Chronicle
One of the movies I’ve been meaning to catch up with in this early part of 2012 was “Chronicle,” one of the latest installments in Hollywood’s recent fascination with “found footage” movies such as “Paranormal Activity” and “Cloverfield.” About a month after “Chronicle” was released, comedy made its way into the “found footage” arena with “Project X,” but without a doubt, “Chronicle” will likely be the most influential of the two films this year.
Actually, I think it’s fair to make a case for “Chronicle” being the best “found footage” movie since “The Blair Witch Project.” The film follows three high students who discover an alien rock one night, and gain psychic abilities from their exposure to it. The film follows the three as they become stronger, and more inventive, with their powers. However, like so many stories before this one, with great power comes great responsibility, so when things spiral out-of-control, it’s dangerous not just for Matt (Alex Russell), Steve (Michael B. Jordan), and Andrew (Dane DeHaan), but everyone around them.
Up until watching the film, the title struck me as unusual for what seemed to be a “found footage” riff on superhero movies. However, the film is so much more than that in its narrative and substance. The film begins with Andrew, the runt of the litter between the three main characters; he’s purchased the camera to tell the story of his life, in particular, his home life with his terminally ill mother and alcoholic father. One look at that hard life, as well as the verbal and physical abuse he is put through at school, and it’s easy to see that this is the last teen who needs psychic powers that will feed off of his emotional impulses. What Andrew is able to do is impressive, and is beyond anything Steve and Matt are capable of, but his fractured, emotional state begins to crumble pretty quickly. The performances in these movies are, generally speaking, not very impressive dramatically (nor should they be, given the genre), but DeHaan goes above and beyond as this kid who’s been a punching bag, figuratively and literally, his entire life becomes capable of throwing punches, and pretty much anything else he wants to. Just off the top of my head, I can’t remember a teen movie that has hit on the dangers of bullying on the psyche as powerfully as this one does.
One of the strikes against “Project X” is not just the general lack of reality in the execution of its “found footage” story, but the overall lack of morality in the film as a whole. “Chronicle,” written by Max Landis and directed by Josh Trank, more than makes up for that film’s shortcomings by dealing with an unbelievable premise with a remarkable sense of reality. The film still goes almost ridiculously over-the-top during a final battle that is just as destructive and ludicrous as anything in distributor Fox’s “Fantastic Four” movies or “Daredevil,” but here, the personal battles take precedent, and give the larger action scenes weight. Whoever Fox brings on to reboot those middling franchises would do well to watch this movie for tips on how to do it right.