Chronicle was directed by Josh Trank and written by Max Landis, the debut work for both of them. It starred unknown actors Dane DeHaan, Michael B Jordon & Alex Russell. It had a budget of $12 Million and ended up making $126 Million in the box office. The film was positively received by both critics and audiences and supposedly has a sequel in the works (Though i doubt that'll ever come about).
Despite it's success, few people actually talk about this film anymore, which is a shame because this is honestly the best found footage film ever made. So let's actually talk about how this film utilises this tool. First of all, it can't actually be considered a found footage film because the footage isn't "found" because we are seeing things as they're being recorded, so it's more of "live footage". Another thing that it does is utilise multiple camera view points, because it's all live, we're not limited to just a single view point for the entire film, but phones, security cameras, dashcams, we have them all to allow for different perspectives, however the most prominent one being Andrew's camera for the majority of the film. This is part of Andrew's character, he describes the reason he films everything is because it feels like a barrier between him and other people. Also the fact that he uses his powers to levitate the camera means we still get a lot of cinematic angles, and not just POV shots for the entire thing.
Andrew is our main character of the film, he lives in a poor neighbourhood, has a terminally ill mother and an abusive father, he's bullied in his neighbourhood and at his school and his only friend is his cousin Matt who gives him rides to school everyday. I've heard some people describe Andrew as the villain of the film, though i disagree. After Andrew and the other two lads get superpowers, they become the best of friends, and because Matt & Steve are popular at high school, they try and make Andrew popular, but because of Andrew's struggle with his homelife, he ends up regressing into his old ways and because of his new powers, he begins to see himself as bigger than everyone else, and now, if he wants something, he takes it.
This is Andrew's arc of the film, his rise to power and his inevitable downfall because of his corrupted moral views. Anyone who's ever been bullied in their lives has had revenge fantasies on what they would do, well this is a person who can now live out those fantasies, and because he's spent his life surrounded by negative emotions, he pushes out the positive ones, refusing to accept them as fact. Andrew isn't a villain, he's just a normal kid who's been through a lot of bad experiences like a lot of teenagers, his downfall comes from the fact he doesn't see the light in his life because it's over shadowed by the darkness. Andrew is one of the best written and developed characters in the found footage genre, we identify with him and we feel sorry for him. He's also excellently portrayed by Dane DeHaan, who, despite playing similar roles in several films afterwards, but he does it very well.
Our next character is Matt, played by Alex Russell; Matt is the hero of the movie, though he's not the main character, in the end we see that he was the hero all along. Before they get their powers, we see Matt talk about philosophy and morals. His only real goal in the movie is trying to hook up with a girl named Casey, a big superhero cliche. Most heroes are the ones with greatness and responsibility thrusted upon them and Matt is one of those characters, he didn't ask for super powers and even when he has them, he's the one who uses them the least in the group, but in the end he's the one who has to stand up to Andrew and save the day. At the end of the film, he's the only one of the trio who survives and is determined to figure out what happened to them that gave them their powers in the first place.
Finally there is Steve played by Michael B Jordan, and this is the actor who, after watching this film, I knew would go on the great things, which he has done, with films like Fruitvale Station, and the upcoming Fantastic Four movie, this guy is going to be a major star because he is a phenomenal actor. Though his character may get the least development, he's the victim of the group. The one who had everything going for him, who always wanted to do the right thing and often gets his way...so of course he is the one killed off. Steve was Andrew's best friend and once he dies (By Andrew's hands), Andrew loses the last glimmer of hope he had.
Another element that I love the experimentation with their powers, they realise that telekinesis can be used for so much more than just moving things (Though we get plenty of entertaining scenes of them pranking people with it) they also learn to fly because they can just levitate themselves, and even find a way to create barriers around them to protect them from harm. These are also the scenes that show the trio developing their relationships and growing stronger as friends, as well as scenes of them talking about their personal lives, which feel like real people, hell i've had conversations like these with my friends in very similar manners. Which makes the end result all the more tragic.
Now some people do have certain problems with the film, mostly, how they got their powers is never explained, there's a crystal underground and it gives them powers, but it also breaks the camera which means we don't see a whole lot of the initial stages, but then cut to them playing with their powers. I can understand why some people would be upset with this, and yes while I would also like to know the details, it doesn't bother me too much because in context, we're seeing the entire film from the perspective of these 3 kids, if they never figure out where their powers came from then we shouldn't. And they do attempt to investigate their origins at one point but they quickly realise that it's a lost cause and give up on the matter. So no, this doesn't bother me, but i understand why it would bother other people, after all when telling an origin story, the actual origin is quite important.
Chronicle is a fantastic film that should not be forgotten and hopefully it will develop a cult following and eventually be seen as the highlight of the found footage genre.
Chronicle gets a 9/10.
-Danny
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