Film Review: Chronicle

So today is a leap-year, everyone was saying that everyone else should do something 'cool' and 'fun' with that extra day they have been given. Some people actually get to celebrate their Birthday for the first time in four years (Happy Birthday to you if you are one of those people) and dudes get to be proposed to. My birthday is a January and I don't have a girlfriend to propose to me (PHEW!). But I did however go to see 'Chronicle' and it was insanely good.

2012 is set to be one of the biggest years for blockbuster movies, with films such as The Dark Knight Rises ($150 million), The Amazing Spider-Man ($130 Million), The Avengers ($80 Million) and Men In Black 3 ($200 Million) it's hard to see how a low budget ($12 Million) science fiction film, with a virgin feature length film director could even get noticed amongst all the comic book commotion. Easy, make it an intelligently written drama first, and an explosive spectacle second.

The film is based around three high school friends with the protagonist called Andrew, played brilliantly by Dane DeHaan, Andrews' philosophical babbling cousin Matt and soon to be class President Steve (Steve is that guy at school who is good at everything and every time you see him you hope he falls over).

Andrew gets hold of a video camera and decides to start filming everything! The camera creeps everyone out but they become the three best friends anyone could have when they come across an underground energy source and develop next level awesome telekinesis powers.

The three high school friends use these powers to pull of a string of laugh out loud pranks on unknowing members of the public. Scaring kids with floating teddy bears, throwing balls at each other with mad accuracy. But not everyone can be happy forever and a film with a tag line "It's all fun and games until EVERYONE get's hurt," you just know something bad is going to happen.

But like I said this is a film with a budget and that budget has been put to good use. It's Andrews han held camera that gives us the way the film is shot, I think it's known as 'found footage.' (Blair Witch Project/Cloverfield style) This is where Trank stands out, he plays with the genre and comes up with inventive ways of shooting the film. The super powers enable the trio of friends to levitate the camera over their shoulder or Trank would use black and white security footage to show what was going on. 

At roughly 90 minutes long 'Chronicle' comes up trumps in that it isn't a three hour, crass, over sexualisation of a childhood toy with borderline racist punchlines for jokes (see the last three Michael Bay films which involve a company called Hasbro and you will know what I mean!!!!!!!) 'Chronicle's' pace has to be quick to fit everything in. Setting up the story takes time but it makes you feel like you have an invested interest in what happens to these characters. But nothing is missed out and every action taken by the three protagonists makes sense because the film makers have taken time in setting up the backstories and personalities. 

'Chronicle's' sequence which best describes the film is when Andrew takes to the stage and uses his powers to show off a series of magic tricks. Start small and ending big. But just as a true showman works, he starts off and seems to be failing which provokes the audience to heckle until he finds his feet and at the end has the audience whooping and a hollering, as one of the biggest looser in school becomes it's biggest legend!

So arriving at the start of the year in what some of the well established film magazines are calling the 'biggest year for blockbusters EVER,' which are going to be sequels, prequels, comic book adaptations, special effects heavy, 'this film cost so much we could have bailed out Greece and Spain' monstrosities, it's 'Chronicle' they are going to have to beat.

See the full trailer: