Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan) is a high school student from Seattle, Washington whose mother Karen (Bo Petersen) is dying while he is subject to physical and verbal abuse from his unemployed father Richard (Michael Kelly) and is a social pariah in high school. Andrew adopts an interest in filming everything in his life from now on. Andrew's cousin, Matt Garetty (Alex Russell), is Andrew's only real friend and tries to bring Andrew to social events to bring him out. When Matt and popular student Steve Montgomery (Michael B. Jordan) stumble across a crater near a party they have Andrew follow and record them as they find a strange glowing crystalline artifact. Following their encounter with the artifact and its mysterious disappearance the three begin to display telekinetic abilities allowing them to perform incredible feats including flight. The three form a bond over their shared abilities gradually expanding how far they can take their new powers, but Andrew's darker impulses gradually reveal themselves as his despair and isolation turns to destructive rage.
Based on an idea director Josh Trank came up with in High School, Trank teamed up with writer Max Landis following a previous effort with Jeremy Slater on an unrelated spec script. The script was purchased by 20th Century Fox with Trank as director and the film received a marketing treatment similar to 2008's Cloverfield with a similar release date. The movie became a massive success both critically and financially making $120 million against its $12 million budget launching the careers of Josh Trank and Max Landis as up and coming talent (before both crashed and burned for different reasons, but that's neither here nor there) and serving as a strong showcase for the talents of its three leads in Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan. The movie has a lot going for it, but there's also some story beats that never quite worked for me.
Despite being marketed as a "found footage" movie, Chronicle makes no such pretense about this footage being found as the movie uses multiple points of view from different camera sources and its more a movie told from the point of view of cameras than a proper "found footage" film. The ways Trank utilizes different POVs with the cameras especially with Andrew's ever increasing powers leading to more elaborate shots that wouldn't be possible with a handheld do a nice job of incorporating the super power element with the video camera POV. Our three leads are played well by Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, and Michael B. Jordan and the scenes in the first half of the movie showing them bonding over their powers, engaging in pranks with them, or Steve trying to help Andrew get more ingrained socially at High School are well done and makes you care about them as characters.
What I didn't like was the second half of the movie. Without giving too much away Trank has said films like Carrie, The Fury, and Akira were inspirations for the story direction in the film, but when I saw the film I felt Dane DeHaan's character was less Carrie White and more Hayden Christensen's take on Anakin Skywalker with the powers of X-Men's Magneto (note: this comment is stolen from my friend's reaction to the movie upon exiting the theater). The movie clocks in at about 74 minutes excluding credits, and I think for the type of climax the movie wanted I never felt like the journey we took to get to it was given proper development. I think DeHaan's transition from awkward introvert to self described "apex predator" felt really forced and sacrificed a lot of the strong character dynamics seen in the first half.
Chronicle is a strong showcase for its cast and crew and what they can do with a small budget, but the first half is a stronger film than the second half in terms of character, but it continues to be a well made film right through the end. I'm personally not a fan of the direction the movie takes after the second act, but it does deliver on spectacle and entertainment value.
Based on an idea director Josh Trank came up with in High School, Trank teamed up with writer Max Landis following a previous effort with Jeremy Slater on an unrelated spec script. The script was purchased by 20th Century Fox with Trank as director and the film received a marketing treatment similar to 2008's Cloverfield with a similar release date. The movie became a massive success both critically and financially making $120 million against its $12 million budget launching the careers of Josh Trank and Max Landis as up and coming talent (before both crashed and burned for different reasons, but that's neither here nor there) and serving as a strong showcase for the talents of its three leads in Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan. The movie has a lot going for it, but there's also some story beats that never quite worked for me.
Despite being marketed as a "found footage" movie, Chronicle makes no such pretense about this footage being found as the movie uses multiple points of view from different camera sources and its more a movie told from the point of view of cameras than a proper "found footage" film. The ways Trank utilizes different POVs with the cameras especially with Andrew's ever increasing powers leading to more elaborate shots that wouldn't be possible with a handheld do a nice job of incorporating the super power element with the video camera POV. Our three leads are played well by Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, and Michael B. Jordan and the scenes in the first half of the movie showing them bonding over their powers, engaging in pranks with them, or Steve trying to help Andrew get more ingrained socially at High School are well done and makes you care about them as characters.
What I didn't like was the second half of the movie. Without giving too much away Trank has said films like Carrie, The Fury, and Akira were inspirations for the story direction in the film, but when I saw the film I felt Dane DeHaan's character was less Carrie White and more Hayden Christensen's take on Anakin Skywalker with the powers of X-Men's Magneto (note: this comment is stolen from my friend's reaction to the movie upon exiting the theater). The movie clocks in at about 74 minutes excluding credits, and I think for the type of climax the movie wanted I never felt like the journey we took to get to it was given proper development. I think DeHaan's transition from awkward introvert to self described "apex predator" felt really forced and sacrificed a lot of the strong character dynamics seen in the first half.
Chronicle is a strong showcase for its cast and crew and what they can do with a small budget, but the first half is a stronger film than the second half in terms of character, but it continues to be a well made film right through the end. I'm personally not a fan of the direction the movie takes after the second act, but it does deliver on spectacle and entertainment value.