Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Chronicle

In Chronicle, three cookie-cutter high school caricatures (the repressed loner, the popular jock, the handsome philosopher) come in contact with an unexplained alien being, and soon find themselves able to move objects with their minds.

They start by hitting each other in the face with a baseball (really… that’s the best, most productive thing they could think of?), and evolve to flying high in the sky, tempting themselves with weekend trips to Hawaii or Tibet.

Cool concept, and one that could work given the restraints of the film’s modest, $15 million budget. It had the chance to be refined, and scale itself back unlike so many science fiction films made today. But, alas, Chronicle makes it through about 10 minutes before we realize how bad it’s going to be.

For starters, I’ve been an outspoken critic against the “found footage” narrative format since filmmakers thought they could capitalize on the success of Paranormal Activity. Basically, I think it’s a cheap ploy to “involve” the viewer more, and never have I seen the device abused worse than it is here.

In Chronicle, the main character, Andrew carries around a video camera wherever he goes, and that's how the film is captured.

Fair enough.

When he runs into a high school hottie (who records everything she sees for her blog), the movie cuts to her camera.

Okay, I’m with you.

And when Andrew and his buddies walk into convenience stores and hospitals, the movie cuts to the security cameras of those buildings. Or, near the end, when Andrew starts to flip the fuck out and destroy all of downtown Seattle, the movie cuts to the various cell phones capturing the havoc. And then, finally, when his camera is broken, and the hottie is nowhere to be found, and all the cell phones are gone, the movie just shoots from the point of view of a movie, because, you know, who notices these things anyway?
This flaw, and what a flaw it is, is just one failed aspect of the film. I haven’t even touched on the dismal acting (Dane DeHann, who plays Andrew, may very well deliver the worst performance of a high schooler…ever, while Michael B. Jordan, fantastic as Vince Howard in TV’s Friday Night Lights, takes a serious career misstep), the don’t-cry-for-me storylines (Andrew’s mother is bedridden with illness, his firefighting father is an alcoholic…yawn), the awful special effects (the crazier their antics get, the worse the effects become), and the completely unappealing storyline.

Upon researching the film, I discovered that the film’s director, Josh Trank, is the same age as me, and the writer, Max Landis is a mere five days older than I am. I mention this because yes, their age gives me context, and it does make me appreciate their efforts more than say, a seasoned director who attempts the same garbage (I’m talking Michael Bay, here). But noble efforts only get you so far. Trank and Landis may have made a successful movie (its opening weekend profit was double its cost), but it doesn’t mean that I’m not allowed to call it what it is, which is utter crap. D-

16 comments:

  1. Really, that bad? I keep seeing great reviews for it! Hm...I am undecided- it's not really my genre, so maybe I'll pass!

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  2. It's a bad sign when I'm literally yawning in a movie that has people flying, buildings crumbling, and super human capabilities. Hell, I'm yawning just thinking about it.

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  3. @Aziza I don't want to seem presumptuous or arrogant, but I think it's gotten positive reviews because people are willing to overlook all of its flaws and label it under the whole, "It is what it is," argument, which, to me, is code for, "This is crap, but I guess I can tolerate it."

    I just tend to tolerate crap a lot less than most people.

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  4. @How Now Brown Thao? Seriously, one of the most boring "action" films I've ever seen. At least I didn't fall asleep in the theater, like I did in Transformers 2.

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  5. This is basically why I don't want a live-action Akira.

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  6. I have no idea why, but I had a brief, fleeting thought that this might resemble something somewhere in the vicinity of the area of worth watching. Turns out I was wrong.

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  7. Good review Alex. There isn't much new or different this film is doing or saying but the format works perfectly and gets us inside the heads of these characters through all of the fun and not-so fun moments as well.

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  8. @Tyler You'd hate it. Stay away, stay very very far away.

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  9. @Dan O. Glad you liked it, but I couldn't disagree more, I thought the format was laughable and disregarded to the point of bafflement. Made no damn sense to me.

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  10. Everyone seems to be watching and reviewing it, I'm quite shocked. The movie looks very flat and uninteresting to me.
    Great review, I almost wait for you to dislike the movie because you criticize them with so much humour :)

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  11. @Sati. That is the kindest thing you can say about my writing, seriously. If any sort of humor comes across at all, then I feel like I've achieved something. And, yeah, as for Chronicle, goddamn horrendous bore.

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  12. I'm a really big fan of found footage genre, I just like it. Most of the time, it's good. Now, superhero films aren't such a big thing for me anymore, but I like them. Now this film for me was pretty good. The acting is bad, yes, but I really like the film. I have my issues with it but I am bored to tears to the SAME superhero Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man all are the same film. I want something new and refreshing like: the dramatic and twisted Unbreakable, the realistic The Dark Knight, the family dynamic from The Incredibles, the darkness of Batman or the hilarious Guardians of the Galaxy. The film was good I really liked it. B+.

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    1. Yeah this one just didn't do it for me. I'll never understand why a found footage film abandons it's concept during the movie. It's like... just stick with it.

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  13. Check out Max Landis' short films. His films are pretty good.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahozy4HJCjc
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYvMOf3hsGA
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PlwDbSYicM

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    1. Whoa those were pretty groovy. Thanks for passing them along.

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