When it comes to superhero films, there tends to be three categories of how excited I am about them: 1) I can barely contain myself and I wish tonight was the premiere, 2) I'm worried it might suck so I'll catch it at a later time, 3) This looks so atrocious that you couldn't pay me to watch it. My first introduction to Chronicle made me consider it close to the first category, but as time passed, I found myself being less and less interested in it and eventually deciding that it would become something I'd wait months to see. However, tonight, I opted in for a midnight screening and felt I'd share some of my viewpoints on the subject afterward.
PLOT:
The simplest way to put the film is that three high school students obtain telekinetic super powers, goof off, have some fun, and let the temptations get to them. As they become more powerful, so to do they become more corrupt. This was an interesting take on the superhero story, deviating enough from the standards to keep it interesting but having just the right amount to keep it from going haywire. Any time there's a new spin on something I'm a fan of, I tend to be skeptical at first, and although the first part of this film had me worried that it wouldn't get any better, by the end I found myself wishing it had been spread out into a trilogy so I could see more.
ROMANCE:
Sorely lacking in this, with one shoehorned element. While it may be a staple to include a love story in a movie, sometimes if you don't have a strong one, it just feels like it was missing. With this film, there's one love story but it basically exists only in three scenes, making it impossible to have any reason to root for those two to get together. Seeing as how the running time isn't particularly long, I would have liked more to be added to this in terms of romance.
VILLAINS:
The villain in this film is interesting. With so many of these movies, the villains are over the top and this doesn't follow the same pattern. Actions are justified, dues are paid, and it all makes sense. There's the stereotypical bullies, but it's approached in a way where the audience knows these archetypes and we don't need to be beaten over the head with them to get the point. The film's true villain, however, is a highlight.
ACTION:
Surprisingly, the action in this was quite good. For a non-blockbuster, they were able to pull off a believable look that was both more entertaining, more believable (in terms of CGI), and more sensible than a lot of the action sequences in this past year's group of comic book films. Yes, I'm looking at you, Green Lantern. There isn't a ton, but that doesn't hurt the movie. In fact, I would argue that it helps it, as the few scenes that are more suspenseful than the others aren't played down by being surrounded by a bunch of random filler action. Proximity helps and though there were a handful of scenes that I felt slowed the pace down a little too much for something this short, in the end the general setup of action was enjoyable.
MUSIC:
Virtually non-existent, which is a downer. The format of self-videotaping renders it hard to put a full score on a film like this, but some scenes felt like they could be more impactful if there were something to get the attention of my ear.
NITPICKING, GOOD & BAD:
1. Flight scenes = awesome.
2. Despite being a blogger myself (www.outonlimbs.com & www.smarkoutmoment.com amongst others) I felt the blog aspect of Casey's character just felt awkward. What was her blog about? Why did it need to be a blog she was recording for? I don't know, this is a nitpicking section and I felt the need to nitpick as it just seemed odd to me.
3. Stephen was the man. I wish there would have been more of him in the film.
4. Several shots had the audience laughing unintentionally, but not in the sense of thinking it looked ridiculous, just that it struck a funny chord.
5. Anyone else think that sex scene was going to end in a death?
VERDICT:
Chronicle is a good film to watch on a bored night. I went in expecting it to be moderately good at best and I was impressed with it in some ways, but it met my expectations in others. Generally speaking, I was entertained enough to recommend it to friends of mine that I know enjoy this sort of a subject, but for the average person on the street, I might hesitate. It's not necessarily a "good film", nor am I saying it's a "bad film", but I would think the majority of the people here would agree that at the very least, it was an interesting ride.