanish friends.). Chronicle, however, is a Super Hero film.

Chronicle is the story of three high school students; Steve, Matt, and Andrew. Steve is the  popular kid who everyone loves, Matt is a philosophical stoner, and Andrew is the weird kid with a camera. Which explains why our film is shot in first person. Andrew bought a camera because his mother is sick and he wants to document her last days...or that's what I think because all he ever does say about owning the camera is that he wants to "document" everything. This of course leads to everyone thinking he's weird and him getting picked on, while his cousin (Matt) tries to help him be a normal teenager.

It's in one of these "normal teenager" moments that our heroes encounter something. What something? The movie doesn't explain, but what this something does is give the 3 young boys super powers (telekinesis to be exact).

This is where we compare Chronicle to other Super Hero origin films, in that our "heroes"...aren't. They use there powers to prank each other, eat chips, and look up girls skirts. They are normal, everyday kids that just happen to be able to do stuff with their minds.Andrew even uses his power to get better shots with his camera. It's not until the end of the movie that any one of them have thoughts of saving anyone and this is a good change of pace from the "power and responsibility" speeches from other films. In fact what happens is that very real events happen, and the characters react how you'd expect. The awkward kid with the camera who gets beaten up? He takes his revenge in a bad way.

So what works for this movie? Well, for starters they have teenagers who act like teenagers and when confronted with moral choices they react how you'd expect hormonal teenagers with powers would. The characters all work well in this film and that's something that you don't see a lot of in found footage movies.

Of course where the movie doesn't work is both in it's pacing and budget. The entire final act feels like it drags, and it feels forced. The whole movie we follow these 3 guys with there powers being teenagers and then AT THE END OF THE MOVIE, we get a villain shoehorned in to be taken care of. IS this done well? Eh, it makes sense for the turn from one of these 3 characters, yet it comes late, after several crisis moments.    What happens at the climax looks good (the camera P.O.V. is used very well with security footage and mobile phones) but by this point the audience is just wanting the movie to roll credits.

The special effects also bothered me. The budget for a super hero film has to be a lot because of CGI and effects shots. It feels like all of the money in this film went towards the last 15 minutes. Which wouldn't be bad, if it weren't for the laughably bad CGI shots near the beginning of the film. These moments take the audience out of the film because you know these people aren't interacting with their environment and it takes the movie longer time to tell what's really a simple story of boys learning to use power and it's consequences.

One scene in particular stands outs. Near the beginning of the film Matt is trying to connect two legos in the air with his mind. Andrew being the better learner shows him how he can use his powers and creates a replica of Sears Towers with the legos. he CGI for the legos was laughable. This isn't just a throw away scene either. This is the first time Andrew is shown as better than the other two and how rapidly their control of their powers is growing.

All in all, Chonical is a movie that has a great premise, but poor execution. The story and characters are well developed, but when there such cheap effects in a movie where people with powers are the focus, you can't focus on the plot. Combine this with a final act that goes on at least ten minutes longer than it should; Chronicle is a missed opportunity.