Chronicle was released in 2012 and it's the directorial debut from Josh Trank who went on to direct Fantastic Four in 2015 which was terrible, and it's written by Max Landis, who went on to write Bright in 2017 which was terrible, I'm jumping on the bandwagon with that one I haven't even seen it! Chronicle stars Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Wallace from The Wire as three high school students in Seattle who, after crawling into a strange hole in the ground, discover that they suddenly have super human abilities, but with great power comes great responsibility, or whatever!
This was a fun film, it's definitely the best Josh Trank film of the two and I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's the best Max Landis film as well! It's surprising that there aren't more films like this given the huge success of Marvel in recent years, superhero stories can exist outside the realm of just Marvel and DC, you can take the superhero genre and use it anywhere! M. Night Shyamalam's masterpiece Unbreakable and it's sequel Split are good examples of this as well. Chronicle's not a perfect film by any means but it's an interesting spin on the genre and it's still a good film.
It's only an hour and a half so that's good and it's well paced as well so it's pretty much engaging throughout. There's a great build and it's definitely entertaining watching these regular guys discovering that they have super powers and exploring what they're able to do with them and how much they can do. The characters are likeable enough and the performances were all good as well, it's a solid film, the writing isn't all that great but it's a fun little rollercoaster ride and I enjoyed it! I think the biggest problem that stood out me is probably the fact that it's a found footage film.
The problem with all found footage films is justifying why they're filming in the first place and here Dane DeHaan's character just decides he's going to film everything at the start of the film and that's it! Other characters don't seem to feel awkward about telling him secrets while he's filming them and the breaking point for me was when another character happens to film everything too, every waking moment of life these twats will shove a camera in your fucking face and expect you to just be cool with it! I wasn't sold on it, it definitely felt forced and it just annoyed me.
All in all despite it's somewhat predictable narrative and awkward found footage justification I'd recommend Chronicle to both hardcore and casual film fans, it's a solid little film and it's an entertaining ride, I liked these characters, even though Dane DeHaan's a whiny prick and the other two are stupid jocks, and I enjoyed the idea of them as a trio experiencing these life changing abilities together, I'd like to see more films take this sort of direction with the super hero genre, just ditch the found footage aspect! I'm gonna give Chronicle a solid 7/10, it's definitely worth a watch.
What's your favourite non-Marvel/DC superhero film?