Chronicle - 3 kids turn into real life super people

Synopsis:

A troubled youth starts filming his life just in time to capture his, and two other boys', discovery of an otherworldly object that will change their lives in ways they could never imagine.

Review:

Andrew is a prototypical high school wallflower. No one really notices him and when they do it's usually to punish him in some way. Nothing new for sure, but the twist this time is that it's presented in the found footage format. He's just gotten a video camera and the movie opens with him filming his bedroom door while his drunken father pounds on the door and screams at him to open up. So, Andrew has a rough time at home and school. His only "friend" appears to be his cousin, Mike, who gives him a ride to and from home every day. Mike feels kind of bad for Andrew, but still doesn't really want to be seen with him.

But, one night, Mike convinces Andrew to come to a party with him. He reluctantly agrees and, after being abused by various party goers, eventually ends up alone on the grass, crying over his unfortunate teen-aged lot. This is when super popular, soon to be class president, Steve rushes up to drag Andrew and the camera off to film Mike and his strange discovery. They climb into a hole in the ground nearly dragging Andrew kicking and screaming along. There they discover something strange that grants them amazing abilities.

The rest of the story deals with the inevitable changes that take place when someone gains extreme power. Mike and Steve deal better than Andrew, and Andrew's prior troubles lead him down a dangerous road wrapped in insecurity and fear. His new found powers make it too easy to lash out at any and all that even mildly threaten him, real threat or not.

Chronicle is basically a found footage super hero movie which, even though it's wrapping several tropes into one burrito of a movie, still feels refreshing enough. The shaky cam may get on some people's nerves but, at least on the small screen at home, wasn't too annoying. What was fun was to see how the film-makers took what was probably a relatively low budget and pull off the wonder of three kids discovering, and getting a grip on, some amazing abilities. The special effects looked good and the writing provided some great scenarios with which to showcase the possibilities. Andrew, in a nice touch that goes against the typical expectations, starts out as the hero, but pretty much ends up the villain. His cousin Matt, who was the popular kid, ends up having to make the tough choices for the good of others.

Another nice touch, which can honestly be a little far fetched at times in certain scenarios, is that every shot in the movie comes from someone's hand held camera. Originally just from Andrew's, but eventually from a classmate's, a tv crew, a police dashboard camera, or someone's cell phone camera. A few times it seems too convenient, other times very cool.

Chronicle has a a lot going for it in fulfilling a cool fantasy of what might happen with real world super-heroes. The characters are mostly believable, and Andrew is believable in what is the most likely outcome of some tormented teen suddenly becoming powerful.

7 out of 10

Not a mind-blowing movie by any means, but Chronicle feels new in its combination of super powered fantasy and the found footage genre.