Chronicle. Directed by Josh Trank. Starring Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan. Rating: 7 (out of 10)
FOLLOWING in the footsteps of films like The Blair Witch Project (the granddaddy of "found footage" films), J.J. Abrams' Cloverfield, Quarantine and the Paranormal films is no easy feat: there's only so many ways in which you can get the audience to buy into a film from a cameraman's perspective.
But the latest in the handheld, diary-format thriller - a film called Chronicle - capably blends action, sci-fi, drama and a superhero origin story. A new spin on the genre comes courtesy of the fact that
the teen protagonists have special powers that can manipulate the camera to hover in the air on its own, giving the real filmmakers far more freedom to do what they like within the video-diary framework.
It all begins when three teens are at a party in the woods and stumble on a very large hole in the ground. The hole seems to hum. Boys will be boys, so down the hole and through a labyrinth of tunnels they go to investigate. Sullen Andrew (Dane DeHaan) has his ever-present camera at the ready, and is able to capture the glowing, living thing inside the hole until all goes dark.
After a few weeks, the boys feel stronger, and Andrew gets to hang around more with his cool cousin Matt (Alex Russell) and Matt's friend Steve (Michael B. Jordan). They play around with their telekinetic powers in typical teen fashion: the boys goof off in the dollar store, play pranks at the mall, and use it to get girls. For the first time, Andrew isn't a target for bullies at school, and feels ready to defend himself against his abusive father.
Other than nosebleeds, there seem to be no side effects to
their powers. The trio hone their skills, flying like birds over their native Seattle. But then Andrew uses his powers to teach an obnoxious driver a lesson, and things take a dark turn. "We need rules," says Matt. "No using it on a living thing; no using it when we're angry."
But Andrew's angry a lot. He wants revenge for all those years of abuse and loneliness. He starts to imagine himself as the strongest of the three, an "apex predator", an omnipotent force in the world. And so the viewer is led down a well traveled superhero path, covered in every story from Superman to X-Men: the one where the gifted human will make a choice whether to use his powers for evil or for good.
Things go haywire before the guys even know what they've got, and how to harness the energy, thus the bulk of the mayhem is saved for the film's climax, which results in some heavy-duty damage to the streets and infrastructure of Seattle (most of the film was actually shot in South Africa).
Some will criticize the film for not featuring more of this type of big-budget spectacle, but that's what makes Chronicle interesting: the slow build-up leaves room to tell the story of Andrew's very sad young adulthood. It's a big superhero conceit on a small-scale, a realistic portrait of how real teens would flex their otherworldly muscles.
Big applause to director Josh Trank and writing partner Max Landis for avoiding a deliberate lead-in to a sequel. Another classy touch in an unexpectedly enjoyable teen film.
