DVD Review: Chronicle


Ever wonder what Peter Parker would've been like had he not become a crime fighting superhero with his new found powers? On a small scale, Chronicle shows us.

The film centers around a trio of teens: bullied and abused Andrew (Dane DeHaan), his cooler cousin, Matt (Alex Russell) and the big man on campus, Steve (Michael B. Jordan). The guys happen upon an assumed alien presence (a glowing crystal) one night, contact with which gives the boys extreme telekinetic powers. However, these three do not go out and fight crime. Instead they goof off practicing their new abilities in the back yard until they become very powerful. So powerful that Andrew decides he's not going to be stepped on anymore.

Chronicle is a short film (83 minutes) with a long slow burn. First we're introduced to Andrew and his troubles at home and school as he documents everything with his new video camera. We're set up to feel sorry for the guy, so when he becomes an all out villain in the final act, we should understand his motives better as his cousin Matt steps up as the actual hero. It possibly could have worked if the film wasn't so set on the atrocious "found footage" angle. Had it been a simple narrative story, I could see myself getting behind these characters, but once the climatic battle is in full swing and we're still watching this story cheaply play out through news feed and random video phones, quickly losing my interest.

The style actually works logically for the first part of the film, as the boys are having a good, relatively harmless time exploring their new powers. I must say these three young actors had fantastic chemistry together which is why it's a delight to watch them horsing around. But once Andrew's mind starts going down the darker path, I have to wonder why anyone would still have the camera rolling. Even worse is the film's commitment to this style through Matt's girlfriend, Casey (Ashley Hinshaw), who insists on documenting every detail of her life simply to "post on a blog."

Through Chronicle's relentless use of found footage, the camera becomes more of character than the actual people with lines, and by the end it all feels so forced that any good momentum from the first two-thirds is wasted in a lacking climax that left me wanting good ol' Peter Parker fighting crime once again.

6 comments:

  1. I gotta disagree with you in this one. This in one of my favorite movies of the year thus far, and I think the found footage aspect not only works well, but was very creative in its implementation. I loved every minute of this movie, and even the slow burn didn't feel slow at all.

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    1. Yeah, we're just going to have to disagree. I perhaps may have been too harsh, as I liked the first 2/3. But that last act pretty much killed it for me, mainly due to the camera aspect. It wasn't a good enough payoff for what I had already liked before it.

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  2. I love, love, LOVE CHRONICLE. That said, around the middle of the movie, the video footage aspect of the movie grew a bit tired for me. But then I think about how it was used. For example, CHRONICLE presented, what to me is, the best aerial cinematography of any superhero movie. I believed in these kids flying in the air far more than I ever believed Christopher Reeve or Brandon Routh saving Lois or airplanes. And then in the spectacular climax, with every video camera in the area being the instruments in presenting the battle royale - it was inspired and amazing to watch. Hell, with few exceptions, I nearly forgot the 'video footage' aspect of the movie was event a element at all.

    And Casey. Um. There's no reason for her to even be in the movie, really. She affects it none. But I haven't seen CHRONICLE in a few weeks, so I may be forgetting some vital story beat...

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    1. I did love those aerial shots of the guys once they figured out how to fly. Like I said, the guys discovering their powers was great to watch because it was a slow learning process, as it should be. I just can't get past my dislike of the ending. I didn't have an issue with what was actually going on, just the way they chose to film it. It felt more like a gimmick at that point.

      Casey served zero purpose. And when the dumb bitch was STILL filming the events as her car was falling off the Space Needle, I just threw my hands up and said "I'm done!" with the found footage angle.

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  3. I didn't love Chronicle, but I liked it quite a bit. I am not really a fan of the found footage format, but I liked the Chronicle had a justification to steady the camera at one point in the story which sated my biggest problem with found footage.

    I think what I really liked about Chronicle is the way it felt like a good old fashioned tragic myth.

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    1. Like I said David, I have no actual problem with the story, just the way it was shot. It got to be too much. And in general I don't take issue with found footage films, but this one stretched my believability of its usage to the point where I couldn't take the film seriously anymore.

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