Chronicle is a movie about three kids Andrew (Dane DeHaan), Matt (Alex Russell), and Steve (Michael B. Jordan). Andrew is the outcast kid, Matt is his more popular and I guess smarter cousin, and Steve is the uber popular kid running for student president. Andrew has decided to film his life and so most of the movie is from this "found footage" point of view.
Andrew's confidence and popularity grows as his friendship grows with Matt and particularly Steve, all which crashes down at a party. Andrew gets all angry and ends up accidentally killing Steve. Andrew's popularity dies along with Steve and he decides he's an apex predator and then goes on a violence spree. I suppose some of this parallels Akira, as was intended by the director.
It was an interesting concept. Admittedly, I grew a bit bored of the kids doing their parlor tricks as the movie spends quite a bit of time on this. It's not a long movie, but something like half of this was spent on them discovering their powers and building upon it. The instant friendship between the three also seemed a bit hard to believe. I suppose all having a power like this would serve as a bonding mechanism, but Andrew is still very much unlike the other two so I found it hard to believe they'd be so close so quickly. It's a minor nitpick though.
The movie ends with a fairly cringy scene, that I don't think was needed. I think we knew Matt was guilty for what he did. They also had a subplot with Matt developing a relationship with Casey, that really didn't go anywhere and was pretty much pointless. Maybe this was for a possible sequel?
6/10. I can see how some would like this more, and I wanted to like it more, but it just didn't quite do it for me.
Chronicle
2012
Action / Adventure / Comedy / Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Chronicle
2012
Action / Adventure / Comedy / Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Plot summary
Three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to their developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, and their darker sides begin to take over.
Uploaded by: OTTO
April 27, 2012 at 11:49 PM
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
not bad, just didn't quite do it for me
One of the much better films in this genre.
I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this film. Excellent directing, screenplay, cinematography and editing. Casting and performances were perfect, especially Dane DeHaan, who's screen presence is incredible in this film. The simplistic teen-target audience I understand, but I would've liked this to be a bit more mature. Still, a nice little gem and a well deserved 8/10 from me.
Fury in the footage
Chronicle is a found footage film although by the end of the film you might be wondering who was taking the footage by that point.
The film was co-written by Max Landis (son of John Landis) It follows three Seattle high school students. Andrew (Dane DeHaan) is socially awkward, bullied and always armed with a camcorder, his cousin Matt (Alex Russell) and more popular Steve (Michael B Jordan.)
The trio form a bond after gaining telekinetic abilities from an unknown rock. They first use their abilities for mischief and personal gain. They realise that they need to form rules as to how to use their powers but Andrew whose powers are strongest becomes increasingly unstable.
The film has elements of the film Carrie as the geek turns on the people who are oppressing him including his father. The film begins with the superhero origins scenario as the group realise that with great powers come great responsibility which is subverted by Andrew whose inner demons are coming out in the open. However you see it all coming as the trio begin to conflict with each other leading to an epic super battle at the end.
You then realise that the film has nothing much to offer and went through all the normal plot points in a predictable fashion.