The found-footage sub-genre has long been a staple in the horror world. There are countless entries and it seems recently we've been inundated with piss-poor efforts such as Apollo 18 and Paranormal Activity 3. It's also one of cinema's biggest enigmas. Each new found-footage film seems to get an all-round beating from audiences across the globe only to go on and make millions and millions of dollars (I'm looking at you, The Devil Inside). And so it was with genuine reluctance that I entered the movie theater this morning to catch an early showing of 20th Century Fox's Chronicle.
Chronicle takes the found-footage basic rules and applies them to the other hugely popular sub-genre; superheroes. The film begins with Andrew (Dane DeHaan), the lonely, isolated high-schooler, setting up his camera in the mirror. Stomping and shouting outside his bedroom door is his abusive alcoholic father, Richard (Michael Kelly). This is where we learn the reasoning for the camera; Andrew tells his father he's going to continue to film everything, both inside and outside the house, perhaps in hopes this warning will curb his father's beatings. It's a very interesting idea and it makes for a hell of a better reason than the usual "the world should know what happened here today" bullshit. Later we're introduced to Andrew's cousin, Matt (Alex Russell) and his friend Steve (Michael B. Jordan), just as the trio discover a mysterious glowing stone buried deep in a cavern near a party the boys are attending. The glowing stone seems to emit some type of radiation that then gives the boys their super-powers such as flight, invulnerability and psychokinesis. It's here that director Josh Trank fast-forwards to get into the meat of the story, not concerned with telling us where the stone came from or what it is.
The next 30 minutes or so play out roughly as we'd expect; one super-powered prank after another, each showcasing the boy's growing strength and control over their abilities and the abilities themselves. Each fantastical stunt builds onto one another until we reach the film's astonishing climactic set-piece. And it's here that Chronicle really soars. The finale is so well-realized that it'll leave you with your jaw on the floor. Trank applies a few sneaky tricks to work around the questionable constant-camera technique that plagues found-footage films (really, why would you keep filming in the midst of a battle, chase or disaster?) including S.W.A.T. cameras, news helicopters and CCTV cameras. Chronicle most resembles the classic hero archetype in it's final moments. It's the epic battle between good and evil. It's the birth of a hero and the death(?) of a villain. By the end, you'll have forgotten all about the found-footage angle of the film, which is a success in my books. Instead you'll be sucked into the character's story and their all-too-relatable emotions (and the great special effects, of course).
I find that one scene in Chronicle captures my delight with the film perfectly. When the trio first learn they can fly, they quickly soar to the sky to play a game of 1,000ft-high football. As they're wizzing through the sky, we get some really beautiful footage of the clouds and the landscape below, with the sun setting far in the distance. It reminded me of Warner Bros.' original teaser trailer for Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie in which we first heard the tagline, "You will believe a man can fly". Chronicle has almost had the same effect on me as Donner's superhero classic. I feel like a kid again, one that daydreams of shooting through the sky, faster than a bullet, away from my troubles and strife's. That's kind of the point of it all. And director Josh Trank, Dane DeHaan and the rest have created a wonderful superhero story and a piece of pure escapism for all of us who ever dreamed we could fly.
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