Film Review: Chronicle

It should be evident during this semi-found footage account of teenage superhuman exploits that this isn’t a superhero story, this isn’t even the angst of the X-Men. Chronicle hews hard and close to the bark of the seminal anime Akira, whose influence is writ-large across this release. The iconography of Katsuhiro Otomo’s opus is abundant in Chronicle. Whether it be a character flying out of an exploding hospital ward, an emotionally fraught outsider becomes a monster and the all too telling sight of a blood curdling scream shattering windows in an ever-expanding shockwave. Like Tetsuo in that film, Chronicle follows alienated teen Andrew’s burgeoning psychokinetic powers, but this is not a story of great power or greater responsibility. This is a tale of unbridled rage tearing through a susceptible teenage mind. In other words: mo’ powers, mo’ problems.

The powers themselves are nothing new, we’ve seen a man fly but here you get to experience the thrill first hand as we take the perspective of Andrew’s trusty camcorder. If teenage boys had telekinesis they’d probably use it for Jackass-style pranks, that is a given fact. Certainly the life and times of Andrew’s repressed anger and domestic abuse and his decent into Frankenstein-like madness is a classic trope, but it’s effective enough and is wisely employed here. The cast of newcomers are game and clearly having a ball, and given how much fun their having you’ll be giggling too at their antics. Even when the Seattle-bound rampage brings the adolescent nihilism to a close, you’ll still be chuckling giddily.

Now let’s return to the notion of ‘found footage’, that is of course suggesting that the footage was indeed, found. This is perhaps the only glaring flaw to overshadow the giddily violent proceedings is the nature of the ‘document’ itself e.g. who is watching this? In Cloverfield we were under the impression that the video was confiscated and under analysis by shady government types, Blair Witch of course fooled viewers into believing what they saw as being real. Chronicle’s detachment from the style even distances itself from District 9, wherein the separation from documented footage and a narrative perspective was clear. Chronicle at times confuses given the quality of camera’s employed by the characters. MiniDV, HDV and iPhones are intercut with abandon, yet all of the footage cobbled from these sources looks better than what most prosumer cameras can achieve. At times it’s even harder to discern who’s camera is being used, as secondary characters (and their cameras) keep adding multiple perspectives and muddy the water further.

Chronicle can be taken as one of two things: Either the horror story of a deranged teenager or simply as a thrilling rollercoaster. The anime initiated will spot the Akira-inflected story and characterisation a mile off, above all of this however is the fact that you’re going to have a fabulous evening at the movies.

8/10