Two of the biggest money-spinners in Hollywood today are the found footage and Superhero movies. So I guess it was only a matter of time before someone saw the sense in combining the two and making a packet. Luckily for us, that someone was Josh Trank, for while it might have been easy to be cynical, Chronicle delivers in pretty much every way.
If you have seen the trailers, you know the premise. Three high school pals (a kind hearted jock, a sensitive but popular kid trying not to be a jock, and a bullied outcast) stumble upon a hole in the ground, and when they investigate are gifted with incredible powers that get stronger the more they use them. The movie is filmed "found footage" style, with Andrew (Dane DeHaan) given a plausible reason to begin to document his day to day life. He is joined by his cousin Matt (Alex Russell) and Steve (Michael B. Jordan), and together the trio have fun filming the various things any teenagers would do if they suddenly gained extraordinary abilities, until the troubled Andrew begins to take things down a darker path. Although you can probably guess where the story goes from there, I assure you the movie has a few surprises up it's sleeve which I won't ruin.
The three leads are excellent here, completely convincing in every scene and inhabiting characters that could very easily have fallen foul of the usual high school cliches. The standout is DeHaan however, playing Andrew as a sympathetic yet increasingly dangerous anti-hero. It's easy to see why Warner Bros. were interested in him for the role of Tetsuo in their (currently on hold) live action
Akira movie, as they are quite similar characters. Indeed a few elements of
Chronicle are reminiscent of
Akira. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's directly influenced by it, but fans of the Manga/Anime will know what I mean when they watch this. The action and special effects are top notch too, particularly for a relatively low budget production. One or two of the flying shots towards the end look a bit dodgy but nothing ever takes you out of the movie.
Any problems then? Well I found the last act to be a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand we do get an exciting, action packed finale full of incredible super-feats and explosions etc. On the other, the clever, engaging way Trank builds up the story and the friendships between the characters is somewhat done away with. At one point something happens that should be much more shocking than it is, and from then on things feel a bit rushed. Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie and was satisfied with the conclusion, I just couldn't help but wonder how much better it might have been had a bit more time been given to make certain turning points more believable. There is also a bit of cheating with the found footage style, with a minor female character and some security cameras etc picking up certain parts of the story. I mean who are we to assume edited the damn thing together?
Small quibbles though.
Chronicle juggles a lot of elements brilliantly, and manages to be smart, funny, exciting and tragic without ever overdoing it or pandering to our emotions. I know he only has one movie under his belt, but the 27-year-old Trank seems like the antithesis of the Michael Bays of the industry to me, and we should all be keeping a very close eye on him from now on.