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'Chronicle' review

Apparently not every high school kid with superpowers turns out like Spider-Man

By Geoff Berkshire

Metromix
February 2, 2012

Critic's Rating:

Dane DeHaan (Credit: Alan Markfield/20th Century Fox)

(L-R) Alex Russell as Matt Garretty, Michael B. Jordan as Steve Montgomery and Dane DeHaan as Andrew Detmer in ``Chronicle.''

(L-R) Dane DeHaan as Andrew Detmer, Michael B. Jordan as Steve Montgomery and Alex Russell as Matt Garretty in ``Chronicle.''

Alex Russell as Matt Garretty in ``Chronicle.''

Dane DeHaan as Andrew Detmer in ``Chronicle.''

(L-R) Michael B. Jordan as Steve Montgomery and Dane DeHaan as Andrew Detmer in ``Chronicle.''

Chronicle

Running time:: 84 minutes

Rated:: PG-13

Cast:

Dane DeHaan -

Andrew Detmer

Alex Russell -

Matt Garretty

Michael B. Jordan -

Steve Montgomery

Michael Kelly -

Richard Detmer

Ashley Hinshaw -

Casey Letter

See full cast

Director:: Josh Trank

Genre:: Adventure, Science Fiction

Overall User Rating:: (2 ratings)

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High school loner Andrew (Dane DeHaan) treats his video camera like an extra appendage, documenting his life and warding off an abusive alcoholic father (Michael Kelley). When Andrew’s cousin and classmate Matt (Alex Russell) and his popular pal Steve (Michael B. Jordan) discover a crater in the woods of Seattle, they drag Andrew and his camera with them to explore. All three boys come face to face with a mysterious force that causes them to develop telekinetic abilities. With great power comes great irresponsibility, as the trio start playing games and pulling pranks to exercise their newfound skills and their actions escalate to a dangerous degree.

The buzz: This attempt to combine the found footage phenomenon (of movies like “Cloverfield,” “Paranormal Activity” and “The Devil Inside”) with a superhero saga comes from two 26-year-old Hollywood newcomers: director Josh Trank and screenwriter Max Landis (son of “Animal House” director John Landis). The relatively unknown cast is led by two TV standouts: the wry, sensitive DeHaan of “In Treatment” and the charismatic Jordan of “The Wire” and “Friday Night Lights.”

The verdict: Both a clever use of the found footage technique and a demonstration of its limitations, “Chronicle” is a satisfying enough B-movie mix of fresh and familiar. Using the camera as a window into Andrew’s worldview lends a novel feel to clichéd sequences like the introduction of his school, the guys’ exploration of their super powers and a high school talent show. There’s also a good deal of fun in having Andrew’s telekinesis slowly take control the camera. Mounting narrative momentum and engaging performances from DeHaan, Jordan and Russell in these playful early scenes helpfully distract from the merely adequate low-budget visual effects. Then the conflict starts to reveal itself—wisely not through the introduction of an outside villain but from the demons inside Andrew’s head. It’s an agreeable enough conceit, though somewhat clumsily telegraphed by Matt’s philosophical asides (he likes to reference Plato and use words like hubris) and the overwrought melodrama in Andrew’s life at home. The bigger problem lies in maintaining the found footage concept for a destruction-on-a-mass-scale climax. Attention starts to shift from what’s happening on screen to how and why we’re seeing it at all, and the inelegant use of the film’s underdeveloped “hot girl”—Ashley Hinshaw, whose role as a video blogger/Matt’s love interest exists mostly to give the movie another camera angle to use—becomes even more glaring. More exploitation than exploration of YouTube generation narcissism, “Chronicle” is most inspired when it’s least preoccupied with trying to impress.

Did you know? Although set in Seattle, “Chronicle” was filmed in Vancouver and South Africa, even using some key crew members from breakout South African sci-fi hit “District 9.”

Follow Metromix's Geoff Berkshire on Twitter: @geoffberkshire