Chronicle

Penned by Max Landis and Josh Trank, Chronicle is the story of three high school seniors, cousins Andrew and Matt, and popular guy Steve, who discover a hole in the woods, which holds an unexplained phenomena that gives them telekinetic powers. But, as the old saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility...

Chronicle is nothing new. Normal people being given super or God like powers is something that's been done. A lot. I will say, though, that Trank makes it interesting. It was, for the most part, a thoroughly enjoyable film. My gripe? The whole "found footage"/first person shooter approach. In the film, Andrew, who is an outcast at his school and has a less than ideal home life, buys a camera to record everything that goes on his life with. Hence, we see (almost) the entire film from his perspective.

Which is stupid.

And pointless.

This movie spent a TON of money on special effects. You're telling me you couldn't have spent a few extra dollars to shoot this from the third person? Mix it up a little! Give us some different camera angles! This "found footage" thing is SO over played, and, as if it didn't seem gimmicky enough in a normal movie, in this one, it was just DRIPPING gimmick. Because of that, if I was going on the five star method of rating, I would say that a movie that could have been a solid four stars, got knocked down to three, if I'm feeling generous. Two to two and a half, if I'm not.

One thing that I do want to note, though, is that Steve is played by Friday Night Lights alum Michael B. Jordan, and, even though his role doesn't particularly require a lot of depth of character, he does a great job, as does Dane DeHaan, who plays Andrew (which is part of why it's a shame this is a first person perspective film. This kid should have been in front of the camera more.)