Movie Review - Chronicle

  Chronicle (2012)

Director: Josh Trank

Starring: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russel, Michael B. Jordan

Chronicle was a surprise hit in early 2012, grossing nearly $130 million against a tiny $15 million budget, but I can't help but wonder how much more appreciated/acclaimed this movie would have been had it not been saddled with an unfortunate "found footage" gimmick.  First-time director Josh Trank certainly took on a sizable task when he signed on to Chronicle.  In 2013, the found footage movie (i.e. Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity) is on life support, and superhero movies, while still financially viable, are both ubiquitous and often mediocre.  With Chronicle, Trank attempts to simultaneously breathe new life into both genres at the same time, and the results are a little mixed, although mostly positive in my opinion.  

As a superhero movie, Chronicle succeeds wildly, and is the latest impressive "alternative superhero" movie in the mold of Unbreakable.  Instead of remaking Hulk for the umpteenth time, I do wish studios would invest more time into creating these kind of original stories featuring people with superpowers.   Hopefully, the relative success of Chronicle will inspire just that.  A fortunate side effect of that success already has been the rising star of Trank, who has been signed on to helm the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot/remake/sequel/whatever.  He is obviously a young director with a great vision and a lot of promise, and I'm excited to see what he can accomplished when he isn't hamstrung by the forced found footage gimmick as in Chronicle.

I refer to found footage as a gimmick because the concept has never risen above that distinction in my book.  The first major found footage movie, Blair Witch Project, was a surprising, creepy and pretty innovative horror gem.  Since, there hasn't been one found footage movie that has been universally considered great, or even very good.  So why do movie studios continue to roll it out?  

Unfortunately, the answer to that question will remain one of those eternal Hollywood mysteries for nobodies like me, but I can continue to criticize movies that use this concept when they appear.  Usually, all the found footage concept succeeds in doing is being distracting.  It just doesn't feel organic.  In Chronicle, the movie goes to particular lengths to keep up the found footage charade, including culling footage from security cameras and creating an entire character with a second camera just so we can actually get our main stars onscreen occasionally.  

The concept of Chronicle is so intriguing that I understand how the creators may have been seduced by it: teenagers develop superhuman powers, and document every step of the way using handheld cameras.  Certainly, it led to some cool stuff (the flying scenes come to mind), but in the end it felt too forced and the movie would have been wise to occasionally step aside from the found footage stuff.  I just spent too much time being pulled out of the movie by questions such as "Who films a funeral?" and "Why did the son and/or Dad take the time to set up a camera before their heartfelt conversation in the basement?".

Chronicle certainly would have been interesting enough without any gimmicks.  The movie is basically a Spider-Man/Akira/Carrie mash-up and if that description doesn't pique your interest, I don't know what will.  It's also surprisingly dark, and probably the most "realistic" people-with-powers movie ever, in a sense.  The idea that every teenager who develops special abilities would immediately put on a spandex suit and go about the business of saving people is pretty asinine, actually.  

Most teenagers are pretty self-centered.  They probably would use their powers to prank people and look cool in front of their friends.  Teenagers tend to pretty angsty, too, and Chronicle is a pretty thought-provoking portrayal of what might happen if a truly disturbed young person developed the power to do basically whatever they want.  On a closing note, the young stars are also very good.  I'm still wondering why Michael B. Jordan isn't a bigger movie star yet, and Dane DeHaan, who I suspect we'll be seeing a lot more if in the future, is very impressive in a great role as Andrew.

Verdict: 7/10