Movie review 'Chronicle'
The poster for this film looks suspiciously like the one for 'Skyline' with bodies flying up into the sky. Thank goodness 'Chronicle' is nothing like the horror show that was 'Skyline'.
Starring Dane DeHaan (Andrew), Alex Russell (Matt) and Michael B. Jordan, (Steve), 'Chronicle' is a superhero film and then it isn't.
High school student Andrew Detmer has a passion for filming people with his video camera. Matt, his cousin, puts up with it, but is still annoyed. Annoying is a good word for Andrew, as he seems to annoy every bully he walks near. The biggest bully in Andrew's life however, is his father (Michael Kelly 'Dawn of the Dead 2004). He beats Andrew during his alcohol filled days. Andrew's mother can't protect him as she is dying in her bedroom, often with no pain medication to relieve her suffering. The film doesn't say so, but it does lead one into thinking that the father is stealing them to sell, or use.
Steve Montgomery is one of the most popular students in school. He is running for student body president with an eye on a political career.
Cousin Matt thinks that Andrew could use some socialization with some of the more popular kid, so he takes him to a party at Steve's house. His ever-present camera in hand, he does his best to assimilate with the cool kids.
Matt and Steve come looking for Andrew, yelling about some cool find in the forest. They want Andrew to come and take video of something, something that will change all of their lives.
Andrew is dragged through the forest to a hole in the ground which omits a weird type of ringing noise. Probably thinking that he's about to get punk'd, he wants to leave. But, before he knows it, Matt and Steve have gone down into the hole to explore. Andrew slips into the hole, (this is starting to sound like 'Alice in Wonderland'), and sees what his friends have found. It seems like an alien creature, but it's never explained or it's a mystery. All the boys touch the strange creature and seem to exchange bodily fluids, or at least the creature seems to take some of the kid's fluids (yuck).
This meeting with the alien gave the kids powers. At first it's just moving rocks, and levitating, simple stuff like that. As days go by, their powers grow, especially Alex's, his power is twice as strong as Steve's and Matt's. Pretty soon the can fly above the clouds the clouds, over their home state of Washington.
It was all fun and games until Andrew knocked a tail-gating truck off the road. Pretty soon this superhero turns into a super-villain. Chaos ensues with Andrew taking out his pent up teenage angst out on everyone and everything around him.
Going into the screening of 'Chronicle', I hope very little hope of seeing a good film. However, I was pleasantly surprised as the movie went down the path of where good films fearlessly tread.
The young men who play the three teenage boys are great. If you keep your eyes on Dane Dehaan who plays Andrew, in certain scenes he looks like Leonardo DiCaprio circa 'Gilbert Grape'.
The only problem I had with the film was the information about the 'alien' who bestowed the powers on the boys. There is a scene where the boys go back to check out the hole again, to see what it was. The hole had caved in and the police where there putting that yellow tape around the area. The kids were kicked out. This isn't a minor detail, it's a major plot point, but it's never explained.
Otherwise, 'Chronicle' is a good film with lots of scares.
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