Chronicle

On the one hand, Chronicle made me roll my eyes at the painfully strained need for an illusion that it was being filmed diegetically – ‘The camera needs to stay on for our investigation’, says one police officer, horribly obviously – and at the tired old story I’ve seen a hundred times before. On the other, it was fun, never dull and had some very funny moments.

Chronicle is basically your typical superhero origin story. Three very different friends find a mysterious glowing thing and it gives them super-powers. As their powers grow, so do tensions, until it all comes to a head. It reminded me of X-Men with a touch of Akira. Aimee, hilariously, spent the whole thing thinking of telekinetic hedgehog Silver from the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. But superhero films don’t have to be fresh and original to be entertaining – indeed, they rarely are.

Two things are distinct about Chronicle. Firstly, the use of cameras within the world of the story, which of course began with Blair Witch Project, reached its apogee with Cloverfield and is now outstaying its welcome. There was really no need for it here, except maybe to cut down the budget, and it would be better without it. The second is the teenaged angst driving the whole thing. Main character Andrew has the kind of high school existence that through its media representation makes me thank my lucky stars every day that I didn’t grow up in the States, and makes the concept of God Bless America somehow gratifying and attractive. He is slight and awkward, which means he is mercilessly bullied – he is physically assaulted, mentally abused and his property is stolen and damaged. At a rave, he, his cousin (who tries to distance himself from the popularity game but comes over as arrogant as a result) and the popular high school quarterback investigate a cave, and soon after gain the ability to levitate small objects. This grows into being able to lift larger and larger things and even to fly. The different boys have different gifts – at first it seems like the quarterback will have the brute strength, the cousin will be able to defend himself strongly and Andrew will be have the most versatile power, but that never gets developed.

Sadly, the boys all think too small. They don’t fly far away to begin an amazing new life, returning to benefit those close to them. They don’t seek to improve the world, or fight crime like characters from Kick-Ass or Watchmen. They remain secretive, other than putting on a magic show, and then Andrew’s unstable mental state and difficult home life leads to him deciding to get some money. Does he go to fight drug lords in Cuba? Does he bust down into diamond mines? Does he go and steal the bonuses of corporate CEOs? No. He beats up some local drunks who recognise him for their cash, then robs a gas station (not even flying to one miles away), makes a mess of it and ends up in hospital. Soon after, he and his cousin are yelling ‘TETSUO!’ and ‘KANEDA!’ at one another (or pretty close) and Andrew totally loses control and needs to be stopped. How the film ultimately ended felt to me like what ought to have been its middle point.

The film could have been so much more, of course it could. But it works on its small-scale level, too. The film ends with most questions – including where the powers came from and how the world reacts in the wake of superhumans becoming definite, undisputable fact – unanswered, but it doesn’t really need more than that: it’s primarily about two cousins and how you shouldn’t abuse weedy kids because they might suddenly get very strong and very angry.

Sometimes the best superhero films keep the scale small. That said, this one was very much so-so – worth seeing but not rewatching. Hancock is a much better small-scale riff on the superhero, and Unbreakable does the serious parts better.