Handheld cameras can be used to document virtually anything in today’s world: weddings, sporting events, or (in the case of this movie) city-wide mayhem brought on by psychokinetic powers.
Shot in the found-footage style popularized by such pictures as “The Blair Witch Project” and “Cloverfield,” “Chronicle” offers a fresh and interesting take on a superhero origins movie.
At the start of the film, we are introduced to high school senior Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan), the angst-filled social pariah with an ailing mother and an abusive alcoholic father. As a way to document his father’s violent behavior, Andrew buys a camera and begins to film everything that he does. His best friend and cousin Matt Garetty (Alex Russell) is concerned with Andrew’s antisocial need to film everything and convinces him to attend a party. While at the party, Andrew and Matt, along with popular class president hopeful Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan), discover a glowing meteorite in a shadowy cave. The camera shuts off, and we are then shown footage from three weeks later of the boys developing strange telekinetic powers. What starts as harmless shenanigans turns into mass destruction as Andrew’s problems at home and school begin to mount and he embraces his darker side.
Chronicle does what many found-footage films have not done in the past. Thanks to the efforts of up and coming screenwriter Max Landis (son of “Animal House” director John Landis) and director Josh Trank, the movie offers much in the way of character development. We sympathize with Andrew’s social frustrations, we applaud when his powers gain him popularity, and we are horrified when he lets his anger get the best of him. The characters of Matt and Steve also are developed well, adding both humor and serious introspection to the film.
While the cinematography in other found-footage movies is often shaky and nausea-inducing, Chronicle succeeds in having impressive camera work. Andrew’s ability to levitate the camera, and the film-making by video blogger Casey (Ashley Hinshaw) allows for different angles that is important in lending a change in perspective.
While a few plot holes and a somewhat over-the-top ending holds the movie back, Chronicle was surprisingly well-made and a film worth seeing.
rthompson@hillsdale.edu
