Movie Review – Chronicle (2012)
How often have you wished for super powers?
Wouldn’t it be fun to have complete control over physical objects, moving them (and yourself) with the power of your mind?
Get ready for that and more with one of 2012′s hit movies, Chronicle.
Take note that Chronicle is presented in a documentary-style format, with most of the movie being viewed / filmed from the main character’s personal video camera. Don’t worry. It’s not a shaky-style, motion sickness inducing format like seen in The Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield.
Chronicle takes place in Seattle, Washington. We’re introduced to Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHann), a senior in high school who begins to videotape his life. Andrew has a troubled life at home with a mother slowly dying of cancer and an alcoholic and violent father. Disabled from work, his father is frequently at home, further adding to Andrew’s troubles.
At school, Andrew is a social outcast and frequently targeted by bullies. He eats lunch alone, sitting outside on the school’s bleachers while athletes and cheerleaders practice on the field. When people see him videotaping everything like a creep, he’s bullied even worse.
Andrew’s cousin, Matt Garetty (Alex Russell), takes him to a rave concert in an effort to meet people. Andrew brings along his camcorder and continues documenting how he has no personality and is a complete loser. While videotaping a girl dancing on a table, the girl’s boyfriend threatens Andrew and makes him leave. Andrew’s crying to himself in the parking lot when Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan), a fellow senior in high school, persuades him to bring his camera and see what he and Matt found in the woods.
Chronicle (2012) – (c) 20th Century Fox
What Steve and Matt found is a dark hole in the ground that emits a strange sound. Matt and Steve climb down the hole to investigate the sound, and Andrew quickly follows. What the three of them discover is a mysterious blue object emitting some kind of strange energy. The camera goes blank just after the discovery.
Chronicle (2012) – (c) 20th Century Fox
The movie resumes a few weeks later as Andrew, Matt and Steve are testing their new powers. It turns out that the high school seniors can partially control objects in the air. But as they practice their skills, they quickly learn that there’s no limit to what they can control and manipulate. The teenagers also learn that overexerting their powers gives them nose bleeds, and they can also detect it when each other uses his powers. In addition to being telekinetic, they also have extrasensory perception with each other.
Chronicle (2012) – (c) 20th Century Fox
The boys amuse themselves with playing practical jokes on people. They do a variety of tricks from looking up girls’ skirts to messing with shoppers in a store to moving a woman’s car while she steps away for a few minutes. The best joke is when they use a teddy bear to scare a little girl.
Chronicle (2012) – (c) 20th Century Fox
It’s all fun and games until one day they’re being harassed by a driver and Andrew knocks the other driver’s car off the road. The crashed motorist lands in a lake and has to be rescued and placed in the hospital. After that point Matt makes the three of them agree to a set of rules, the most important being to never use the powers to harm a living creature.
Chronicle (2012) – (c) 20th Century Fox
Steve soon discovers that he can use his powers on himself and make him fly, and Andrew and Matt quickly follow suit. The three of them have a blast flying like birds. They agree to fly around the world after they graduate from high school.
Chronicle (2012) – (c) 20th Century Fox
It’s at a high school talent contest where Andrew makes his “magic” known to the students. He performs in a magic show and dazzles the audience with a variety of unbelievable tricks, becoming instantly popular with his classmates. That sudden popularity comes with a price as at a house party, Andrew attempts to get lucky with a girl only to throw up on her instead. The story spreads like wildfire and Andrew is once again an outcast.
Chronicle (2012) – (c) 20th Century Fox
At this point Andrew starts becoming more violent and aggressive with his powers. He sees himself as the most powerful of the three, becoming an unstoppable apex predator.
Chronicle (2012) – (c) 20th Century Fox
The remainder of the movie follows Andrew’s downward spiral and Steve and Matt trying to help him. The ending features a rather interesting battle in downtown Seattle with it ending as you would expect.
Chronicle (2012) – (c) 20th Century Fox
As a whole, Chronicle is certainly an interesting movie.
Chronicle (2012) – (c) 20th Century Fox
The theme of teenagers being bullied and finding their “inner voice” isn’t anything new. Neither is having a bullied student get payback against his or her enemies. Nor is it new having people run (or fly) around a city with super powers. Super hero movies are a dime a dozen these days. The theme of having a person become “drunk” or obsessed with their new powers isn’t new either.
What makes Chronicle interesting is the way it’s presented. The movie has that fresh feeling all over it. It’s easily watchable and the story moves at a fast pace. With Chronicle having a duration of only 83 minutes, you won’t have time to lose interest and fall asleep.
My biggest problem with Chronicle, apart from its very short running time, deals with Andrew, the main character. Andrew is one of those kids who is normally physically weak, tries to sound tough, and manages to piss off everybody with his continuous videotaping of every single event. Gee, and he doesn’t have any friends? Go figure!
Andrew also sucks at committing crimes, and him videotaping those events was just plain stupid. Apart from feeding your ego, why do you leave video evidence for the police? Why leave any evidence at all of your powers? These are more reasons why Andrew needed to get his ass kicked.
The part of the movie with Andrew comparing himself to being an apex predator was almost unbearable. He’s just as vulnerable as the next person when it comes to getting shot, stabbed, or beaten from behind. He’s not psychic, nor is he invincible. His powers are only useful if he knows where the attack is coming from. Without his powers, Andrew would still be the social outcast trying to make himself look cool even though everybody else knows otherwise.
Part of the fun of Chronicle was hoping for Andrew to get what he deserved. Otherwise, Steve was one of the better characters in the movie. It’s too bad that he had a smaller role compared to Andrew and Matt.
On a side note, kudos to Matt for wearing a Nostromo t-shirt near the end of the movie. Alien (1979) was an awesome movie!
Chronicle (2012) – movie trailer
The overall story for Chronicle is good, the special effects are mostly convincing, and the movie moves at a quick pace. However, its shortness leaves Chronicle feeling more like an appetizer than a main course.
Matt – “There’s something wrong with Andrew.”