Chronicle

It's almost amusing that we are still being inundated with "found footage" movies, after all these years. It's in no way a big complaint, but I have to point out that many of these movies don't have to be that type of movie. It certainly lends itself to a horror film - as it was pioneered - and I'm not certain it lends itself to the superhero film that much. I'm pretty sure our main character in this film would not have the nerve to do all the filming he did, although it certainly acts as a decent outlet for his bullied life.

To sum it up quickly, Chronicle is about three high school kids who happen upon a glowing rock in the ground, which proceeds to grant them certain telekinetic powers, among a few others. It's a slow progression of course, as they explore their powers and "train" themselves to further their abilities. Andrew is the owner of the camera - an introverted, bullied teenager who has life rough - but the film makes no qualms about jumping to anybody else holding a camera. I found this a bit jarring: you're acutely aware that everything should be coming from the one camera, and when it jumps, you're thrown into another character's perspective and begin to process the weight of this: this is no longer "found footage." Then things get wacky near the end, where the camera is jumping all over the place. You see, Andrew (our main power) is quite adept at manipulating his camera without touching it as he uses his telekinetic powers to provide us some more standard shots, and some interesting one that I'm sure we can thank CGI for.

At the end though, things get out of hand, as Andrew takes over control of numerous cameras (phones, digital cameras, etc) and the action jumps around quickly as per your standard filming techniques. It's somewhat excusable though as the action is pretty good, and the effects are good (not outstanding, but expected).

Here's the big gripe with the movie: these three teens are jerks. Sure, they have some good qualities about them, but as they discover their powers they are keen to pull lots of practical jokes on innocent people. Perhaps that's right up a teenager's alley, but it just seemed kind of immature. None of them really decided they could use those powers for good. Admittedly, the hijinks were amusing for the time but you wanted to see the film move on. And unfortunately you could see exactly where the film was going, so you can just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Overall, I enjoyed the film. It really brought me back to my own teenage years where I daydreamed of discovering super powers within myself.