It seems that beside being one of Hollywood's biggest times to dump its cruddy remains on to a unsuspecting public, the first months of the year are now starting to be my appreciation of newly released superhero films with a dark edge to them. Last year had THE GREEN HORNET, a film I still stand behind both as a comedy and for its anti-thesis of the IRON MAN and BATMAN's of the world; Namely, that privileged crime-fighting individuals with expansive/expensive resources can't overcome their selfish delusions and deplorable attitudes.
In comes CHRONICLE, a film that mashes up several things that fuel the bad vibes of jaded viewers and critics. It is a found footage film, about superpowered individuals, who also happened to be the current generation of teenagers. Combined with a fear-inducing marketing campaign that only shows off their adoration for superdickery and you have yourself a potential rich dose of brain poison. Shockingly, the brew isn't bad at all, instead being a compelling little film with many scenes of grounded realism and humanity among the tests of flight and massive city destruction.
The film is about Andrew, played by Dane DeHaan, but at the same time becomes him. He is a teenage loner who suffers from the physical abuse of his alcoholic father and watching his mother slowly die from cancer. He starts a personal project to film everything about his life with a cheap camera, which proves to be more distracting to others and brings further prejudice against him. However, his questionable new hobby becomes worthwhile after a party when he, his cousin Matt (Alex Russell) and senior class president Steve (Michael B. Jordan) uncover a strange blue radiating object lodged deep inside a hole. After the alien device reacts badly to them, the film jumps ahead with a change in picture quality, since Matt bought Andrew a new and better camera, and with all three developing telekinetic powers and a linked mental connection.
The rest of the film follows them enhancing their talents through humorous trial and errors before the eventual differences in character and behavior. But it is the arc of Andrew and his camera that proved to be the most fascinating aspect of the picture. As noted above, he becomes so enraptured with the camera and his new image that he begins to have it record everything, damned if someone objects. Whether it is a peaceful image of him among friends or him attacking bullies, he wants to relive it all again once it is uploaded to his editing program, making himself a human highlight reel. This reliance brings destructive qualities to Andrew's psyche; it causes him to become a better documentary filmmaker, allowing his telekinesis to float above or behind him for crane and tracking shots and even remotely controlling and activating it when a possible exciting situation occurs. By focusing more on the record and visual style of events instead of his own feelings and emotions, he becomes detached from the world further, so far in fact that his human body turns into a empty hollow vessel of unfathomable rage while his camera captures his soul and becomes the new Andrew.
The young turks behind the film, director Josh Trank and writer Max Landis, truly need to be applauded for their entertaining and thoughtful creation. By incorporating a floating dynamic to the cinematography, Trank is able easily overcome the faults of many found footage genre films while making his scenes more exhilarating. Landis, who is noted chiefly by other critics simply as the son of director John Landis but is more importantly known for comical internet videos about his love for weird comic book history, has a stroke of genius when concocting the plot. Beyond his themes and messages about the YouTube/Facebook culture and exploitation, he can easily grasp the dynamics and dialogue of teenage life and their current love and immersion of technology. They are several exquisite moments with the three characters talking with each other about their problems, even when one of them is distracted by constantly texting or playing a phone game. Trank worked perfectly with the three actors, all who give very good performances, most especially Michael B. Jordan, who can easily show off why he is so charismatic among his peers.
CHRONICLE does fault a bit from some annoying errors in judgment. Though the low budget nature and video camera style can hide the shortcoming of the CGI work, most definitively during the grandiose action finale, there are still several shots that look clumsily composed and not well thought out. Also, some viewers might not appreciate the frankly flat portrayal of women during the proceedings, despite being somewhat the same mind set of teenagers. Nevertheless, this is one film this year that is both awesome with its violence while obtaining some modern truth and hurtful human anguish.
FINAL REVIEW: 4 / 5
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