REVIEW: Chronicle

I like it when a film tries to mix things up a bit and use things we expect from different genres to make a new film. I like The Grey for doing it, I think Jeepers Creepers mixed the road movie and creature-feature well and From Dusk 'Till Dawn is one of my favourite films.

Chronicle also tries to do just that, but instead of trying to mix genres, it tries to mix a genre (the superhero genre) with a filming style (the "found footage" film.) What results is an interesting film that provides some shaky, hand-held intimate moments mixed with the origin story of some new superheroes on the block.

The film revolves around cousins Andrew (Dane DeHaan) and Matt (Alex Russell) and the school jock/student president, Steve (Michael B. Jordan). Andrew has decided to start documenting his life after showing us that his Mother is close to death and cannot afford the medication, his Father is abusive towards him and he is a general "loser" at school and is relentlessly picked on. At an after-school party, the three main protagonists find a mysterious hole in the ground that leads to some sort of glowing Kryptonite. After coming into contact with the glowing rock, the trio soon realise that they have powers and decide to see how they can develop them.

However, it soon becomes apparent that Andrew is growing "drunk" with power and sees himself slowly taking revenge on those who have always been aggressive towards him.

The film has a good build up to it's characters. As the audience, we are properly introduced to Andrew and just how pathetic his life has become. His Father is a drunk, idiotic douche who beats Andrew whenever he has the chance and his Mother's desperate situation where she lies suffering without medication is definitely a strong enough incentive for Andrew to use his powers (when he gets them) for his own selfish ways. While Matt and Steve are definitely the secondary supporting leads, they too are fleshed out enough and given enough screen time for us to care about them.

When the boys do get their powers, the build-up of what they can do with them is carefully well-handled - it starts with messing around in the garden with the boys trying to stop a baseball from hitting their head until they realise they can lift their own bodies and fly later on in the film.

Having said all this, the film does have a few glaring flaws. Found footage films are really hard to get the balance right. Just how far should a character realistically go before putting down the camera and getting on with what they need to do without distractions? (Why would a character film themselves thieving from a shop?) When should a character realistically be filming something? (In the film, Matt's love interest is an online blogger who "films everything", but why would she really film her front door when answering it?!) And found footage can sometimes take the audience out of the action (a lot of the final battle takes place through security cameras, police car cameras or crowd shots far away from the action.)

Also, this film is basically an origins story around our trio of new superheroes. Origin stories need explanations about things. We are never told where the glowing rock came from and we are never really told how they actually found the hole (Steve tells Andrew that he and Matt were out "partying" and found it - but the hole appears to be miles out in the middle of nowhere.)

The final flaw is that the end battle is completely over-the-top and quite ludicrous in places that I was dangerously close to becoming one of those annoying cinema audiences who laughs at the wrong moments... (rule #225.)

All the way through the beginning and middle, the film slowly builds up the character's powers and them finding out what they can do with them. Then, all of a sudden in the final battle, we have buildings being smashed through, cars and buses tossed through the air and public monuments being ripped apart. It was like the opening scene to Team America that takes the piss out of how much destruction it takes for the "hero" to win. I know this is the kind of destruction that we expect from the superhero genre, but most superhero films have this campy and over-the-top theme from the beginning, whereas this film didn't have this from the beginning at all. It was a complete 180 flip from what we had been built up to expect and it was kind of like the filmmakers pulled the rug out from underneath us. That's why it was a bit too hard to accept at the end.

It's a shame really, because as you can guess, I was loving the film from the beginning and through the middle. It was the end battle that kind of ruined all of what was built up from the beginning.

If the battle was toned down a little bit at the end, then this film could have been close to perfect. Actually, my final score for this film is pretty close to perfect... so if the final battle had toned it down a bit, then this film would have been perfect.

**** / *****