Chronicle (2012) - Josh Trank

Plot- Andrew is the typical antisocial loner in high school, befriended only by his cousin, Matt. Andrew's dad is an alchlolic and his mother dying of cancer. He purchases a video recorder to document his life and act as a diary. At a party Matt and the High School Quaterback/Class President/All American hero find a hole emiting a mysterious sound. They grab Matt to document it as they go down to explore. The three of them enter and find.....something. Soon after they find they've all developed telekinetic powers which as teenager boys they proceed to use to perform pranks on people. As they get stronger, Andrew's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic....

Thoughts - Its a film that has remarkable word of mouth but it's also found footage, a genre to me that has seemed to be played out recently, so I was quite intrigued to see what they've done differently here. My initial thoughts are not that much, it's a pretty predictable plot and the found footage approach is one I do question as to whether it was needed in this particular case. That's not to say this isn't a good film. It was an entertaining story and some of the set pieces and sequences of them using their powers look great; there's a breathless quality to it as we 'follow' with them as they leap and soar.

It's most engaging when we watch the three of them, when they first start using their powers, interact with each other and basically goof around. It feels authentic and it does provide some real humour, especially at the toy store. However they never really develop much more than that. Andrew as the main character feels ever so slightly two dimensional; he's picked on, antisocial, angry and.....oh look he's snapped and not going to take the bullying anymore *sigh*. There's also one particular thing that does rankle with me; the trigger. Basically the event that starts the main drama off, here it, to me, just doesn't make any sense. The more I think about it the stupider it gets. Obviously a film where they learn to use their powers sensibly would be pretty boring but I needed a more convincing rationale for why he took that particular action, since it doesn't seem in keeping with what we previously know about him.

It's a relatively minor complaint though. Overall this is a pretty fun film that had some cool moments that will be sure to please the fanboys. It's directed slickly enough by Trank and the runtime flew by; a more than decent piece of scifi action.

7/10