And to close out the week, I have been provided with yet another cinema offering to blog about. This time, it's the found footage-style film, Chronicle.
Andrew (Dane DeHaan), Steve (Michael B. Jordan) and Matt (Alex Russell) encounter a strange glowing object underground, after attending a rave. After blacking out while around the object, they awaken to discover they have gained powers and abilities beyond those of mere mortal men. Using Andrew's camera, they document their experimentation with their powers and bond over their discoveries. But things take a darker turn, leading to great abuse of the power provided...
For those unsure of what found footage films are, think of The Blair Witch Project (or don't, it's crap, and that's being nice to that atrocious garbage), Cloverfield (this, on the other hand, is outstanding and the pinnacle of the found footage genre) or the Paranormal Activity films (which I find to be rather average, but hilarious. If that's not intentional, well, the movies have a problem but still, I have fun laughing at them). Basically, it's a film made up of footage from cameras, like the person in the movie is filming the events for their own reasons. Andrew's reason is... well, he just decided to. And later on, it serves to document the boys testing their powers like invulnerability, telekinesis and flight.
However, his is not the only camera that footage is garnered from. Footage is utilized from different cameras, including Casey, a blogger who often films things as material for her blog and from police cameras. It's really clever, offers different viewpoints from the supporting cast/random bystanders and keeps the flow going, rather than taking a break out to show things off-camera, if that makes sense.
Some of the film's best scenes are, unfortunately, the ones seen in the trailer, in which the teens test their new-found powers by pulling pranks and simple tests. It is the bonding between the teens that makes these scenes work, as all of them become ecstatic when they make new discoveries (see the scene in which they take flight for the first time, they're all completely amazed. And it's hilarious, too, seeing Matt try and not quite get it the first few times and keep falling) and praise each other when they do something the others haven't yet or aren't quite up to speed with (Andrew's telekinesis is much stronger than Matt's and Steve's, as shown when he constructs a Lego tower with it, whereas Matt can barely hold two blocks in the air). Naturally, these scenes are early on and they do the best job of building the relationship with the characters, even though Matt and Andrew are cousins and thus, already have a pre-existing relationship. Despite being from different cliques in school (Andrew's the “weird, lonely, picked-on kid” and remember that, it will be important later; Matt's the everyman, the guy who may not be THE most popular guy but he's got friends and he's generally well-respected; and Steve is one of the most popular guys in school, even in the running for class president), even before they get their powers, they all treat each other with respect, even though they rag on each other at times. But then, that's what teens do, don't they?
Steve is probably my favourite of the characters, mostly because he doesn't seem too concerned with the politics of the school system and is more casual and easygoing, but when he and Andrew start hanging out more, he sincerely wants to help Andrew get out of his shell more, culminating in Andrew entering a talent show (using his powers, of course) and him winning the crowd over and becoming the man of the hour.
Matt takes a bit to warm up to, it doesn't seem like he has a whole lot of respect for Andrew, acting like an older brother who has to scold his little brother and set him right. Once the powers kick in, he starts seeing Andrew as someone capable of providing great things to the world. Again, like an older brother. However, as the film goes on, his better traits do shine through and he's a lot more noble and selfless than expected.
Andrew, however, is the odd man out (and here there will be spoilers, and this will be long, so it might be best to skip ahead).
Andrew's problem is two-fold: in the way he's written and the way he's portrayed. Well, maybe not so much written, but more in the backstory itself. This will probably be branded a superhero film, since, well, the kids have powers. And by the end, you can see that happening. But if that's the case, if you haven't seen the trailer, you'll guess that Andrew is the most likely to go evil and abuse his power. Why? Well, here are the factors: he has a deadbeat, alcoholic father who loves to beat the crap out of his son and berate him (and this we learn within the first five minutes, with only his voice to go on, so already we're supposed to hate him. And I hated him as soon as I heard him speak his first line); his loving mother is dying of cancer (gee, that's not going to end badly is it?); as mentioned before, he's not popular in school, constantly being beaten up and belittled; and he's had no luck with girls. When you add it all up, you're really stacking it against the kid aren't you? You might as well put a big neon sign above his head saying “Future supervillain right here!” The trailer even hints at it, the scene in which he crushes a car, with a scowl on his face.
The problem is, as a supervillain origin story, it's not exactly original. Father's an abusive loser, only family member you love dies, your peers can't stand you. You know who pops into my head when I write that? Doctor Octopus. Seriously, take out the glowing object, replace it with science and age him up, it's Doc Ock. Hell, the Riddler had the abusive father angle too. And look at Harry frickin' Osborn, his father's a psycho! The Penguin avoids the abusive father angle (if I recall correctly) by having his father die early but Penguin does have the “picked on by kids his own age” schtick going for him, based on his appearance and the fact that he carried an umbrella everywhere (at his mother's insistence) .
And after all the crap he has to endure, including the quick loss of his new popularity, is it any shock that he goes on a rampage and basically becomes what Carrie would have been if she had lived?
If it were me, I'd have changed things slightly: I'd have written the father out, made him slightly less of a weird loner and maybe not even have it set in high school, maybe they've just graduated or starting college, and have his start of darkness be based on the fact that even with all his powers, he can't stop his mother from dying, and he turns to crime as the means of making her better (which he does do in the movie but not for long, as its towards the end of the movie and we have the final showdown to get through), with his full blown villainy erupting because he sees himself as a failure for not being able to do anything for her, even though, in his mind, he's on the verge of godhood. Not only would it be slightly more original, he'd be more sympathetic and he could be more mature when talking to his friends, and not lashing out.
This brings me to the next part of the problem: now, Dane DeHaan does a really good job with the role, for the most part, but more often than not, regardless of the situation, he sounds like he's about to cry or whimper or moan. In some cases, like when he's beaten at the rave in the beginning, of course that's natural. But in everyday conversation? OK, I get it, you're being bullied at school. You're not alone, dude. I went through something similar and I hated high school. Those who say they enjoyed it were usually the ones who tormented the ones who didn't. But I never took my abuse out on anyone who DID want to help me, and I always appreciated it and eventually, I moved on with my life. Yes I still hate it, but I hate a lot of things people do, you just have to find new ways of dealing with it. Hell, I had more balls than you in school and I couldn't bloody fly!
So, really, what it boils down to is, he's not as likable as the other two because of inconsistent characterization and a telegraphed origin story. That's not to say he doesn't have his good moments, like when he experiments with his powers or the talent show, which was a delight. Just that early on, it's hard to like him.
But back to the positives, one of the film's biggest strengths is its breakneck speed. Unlike the telegraphing of the origin story for Andrew, when the film wants to deliver something fast, BAM! The first time the guys fly, it's great and fun and perhaps the highlight of the film but then a plane comes and suddenly we're somewhere else. We can guess what happened but it happened that fast that our minds need to catch up. It's disorienting and we ask questions, but in a good way. It's more of a “Holy crap, did you see that?! What was that?!” kind of way, as opposed to “...What the Hell was that crap?!” Now, I've already spoilt enough, but I will say this: the lightning storm. That gave me such an emotional response and I still didn't fully grasp the situation until a few minutes later. That's just how good that scene was directed, written and acted.
So, when scoring this film, how does it fare? To be honest, it would have been a 4 if not for the high school cliches, the origin story cliches and Andrew's inconsistent characterization. Despite that, the fun of seeing the powers in use and the surprises do make this a very good film and thus, I give it 3.5/5
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