CHRONICLE
The best found-footage movie ever made.
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| 2012: 20th Century Fox |
2012, Science Fiction, Rated PG-13
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
The curse of the January release date. It plagues some excellent movies into dismal ratings and poor attendance at the cinema. January is a time for many (including this reviewer) to catch up on all the Oscar films that they haven't yet seen. Because people are still thinking about the previous year's best films, studios don't normally release their most lucrative pictures in January or February. Sometimes, however, a little unknown flick comes out in January that really stands out among the mediocre crowd. This year it's Chronicle.
This film's January release is why I didn't see it in the theater. I would have, though (especially when I saw Extremely Long and Incredibly Corny at a cinema right next to the theater that this was playing!) but unfortunately I was on the hunt to see all the Oscar films so I skipped this one. I also may have passed on it because found-footage movies (the kick off being Blair Witch Project) are a dime-a-dozen, usually about an exorcism (boooooring), and usually really bad and merely cashing in on a phase. Chronicle isn't that at all. It feels genuine. It's exactly the kind of movie the found-footage routine works for.
The plot follows a trio of high schoolers as they become superhuman, coming in contact with something under the ground that gives them superpowers. The idea seems silly and not original at all after The Avengers and hundreds of other comic book movies past and present. What makes it not silly, and extremely serious and sad and frustrating at times, is the execution. The camera that the film is mostly viewed from is that of one of the trio, Andrew. Andrew is your typical loser in high school who gets made fun of for being different. Also, his father beats him and his mother is sick and dying. Great fodder for a super villain. The other two boys are Andrew's cousin, Matt, turning in the best performance of the film, and Steve, a popular kid from school who never even looked at Andrew before they make their discovery. But hold up, let's go back to that "discovery" scene.
It is the most terrifying scene I have witnessed in a long time. I don't get scared of movies anymore usually, but this scene was extremely frightening. The boys find a hole in the ground and, like stupid boys do, they go inside it. Before they even step inside I was uneasy, wondering whether curiosity would propel me into that hole. They claim that a sound is coming from the hole and that it smells bad. The camera can't pick up the noise but I imagine it was not Earthly. Steve jumps right in and the other two follow. What they find, inside the hole, is horrifying, scream-inducing, and for some reason, realistic. The actual thing that gives them superpowers isn't realistic, but the boys' reaction to it is. That's what sells far-fetched plots and outlandish scenes in movies: the reactions from the characters.
One of the greatest aspects of this film is its plot progression. Many films have characters reacting to things in unrealistic ways, simply to further the plot. It's like you can see the screenwriter come into frame, whisper something in the character's ear, and then that character will say something that merely pushes the plot forward, not something the character would actually do or say based on his "characterization" in previous scenes. Everything evolves so naturally in Chronicle from three boys who find a weird hole in the ground, to three boys who could literally move mountains. All the characters react to their superpowers in extremely down-to-earth ways. It's pretty clear from the get-go that one of the boys, the loser who has no friends, will become evil and abuse his power. It will be up to the other two to "save the world" essentially, from this evil "villain". We're pretty much talking about a poor man's Unbreakable here. Although Chronicle is nearly flawless in my opinion, no one has done superheroes and villians with more class and attention to detail than M. Night Shyamalan with that picture.
I also really liked the natural evolution of the characters' demeanors. At first, we sympathize with poor Andrew because he is a loner whose father beats him. As the film progresses and he becomes increasingly more evil, you really want the other two to squash him like a bug. Andrew becomes the most powerful, however, and the other two can't do a whole lot about it. I'm going to say it: this movie is better than The Avengers. In those ridiculous big-budget Marvel films, plenty of people die by the hand of the villain. No one cares though because they are tiny unimportant characters, usually getting crushed by falling debris or something. You don't really care because you just want to see the hero give the villain his due punishment via high-flying wire stunts and gorgeous special effects. The first life Andrew takes really upsets the viewer. You realize truly and immediately what can go wrong when you give someone too much power. The film is essentially an allegory for kids who get bullied and then gain power by finding their dad's automatic rifle and bringing it to school. Andrew doesn't terrorize his school, though, he destroys half of Seattle.
One of the biggest surprises in the film is the character of Matt, Andrew's cousin, and the actor who plays him, Alex Russell. It was my favorite performance in the film. Even though the movie chronicles the evolution of the villain in such excellent detail, Matt's emergence into being a superhero is also well-documented and feels very natural and real. The first person's life that he saves has more emotional impact than any scene in The Avengers. It's not a hollow superhero's act, it's a genuine reaction to someone's being in danger. After viewing a film like Chronicle, Tony Starks and Thors start to feel like cardboard cutouts. (Look around your local theater...that's exactly what they are).
There are so many wonders and thought-provoking elements to this film to last the viewer well beyond its end. It has more emotional impact than The Avengers and just as much action at a fraction of the run time. This is a film that cares about its characters rather than their superpowers. It makes perfect, and extremely creative, use of the found-footage technique that seems to be popular right now. More action-packed than Cloverfield, more terrifying than Blair Witch Project, and better than most summer movie mush you'll encounter in the coming months. See it.
Side note: Here is a list of my top three films of the year so far. Every time I see a film that makes its way into this list I will update it. As of now, it looks like this:
1. Chronicle
2. The Avengers
3. The Three Stooges
Another side note: The only problem I may have had with this movie (it is flawless otherwise) can be summed up in one quote from the underrated sci-fi comedy Evolution: "I've seen this movie, the black dude dies first, you snag it." -Orlando Jones
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