Chronicle

[Velorath]

Thought for sure there was already a thread for this but I guess not.  I'm sure most everyone has seen a commercial for it by now, or possibly even gone and watched the movie already, but for those who don't recognize it by the title, here is a trailer.

Anyhow, finally got around to watching it before I started work today.  I don't think I can really discuss this movie without first talking about the "found footage" genre of movies so I can explain why I hate most of them and how Chronicle manages to avoid some of their worse characteristics.  To start with, I think "found footage" movies are a product of completely cynical film making.  It's an attractive notion that you can make a movie on the cheap with poor special effects, no-name actors, and bad film quality, and still more than make back your production budget, even if your movie is a completely steaming pile of shit like Apollo 18, which nobody even went to go see (cost $5 mil to make and made back $17.6 mil).  The other big issue I have with these types of movies is the typical non-endings they have.  You know the ones, where shit starts getting good, something crazy happens, and then the film cuts out with some text afterwards about how the events were never explained, or there's still some ongoing investigation or something.  It's just a common trope for these movies to completely lack any sort of satisfying conclusion.

Chronicle side-steps some of these issues in part because it isn't technically a "found footage" movie, in that there isn't any pretense that this footage was uncovered somewhere.  Part of me wants to think this was an obvious creative decision to make because unlike some of it's supernaturally focused peers, the events in Chronicle can't really be portrayed as something that actually might have happened, but at the same time, that was true of Cloverfield as well which still held onto the trope of actually being found footage.  So props to the filmmakers here for doing away with that stupid shit.  Instead the found footage thing becomes more of a stylistic choice, and while it would be easy for the movie to fall into the trap of "well, they just made it like this because it's cheap", there's enough obvious care taken in the writing, directing, and acting in this movie that you can tell that this isn't just some cheap cash-in (unlike the aforementioned Apollo 18, or the more recent and abysmal Devil Inside).  Instead, when one looks at the paltry (by most standards) $12 million budget this movie had, it actually makes the directing and effects feel all the more impressive.

There had been rumors that director Josh Trank was approached to do a reboot of the Fantastic Four, which he denied was the case, but he also said that Chronicle is the superhero movie he wanted to make and has more interest in working on his own ideas.  That's good because in an hour and a half, he managed to take essentially the same concept of the FF (a group of family/friends who gained superpowers together) and tell a story that held my interested longer than anything in the 50 year history of the Fantastic Four has managed to. 

So what is it I liked about this movie?  To start with, even though they through every cliche in there to get you to sympathize with Andrew's character, you build up enough of a bond with him through the good points of the movie, that it is a little bit crushing towards the end when things start to go wrong.  Part of this is through the acting.  Dane DeHaan for the most part does a great job as Andrew although it gets a tad over the top towards the end.  While the character of Matt is a little bland at times, Steve is a bit more entertaining and his friendship with Andrew (interesting in part because the characters don't have a connection to each other prior to gaining powers) in some ways becomes the heart of the story.  When things are going well, you really get a sense of these three friends being united by this extraordinary secret, and it's a very bittersweet feeling because you know in the back of your mind that things are going to go completely off the rails at some point.  One or two of the events that lead up to that point could have been a lot better.  I don't want to put spoilers in here, but there was one scene in particular that's a bit of a turning point where it just seemed like Andrew became a lot more upset about something than he really should have been.

The special effects aren't a complete hit every time (particularly during the climax), but there were a lot of instances where I thought things looked a lot better than the budget would have suggested.  I don't know what the breakdown is between CG and practical special effects, but however they did it, they generally make it look good, with only a couple occasions of the flying looking a little off.  I don't really have an opinion of how they use other cameras towards the end of the movie (shots from security footage and such).  I've seen some people say they liked the effect, and some say it was distracting.  It's a little jarring not having sound for a couple seconds, but aside from that I don't have an opinion of it one way or the other.

TL;DR if from the trailer this looks at all like something you'd be interested in, go and watch it.

[angry.bob]

I'll give it a try then... The found footage genre was novel for Blair Witch and the shine wore off very quickly. Those horrible fucking Paranormal Activity movies were the nail in the coffin for me. How people find those things scary is beyond me.

[SurfD]

The only problem i really had with the movie is that I still can't really convince my brain to stop thinking of it as "Akira Lite", even though it only has a tiny bit in common with Akira itself.

