CHRONICLE

Three high school friends gain superpowers after making an incredible discovery. Soon, though, they find their lives spinning out of control and their bond tested as they embrace their darker sides.


Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly, Alex Russell
Director: Josh Trank

Chronicle Blu-ray Review

It's a bird...it's a plane...no, it's three teenagers hovering in the sky over Seattle.

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater, May 16, 2012

Intentionally or unintentionally, "found footage" films are a clear reflection of the Millennial generation's compulsive, narcissistic desire to document itself. This might be interesting from a sociological perspective--and I'm sure someone's already written a thesis on it--but the problem for audiences is that there are way too many of these films right now, and most of them are terrible. For every Cloverfield there's at least one The Devil Inside, and there's the rapidly dawning sense that the sub-genre has exhausted its possibilities. But then comes Chronicle, from 28- year-old editor-turned-director Josh Trank and writer Max Landis. I'll admit, when I first saw the trailer for the film, I was about 95% certain I wouldn't like it. Not only is it yet another fake found footage movie, it's also a kind of superhero origin story, and we've had a glut of those lately too. Here's the thing; Chronicle might not bring many new ideas to the screen--and indeed, it borrows a lot from Carrie and the Heroes TV series, and even Star Wars--but it's surprisingly entertaining and likable, teasing lots of movie magic out of a fairly small budget.

Apex Predator

With a mom who's dying of cancer and an out-of-work, abusively alcoholic dad, Seattle high school loner Andrew Detmer (Dane DeHaan) begins documenting his life with a cheapo camcorder, effectively putting a filter between himself and the real world. His only real friend--and a cautious one at that--is his cousin, Matt (Alex Russell), a pothead philosopher who peppers their conversations with references to Jung and Schopenhauer. (References that spell out the film's most prevalent themes.) Luckily for us, Andrew brings his camera everywhere, so we get a first-person view when he descends into a mysterious hole in the ground with Matt and class president candidate Steve (Michael B. Jordan), the most popular kid in school. At the end of the subterranean tunnel they discover a glowing crystal covered in root-like tendrils, and Andrew's footage promptly glitches and blinks out. When the film picks back up, three weeks later, Andrew has bought a spiffy new high definition camera--once again, lucky for us, and for Blu-ray sales-- but more importantly, he's discovered that he now has the power of telekinesis. The other guys do too, and since they can't tell anyone else about it, they spend all their time together, honing their newfound abilities. They start small, hovering Lego bricks and bopping each other with baseballs using only the power of their minds, but they quickly discover the gift is like a muscle--the more you exercise it, the stronger it gets. And with great power, of course, comes great...well, you get the idea.

What Trank and Landis capture so convincingly here--and part of what makes the film work so well--is the giddy way teenaged boys would actually react if they discovered they could mentally move objects. I mean, really, what would you do? The three friends basically become Loki-level tricksters, scaring kids in toy stores by bringing teddy bears to life and using a leaf-blower to make a group of miniskirt-wearing girls imitate Marilyn Monroe. It's harmless fun, at least until Andrew gets pissed at a redneck tailgater and sends the guy's truck careening through a guardrail and into a pond. Clearly, use of the power should be subjected to some Fight Club-style rules: 1.) No using it on living things, 2.) no using it when you're angry, and 3.) no using it in public. Obviously, though, these are easier listed than done, especially for Andrew, a high school nobody who's finally getting a chance to assert himself. Not unlike Star Wars, Chronicle is essentially a coming-of-age story masked as a sci-fi film, with Andrew's inferiority complex and daddy issues pushing him toward the dark side, so to speak. I have a hard time believing it's merely a coincidence that Dane DeHaan looks uncannily like a young Mark Hamill; there are scenes where he has the exact same expression as Luke Skywalker when Vader reveals "I am your father." I'd hate to spoil exactly what happens, but I will say that friendships are tested and that the film builds to a satisfyingly epic confrontation in the skies over downtown Seattle.

As with all "found footage" movies, Chronicle is forced to find clever ways to justify the camera's presence in each scene and also give us ways to see the guy holding it--in this case, Andrew. We occasionally switch to surveillance tapes and crowd-sourced cellphone video, but the main visual gimmick here is that Andrew learns how to float his camera in the air with Steadicam smoothness while he's doing other things, allowing him to appear in the shots. This strikes me as a bit too convenient, but it makes sense, I guess, and it does solve that particular problem. Less successful is the way the film relies on Matt's girlfriend, Casey (Ashley Hinshaw)--who just so happens to be a video blogger--for additional camerawork. Her character isn't developed in any meaningful ways, and it's clear that she really only exists to supply footage and give the story its requisite imperiled female. Fortunately, though, this is one of very few narrative shortcomings. Chronicle's fun, prank-filled first half gives way to some serious badassery later in the film, with downed helicopters, bullets stopped in mid-air, massive explosions, and level of wreaked havoc that calls to mind cheat code- enabled play sessions of open-world video games like Grand Theft Auto and Infamous. The video game analogy fits well; Chronicle is teenaged wish-fulfillment in cinematic form, putting its audience in the shoes of cipher characters who can shoot pulses of energy out of their hands and leap tall buildings in a single bound. Who wouldn't want to be these guys for a week or two?

Note: This disc includes both the theatrical version (1:23:53) and an unrated extended cut (1:29:31) that features a few more character-building beats. No drastic changes, though.

Chronicle Blu-ray, Video Quality

Andrew starts with a crummy "2004-era" standard definition camcorder, but fortunately for us he upgrades quickly to a more capable high definition rig. Very capable, in fact. Though Andrew totes--or floats--around a consumer-grade cam, the film was actually shot with indisputably professional $60,000 Arri Alexa digital video cameras. So, yeah, you'll probably have to suspend some disbelief; the film's 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation on Blu- ray is sharper and cleaner and less compression prone by far than anything Andrew could've shot on his $500 camera. While not the most mind-blowingly detailed picture I've seen this year, the level of clarity is generally very strong, with easily visible fine skin and clothing textures in closeups and crisp lines even in most longer shots. Color-wise, it's also pretty obvious that we're not looking at straight-out-of-the-camera footage, as the image has been clearly graded to have a look that's punchier and more vibrant than "reality." But you'll hear no complaints out of me. Black levels are deep, contrast is strong, and skin tones are balanced according to the color cast of each scene. I didn't spot any real compression issues, but you will notice some source noise in darker scenes and a few instances of slight brightness strobing. A great-looking disc.source blu-ray.com

Chronicle Blu-ray, Audio Quality

Whoever "found" Andrew's footage must've hired an excellent sound engineer to spruce it up, because I'm pretty sure the kid was recording--at best--in 2.0 stereo. Here, we get a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track that makes full use of its multi-channel capabilities. The showdown finale is especially bombastic, with helicopter blades pulsing in the rears, giant explosions, fired bullets, and much aerial zipping to and fro, but even earlier sections of the film feature environmental ambience--party chatter, the rush of air at 10,000 feet, etc.--and occasional effects that get panned into the rears. Everything sounds clear and dynamically solid, with some surprising subwoofer output in key sequences. As you'd expect, there's not much music in the film beyond a few incidental tunes, so it's up to the sound design to set the emotional tone. For the most part, it works well. Dialogue throughout is clean, balanced in the mix, and easily understood, and the disc includes optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles, along with Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1 dubs.