Chronicle
What will be surprising is if the hype persists after today, because the trailer is a lot slicker than the feature.
In pretend “found footage” documentaries (The Blair Witch Project, Cloverfield), there’s a recurring problem every time things take a turn for the dramatic: Viewers start asking: “Why is this still being filmed?”
Indeed, in reality, if buildings started blowing up, or there were strange noises in the woods followed closely by abductions, most people wouldn’t have the instinct to turn on a video camera and start moving toward the lifethreatening situation.
And yet, audiences are willing to suspend their disbelief for this kind of stuff (and put up with a lot of shaky camera work). So maybe it’s not too surprising that a surge of viral hype about Chronicle started weeks ago. What will be surprising, however, is if it persists after today, because the trailer is a lot slicker than the fulllength feature.
The film begins and ends with the tortured musings of Andrew (Dane Dehaan), an awkward teenager who gets bullied at school before coming home to an abusive father and terminally ill mother. We see all of this, because he’s recording it on his new camera. In fact, he “intends on filming everything from now on,” and when he isn’t, another member of his Generation Youtube clan picks up the slack.
Andrew doesn’t elaborate on why he’s suddenly obsessed with documenting his life in HD, although we get some hint when he admits that viewing everything through a lens can create a barrier between himself and reality.
It’s this barrier that seems to give him courage, to attend a party, for instance, where popular kid Steve (Michael B. Jordan) begs Andrew to follow him into the woods and hit “record” as he leads the way to a dark hole in the ground. Steve, Andrew and a third friend, Matt (Alex Russell), all make like Alice and plunge down the rabbit hole without a second thought. At the bottom, they discover a magic crystal that bestows on them the power of telekinesis — the ability to move objects with their minds.
This is the part in the film where that familiar expression starts to waft from the screen: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Except, in this case, great power only leads to a series of juvenile pranks in a grocery store, various sexual escapades, and increased popularity at the school talent show.
Even when the boys learn how to use their new-found skills to fly, there isn’t a single instance where one of them stops to suggest, perhaps, using their powers for good.
As the minutes tick by, there is talk of flying all the way to Tibet or Maui, before we’re treated to an impressive game of telekinetic beer pong — but still no plans to overthrow the world’s evil dictators or, say, stop global warming. And still, Andrew returns home each night to his dying mother and can only think to mentally will a blanket to wrap itself around her. Note to Andrew: Blankets don’t cure cancer.
Presumably, director Josh Trank and screenwriter Max Landis (son of ’80s Hollywood comedy guru John) intended for Andrew to be a sympathetic character, whose vengeful undercurrent could be blamed on mean girls, bullies and a heartless father. But when he starts referring to himself as an “apex predator” and morphs into what appears to be the male reincarnation of Sigourney Weaver’s Zuul from Ghostbusters, it’s pretty hard to root for the guy.