[TheWalrus]

I'll give it a try then... The found footage genre was novel for Blair Witch and the shine wore off very quickly. Those horrible fucking Paranormal Activity movies were the nail in the coffin for me. How people find those things scary is beyond me.

Christ yes. Paranormal Activity was fucking horrid. Hated it the whole way through.

[Muffled]

You watched Paranormal Activity all the way through?  Impressive.

Would I be missing anything by waiting on this until it's out of theaters and in my home?

[Velorath]

It doesn't demand being watched on the big screen, but good movies are hard to come by in the theater at this time of year.  And yes the paranormal activity movies are horrible.  Like I said, in many ways Chronicle doesn't qualify as a found footage movie.  A lot of the time in the story, the cameras are being moved telekinetically which allows an in story reason for why the camera angles and shots can move around rather than the typical shakycam stuff, or long scenes shot from one angle you seen in most of these movies.

[angry.bob]

You watched Paranormal Activity all the way through?  Impressive.

Would I be missing anything by waiting on this until it's out of theaters and in my home?

Yeah, all three of them. The third one because a buddy swore that it "explained it all and ties it together". The trailer was better than the actual movie, and it was made entirely out of footage that was cut out of the movie.

[Hawkbit]

It looked like the Craft 2.0.  Teenagers get powers (magic), one of them is an idiot, end of movie.  I'll have to see it, but it really didn't look special from the trailer. 

[DraconianOne]

Paranormal Activity wasn't great but it was leaps and bounds better than that overhyped piece of excrement that was Blair Witch.

Neither are a patch on [REC].

[Velorath]

It looked like the Craft 2.0.  Teenagers get powers (magic), one of them is an idiot, end of movie.  I'll have to see it, but it really didn't look special from the trailer. 

Well sure, if you want to completely reduce the plot down to one not entirely accurate line and then use that to compare it to a shit movie that's not really similar in tone, characters, or structure, then yeah I guess you might have a point.

[Margalis]

It seems to me that found footage started as a way of making films seem less contrived by providing a real-world explanation for how they were filmed, but now has the opposite effect, where immersion is broken because so many contrivances are required to get all the footage captured.

To me it only works if it really works in the story. A lot of times these days it feels like the approach is less a natural fit and someone saying "how can we punch this movie up and make it stand out?"

[DraconianOne]

It seems to me that found footage started as a way of making films seem less contrived by providing a real-world explanation for how they were filmed, but now has the opposite effect, where immersion is broken because so many contrivances are required to get all the footage captured.

It's just a follow on of the way that old horror writers like MR James and even Lovecraft used to couch their stories in enough of a real world setting to imply that they were real, or people sitting around the camp fire telling "true stories" about ghosts and monsters. You can go back to 1938 and Orson Welles' famous radio adaptatio of War of the Worlds, told in the style of news broadcasts and work from there to see how it was adapated for modern media formats. When TV & Video came along, people started making fake documentaries - like "The Legend of Boggy Creek" in 1972 (scared the shit out of me when I watched it on TV at age 8 or 9) or, later, "Man Bites Dog" (1992) - a fantastic and very funny Belgian film about a documentary crew following a serial killer.

The logical extension after that was to have the "found footage" film which, despite popular revisionist history, did not start with "Blair Witch" but goes back to Deodato's infamous "Cannibal Holocaust" in 1980, if not earlier. Blair Witch and films like Alien Abduction and The Last Broadcast (both released a year before BWP) followed on - partly, as Yegolev rightly points out, because they can be fairly cheap and easy to make - and since then they've become more popular, especially, I think, with the rise of Reality TV shows.

[Teleku]

Bah, fuck you all, found footage is awesome!   

Loved Paranormal Activity 1 & 2 (though the 3rd one was pretty bad).  Having seen both REC and Quarantine, I actually think Quarantine is a better movie (though REC is still good).

Wasn't aware that this movie was shot in that style.  Was already interested in it, now I'll certainly go check it out.  Is it somewhat similar to district 9 then?  That was a movie that was designed to look as if it had been pieced together from random footage, but didn't even try to pretend like there was somebody there holding the camera half the time.  Entirely a style choice (which worked very well, imo).

[Ratman_tf]

I liked all 3 PA's.

[Khaldun]

Troll Hunter is a great found footage film. So it can be done.

[Kitsune]

Just watched it.  Wasn't bad, though I kept waiting for a "KANEDAAAAAAAAAAA!" that never came.  In fact, yeah, just sitting down and watching Akira probably provides a better cinematic experience.

