Review - Chronicle

When three high school kids find a strange object and wake up with super powers it’s excuse to capture more and more insane antics on camera. But as they grow stronger, some can’t resist using their powers for more sinister means.



Chronicle is another ‘power corrupts’ tale but one that uses modern technology to tell a version of the story that still feels halfway fresh. For one thing, it’s much darker than you might suspect, with the real reason for Andrew (Dane DeHaan) begins to record his life revealed in the very first scene. From there, the structure is familiar but director Josh Trank is smart enough to weave in some new elements.

Chief among these is the use of technology, both in the way the kids capture their antics and the effects that visualise their growing powers. Chronicle mixes the found footage film with a teenage superhero flick to excellent effect. At times it approaches Heroes meets Jackass but the constant presence of the camera (or cameras) gives the story a sense of immediacy while Andrews’s ability to make the camera float means you’re not tied to an embodied camera and presence of multiple cams means editing options are more expansive.

Chronicle is also chock full of CG effects that range from the effective and subtle to the downright cartoonish. The early, smaller moments are some of the best (particularly Andrew toying with a spider) but it’s a very hit and miss affair. Physics are uniformly off and objects don’t mesh with the real footage at times. The large scale finale is the worst offender but even here, the film impresses with some nice staging, even on a mere $15 million budget.

For the most part, it’s the characters that keep things interesting – particularly DeHaan’s Andrew, who is lumped with an impossible number of pressures that push him to breaking point in record time. It’s a recipe for disaster, exacerbated by the tenuous friendship the kid has built up with his other superheroes. Maybe Andrew goes psycho in an accelerated manner but it’s not unreasonable given the circumstances.

DeHaan is good, supported by a likeable turn from Alex Russell, who has a touch of Chris Evans about him and Michael B. Jordan as popular guy Steve. They work well together, making the most of some ad-libbing scenes and a couple of decent laughs, while also surrendering themselves to the no doubt ridiculous shooting of the many effects sequences.

Chronicle goes big for its finale and there’s a sense that the director has bitten off more than he, and the production budget, can chew. But it’s in keeping with the story and the resolution is effective enough and the coda should be too but can’t help feeling forced, perhaps partly due to a hideous digital matte. But for the most part, Chronicle is a lot of fun and hits enough effects sequences out of the park to be engaging, while the found footage format adds a hint of cleverness superteen flick.