Chronicle

      “With great power comes great responsibility” I couldn’t help quoting Uncle Ben while watching this movie.  These three boys could have used some of that wisdom. Some times when watching a superhero/comic book movie I can’t help but wonder about reality.  If two people with super human powers, or two transformers, are battling in a large city what would that really be like? How would the everyday people of New York or L.A. react or respond? You get a very brief glimpse of that reality in Chronicle (2012). It is almost too real, which makes it hard to watch, if you can understand that. 
      Chronicle is another one of those first person camera films.  Do we have a name for that yet?  What would you call that? I am not really sure.  Anyway, it is as if you are watching what they are filming. There was some creativity I hadn’t seen before with the hand held camera approach. One thing they did was to introduce a character named Casey who has a blog that she posts her videos on. She video tapes a lot of her life as well. At times you would be looking from her point of view. Other times the camera was a security camera. It was a very interesting idea and I liked that. Because of this directing choice you end up with backs to you and can’t see faces.  To help with that challenge they used mirrors but it was in a natural way.
      Andrew is an awkward high school nobody, who decides to start video taping his life. The first scene opens with his dad banging on his bedroom door trying to get him to open it. He has a full length mirror on the back of his door. Andrew is telling him “No! It's 7 am and you’re already drunk”.  Just a little glimpse of his home life.  He has a cousin named Matt who takes him to school. Matt is family so he tolerates Andrew, but they aren’t “friends” and they definitely don’t run in the same circles. Matt is popular and athletic. Steve is the last member of this little trio.  Steve is very popular and is running for class president. 
      These three boys; Andrew, Matt, and Steve, find something very odd in a hole in the ground.  Days after exploring the hole they begin to discover that they have unusual powers.  They don’t know what happened or what it is. The previews don’t really tell you much but their only ability is telekinesis.  Because of these powers Andrew can now float his camera around him.  That gives us some very interesting camera angles. While telekinesis is their only ability they discover they can do some pretty amazing things with that. 
       This was a very interesting movie with an interesting approach to the directing. There were a lot of things I really liked about this movie.  The acting was pretty good; the script was unique, as was the filming. There were some very cool CGI effects as well. However there were also some things I really didn’t like. It wasn’t a good uplifting movie and it was a little hard to watch at times.  In a comic book movie I can separate the reality; you know there really is no Spiderman or Batman so the violence is different in a way.  As I mentioned in the beginning, this one is very real.  I am not saying I believe in telekinesis or anything but this is not a superhero movie.  It does have similarities.  I was reminded of Unbreakable (2000).  That was one of M. Night  Shyamalan’s movies that I didn’t really like for the same reasons.  Unbreakable is kind of a superhero movie as well, but too real.  It is difficult to watch in much the same ways. In both Unbreakable and Chronicle you see what has the potential to be a hero and a bad guy.  Based on their choices and how they handle their new abilities you see the paths they are on.  In Chronicle it divides friendships and bonds that are formed.  That was sad to see.