Sam’s Movie Reviews: Chronicle
Contributed by Sam S.
I finally went to see Chronicle in theaters and I can honestly say I thought it was pretty good, a bit depressing, actually…but still good.
The plot follows Andrew (Dane DeHaan), a lonely, socially awkward, abused and depressed teenager. His only companion, his cousin Matt (Alex Russell) who feels obligated to hang around him. One night, Matt drags Andrew out to a typical high school party. Andrew, feeling uncomfortable, leaves the party to go sit outside alone to wait for Matt.
At the party, Matt and his friend Steve (Michael B. Jordan) discover a mysterious object. They decide to involve Andrew, asking him to record the whole thing. Steve, the popular student body president, reaches out to Andrew and befriends him. All three boys then form a close bond after receiving telekinetic powers from the mysterious object. The boys use their abilities to cause trouble, goof around and just generally act like jerks and personally gain from it. ‘Till Andrew begins to use them for darker purposes…
Moral of the story is…douchebag’s shouldn’t have superpowers.
The film itself is visually presented from the perspective of various video recording devices, primarily from Andrew’s hand-held camcorder.
Over all, the film is very fast paced; it’s 83 minutes long but feels like 45.
Give it a shot though, go see it with an open mind you might like it
Sam rates Chronicle 7 out of 10.
This movie, is VERY engaging in my opinion. As a 20something douchebag myself, I understand that these guys are going to do what they do because they are young and reckless. Chronicle is more about “with great power comes great responsibility” than anything ANY superhero movie has done. I find it strange that you say the moral of the story is “douchebag’s shouldn’t have superpowers.”, when clearly its not and I don’t view any of these people as douchebags. The moral of the story is that power will change people, and it can make you a better person if you keep your morality in check. The cast was great, and they genuinely cared for each other and wanted secrecy and growth. These are real true to life characters, I know someone like EVERYONE in this movie. I can understand why they would do what they do and I love this movie for reaching out and putting us in a seat of power, and then watching us just troll some teachers and trash some shoppers drug mart looking place. You did not talk about anything important in this review. You just sort of mention some of the plot and then call the characters douchebags. Chronicle is beautifully shot, just look at how real it portrays itself AND how cinematic it stays. It starts off as rough as you’d suspect but eventually the character starts becoming a better cinematographer and even at the end of the film they start pulling alot of punches by using different viewpoints from different digital cameras and tablets owned by OTHER people. I loved the visual effects used in this movie, and yeah sometimes they were obvious but I really don’t care, they were still stunning. (SSSSSSSSSPOILERS) ( the flying scenes, all of them <3) This was a low budget movie, and they spent every dollar carefully. My final little tidbit sentence here at the end is about the script, the screenplay or whatever you call it. There was absolutely no plot-holes, everything moved forward in a proper pace and it all fit together perfectly. Every problem that rears its head for the character properly influences and has a build up and helps create the final scene.
This movie is for:
– People who wish they could have super powers.
– People who enjoy down to earth character dramas.
– Late teens and twenty-somethings.
– Older people who haven't forgotten how fun it was to dick around as a teen/twentysomething.
– Fans of Akira.
This movie is not for:
– People who hate the documentary style filmmaking.
– People who hate the idea of someone not using superpowers to save people from aliens.
– People who hate teenagers
– People who can't stand abusive/violent parents (this is a warning, I got pretty emotional over this, but there is payoff)
– Fans of Akira who can't respect a film for taking influence from Akira.
I will repeat, I love this movie. I can't score it, I'd give it a personal rating of perfect. I believe that a detailed review does much better than a score.
Now I definitely have to see this movie (as an Akira fan)
Mr. Hicks has pointed out my exact thoughts. Adolescent teens are reckless/careless/having fun with powers because that’s how they should act – as reckless teens. There was also more depth to the plot than you described, there was a dark side to the things that happens to the character Andrew that fuels his motivations of abusing his powers. There’s more to a book than a cover, and the same goes for a film besides the plot synopsis to start things off. Detailed reviews are the way to go, I personally discredit scoring systems for films, games, etc. I find them not really helpful for reviews. I want to be guided by the reviewer that can be more in depth and guided, a scoring system can’t do that.