Chronicle is an interesting experiment – one that takes the popular found footage format used almost exclusively in the horror genre and attempts to apply it to a tale of an angst-ridden teenage superhero. While it does have a few positives, there are more than a few negatives one can’t quite overlook.
The story begins when abused, outcast teenager Andrew (Dane DeHaan) purchases a video camera and decides to document his troubled life. While attending a school dance, Andrew, his cousin Matt (Alex Russell), and a popular high school student named Steve (Michael B. Jordan) discover an otherworldly crystal buried in a strange cave. After coming into contact with it, they quickly develop superhuman abilities, including the power of flight and telekinesis.
Of course, with great power comes great responsibility. And Andrew is unequipped and takes his personal frustrations out violently as his talent develops, leading to conflicts within the group and an inevitable (and predictable) confrontation.
The film’s biggest asset is its lead. Emerging actor DeHaan is effective at embodying the inner angst of an outcast without coming across as whiny or annoying. As a result, Andrew is by far the most engaging and developed character. In fact, even after he turns vicious, audiences may find themselves rooting for Andrew over his one-note, well-adjusted friends.
There are some entertaining moments early on in which the mischief-prone trio attempts to develop their superpowers, with comical results, and a few of the action sequences are impressive. These include some point-of-view shots of characters flying through the clouds and a brief but well-choreographed fight sequence between Andrew and a group of small-time neighborhood thugs, who are hurled and thrust violently around the street.
What is less appealing is the constant strain to justify why the teens are filming themselves and the eventual cheats used to maintain the movie’s chosen approach. The footage is hand held at first, but soon after Andrew develops the psyche power of telekinesis, he levitates the camera and continues filming himself from traditional angles. The addition of an underdeveloped female love interest for Matt also seems completely superfluous, existing only to introduce another camera angle to the mix by way of her “video diary.” In truth, her presence is an awkward device to try and develop the Matt character when the Andrew is offscreen.
After doing a decent job of developing its lead character, the movie does little to build on that with the climax, resorting to nothing more than a simple, effects-laden battle scene. And, of course, more filming liberties are taken. Characters continue to film as they plunge from great heights to their near deaths and the narrative starts to randomly cut to security camera footage. It’s difficult to determine whose perspective this story is coming from and the found footage gimmick becomes distracting and irritating.
Chronicle features above-average performances and presents a few unique moments of superhero-inspired antics, but it’s a flawed and marginal addition to the found footage sub-genre. If nothing else, one can see a bright future for DeHaan as an actor.
