Ever since the
concepts/trailers/images were released on the internet, I was secretly obsessed
with ‘Chronicle’. I do like a good
superhero movie, particularly when they have cool abilities like telekinesis
and telepathy – no Wolverine, retractable claws aren’t exactly what I mean.
If you’ve seen the
trailers for ‘Chronicle’, you’ll know that it follows a group of teenage boys
who inherit telekinetic abilities from an unknown force (a force which isn’t
really described in great depth in the actual film). What makes this film a cut above the rest is
that it is a found-footage film (think ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘Cloverfield’,
‘Paranormal Activity’ and just about any other movie filmed with a hand-held
camera that makes your tummy jubbly).
Generally I’m not so much for found-footage films; excluding ‘Cloverfield’,
I find them kind of annoying and pretentious… yeah, they suck. But the amazing thing about ‘Chronicle’ was
that it didn’t suck!
To give you a rough
rundown of the film, the main character is Andrew, a stereotypical social
outcast with no real friends apart from his cousin Matt, who doesn’t really
care for Andrew all that much. Andrew
insists on filming all aspects of his life, much to the annoyance of those
around him. It is during a party where
Matt’s friend (and Mr. Popular) Steve encourages Andrew to join him and Matt in
a cave somewhere in a forest where they have found the strange force that
eventually gives them their powers. The
rest of the film follows the boys learning to use their powers and filming
their progress as they go. With his
newfound friendships, Andrew becomes a well-liked part of society… until his
mentality slowly begins to unravel.
You know the drill, I
don’t like to give too much away. I
found the film so interesting and it really sucked me in for its short
84-minute running time. The thing that
really got me was the effects. I just
could not get over how realistic everything seemed when the boys were toying
with their powers! It seemed so lifelike
that I could honestly see this happening!
Now that’s messed up…
Give ‘Chronicle’ a
fair go. It’s one of the few movies I’ve
really enjoyed lately and hey, it’s original, which is a lot to say for films
these days. Definitely sets the bar high
for 2012 films.
0 comments: