Chronicle

This recent trend in SuperHero movies was made for me. I was big in comic books, long before Kevin Smith made it fashionable for the jocks and the dweebs to read them as well. Surely, I remember aching, ACHING for an X-Men movie even in the late eighties.

And then I got married and that movie opened. The flood gates have opened and picture after picture of heroes have flooded the market. Luckily? These movies are the bastion of special effects so they aren’t cheap. The various studios really have to make a decision to make a movie about being a super hero. I thank them for it. It gives me time to make a decision when it comes to purchasing a ticket.  It also means Hollywood should seriously consider hiring a screenwriter for a few of the lines.

Now, see, The Dark Knight had a profound effect on the super hero genre. Not only a decent actioner, it was a movie with a bit more going on in the heady department; you were required to actually participate in the movie by thinking about the consequences of every characters’ actions.   This was new. Before that point, superhero movies were mere fluffy, great for a last minute movie decision on a Friday night.  What a change in things.  Now, you couldn’t be drunk, high or tired to watch a superhero movie. Suddenly, these movies had a bit more credibility.  Again, I was thankful. This meant that superhero movies might start in a different direction.

Chronicle is a superhero movie that is a step in that direction. Its central conceit, instead of relying on a story we’ve read in the comic books or Saturday mornings, is that three ordinary high schoolers find they have psychokinesis powers and elect to document (the “Chronicle” of the title) it with the latest technology.  Think of the famed Blair Witch Project or Paranormal Activity. I guess another super power they inherit is the ability to keep batteries from dying out. Never once in the entire picture is there a bad image or a red light for a dead battery. Amazing how that works!

The fact is; the movie does work on some level.  Josh Trank and Max Landis bring what appears to be an experienced picture. This is director Trank’s first foray into directing for the big screen; he has only handled some television programming. No complaints, mind you, the best directors get started this way. Even Speilberg. Landis brings pedigree, being he’s the son of director John Landis (Animal House, MJ’s Thriller), but, looking over his resume, I don’t see much on there that sticks out-in other words, this seems to be his first big screen try as well.   The drawback is, sadly, we’ve been down this road before. I kept pointing out what would happen next—and that was when I first heard the drunken father yelling through the door in the first five minutes.

The film is amazingly brief in 84 minutes, but moves at a decent clip, hitting the needed script points. In this tale, a socially awkward youth goes to a party with his cousin and a friend they discover the usual McGuffin-giving them incredible powers. However, things quickly dissolve through trying to live a life that everyone experiences and the ability to make things fly through the air.

I liked it, thought it to be decent. All the actors are right on cue; the special effects are well blended into the scenery and the script. But, well, here’s the thing with these kinds of movies. Blair Witch worked due to a mythology and a terrific marketing campaign that blurred the line between reality and fantasy. And that was the last time it worked. Both Paranormal Activity and Chronicle really don’t cover new material.  We lovingly hate reality television in the world today. Why would we pay for further copies of it?  Not many people would. Paranormal Activity came off with only one scare. Chronicle? We’d seen it before, so why should we care.

Yes, you’ve seen this movie before. Take away the super hero antics and you have a very violent John Hughes movie; a rated “R” Sky High.

However, I can’t help thinking this is a stepping stone. There’s something more here, almost like a sketch of a future picture that will add more depth and cause then this movie tries to do. Is it possible? I hope so. I liked the idea, and everyone was truly trying. Now? Get to making the next Big Thing….