Tuesday, August 16, 2016

"Chronicle" (2012)

There are not many non-horror found footage films. Chronicle" buckled this trend. And in a good way. Chronicle stands out as a very original film in an age where nothing is original.


While at a party, three high school friends - Matt the cool smart guy who tries really hard to not be cool, Steve the class president, and Andrew the outcast (yeah, stereotypes, but really that's just what you see in high school) - find a hole in the ground that contains a weird crystal that somehow gives them superpowers. What follows is exactly what you would expect a bunch of teenagers to do if they suddenly got telekinesis. That is, until Andrew bends too much from all the hell he goes through daily that he finally breaks. 

This movie is good. It was a very new take on the superhero flick. It's not exactly found footage, as much as it is just filmed using cameras that are in each scene. It's just easier to call it found footage. It works for the movie, but also brings it down in a few ways. Mostly these balance out, but the future of the franchise is hurt by having it done in this format. A sequel done in a found footage format would drag it out a bit, and wouldn't give the answers that we as an audience deserve. However, not making it found footage would be changing the entire pace of the franchise. I'd still be willing to see a sequel with some answers given. That's my biggest problem with found footage, is we only get to see what the characters see, and characters in movies don't always get all the information that the audience does. 

Having the villain of this movie the main character does a lot to help it along. Andrew is something almost anyone can sympathize with. Yeah, he tries to be the weird artsy film kid That Ryan Phillippe played in "Cruel Intentions", but that's only because he already feels so secluded from society that he thinks that only he can keep himself company. Watching his darkness start to take form from being the social outcast to the demented villain is a good ride

As I mentioned, we don't get answers due to the format of the movie. Luckily I was able to find a video given at a con a few years ago by the writer of the movie Max Landis explaining what he had envisioned for the future of the series, and him explaining his head-cannon of the crystalline structure the three kids find. 


This is another one that I highly recommend. It is a good movie, with some really intense writing. You sympathize for these three kids that just got these crazy super powers, not wish you were them. This is definitely different from most super power themed movies!

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