[Velorath]

Just watched it.  Wasn't bad, though I kept waiting for a "KANEDAAAAAAAAAAA!" that never came.  In fact, yeah, just sitting down and watching Akira probably provides a better cinematic experience.

Hard for me to say whether that's true or not having never managed to stay awake during Akira.

[murdoc]

Saw this last night and really liked it. The scene where they're playing football in the clouds is awesome. It's a bunch of cliches, but the three main characters are fairly believable. The third act escalates rather quickly, but was still really good. One of the better Superhero origin movies I've seen.

[Draegan]

Saw this movie, but the ending was awful.  Next time please leave out the can-really-see-it-coming emo-teen meltdown.  Make up another reason for them to fight.

[sickrubik]

Saw this movie, but the ending was awful.  Next time please leave out the can-really-see-it-coming emo-teen meltdown.  Make up another reason for them to fight.

I didn't mind that as the premise for the end... but the fight just seem a little disjointed at times... and the "final moment" of the fight was... anticlimactic at best.

My thoughts on fixing it:


Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. The one thing that I liked about the use of the found footage in this one is that the only times it was really shaky, only HELPED what was being told at the time. I am not a hater of found footage or even cinéma vérité, which a lot of times people tend to lump together, and understand that some do not like it. But, I think it can work if done correctly, and in my honest apprasil, Chronicle comes closest to that idea.

Also, the acting is pretty great, especially by the kid who plays Andrew.

Additionally, I think on some level this movie works for Skepticism. In a world where everything has a camera, and everyone has one of those devices... if shit like UFOs or ghosts was happening, we'd have a lot more footage of events like that.

[Slyfeind]

Oddly what I really liked about the "found footage" aspect were scenes like Matt and Casey meeting at a party, both of them had cameras pointing at each other, so it suddenly became an almost-accidental "camera one-camera two" over-the-shoulder scene. (I say "oddly" because every other time I see this happen, I hear Plinkett in my head. This made it interesting again.)

[Samwise]

Chronicle was featured on the latest Half in the Bag.  They agreed with the general vibe I'm getting here that it was a decent (not great) movie in spite of the found-footage gimmick.

[Kitsune]

The only thing that gets my metaphorical dander up about this movie is the fundamental flaw in teenaged behavior.  By the time they reached the level of abilities they were showing at the movie's midpoint, there is NO way that any kid would not immediately put on tights and buzz some skyscrapers until the news showed up to film them.  Although in Andrew's case, first he would kick the shit out of the local bullies, then explode his dad's car, and then fly off to go be super-famous and get laid all the time while people throw money at him just for having super powers.  Being able to do what they could do is an instant ticket to your face being on every magazine and newspaper on the planet in less than a week's time, and the fact that they didn't go for it is... dubious.

[SurfD]

The only thing that gets my metaphorical dander up about this movie is the fundamental flaw in teenaged behavior.  By the time they reached the level of abilities they were showing at the movie's midpoint, there is NO way that any kid would not immediately put on tights and buzz some skyscrapers until the news showed up to film them.  Although in Andrew's case, first he would kick the shit out of the local bullies, then explode his dad's car, and then fly off to go be super-famous and get laid all the time while people throw money at him just for having super powers.  Being able to do what they could do is an instant ticket to your face being on every magazine and newspaper on the planet in less than a week's time, and the fact that they didn't go for it is... dubious.

Even as a teenager, I wouldnt even have been remotely stupid enough to attempt that simply due to the fear of ending up on a dissecting table in some government lab.  Use powers for fun, sure.  Go public with it? Fuck no.

[Velorath]

The only thing that gets my metaphorical dander up about this movie is the fundamental flaw in teenaged behavior.  By the time they reached the level of abilities they were showing at the movie's midpoint, there is NO way that any kid would not immediately put on tights and buzz some skyscrapers until the news showed up to film them.  Although in Andrew's case, first he would kick the shit out of the local bullies, then explode his dad's car, and then fly off to go be super-famous and get laid all the time while people throw money at him just for having super powers.  Being able to do what they could do is an instant ticket to your face being on every magazine and newspaper on the planet in less than a week's time, and the fact that they didn't go for it is... dubious.

They weren't completely invulnerable or anything.  Even if the government was unable to capture them alive for testing, their backup plan (and probably the plan of every other government in the world) would be to take them out with a sniper.  I think you're underestimating the amount of fear/envy someone getting superpowers would create.

[Kitsune]

That's why any would-be superhero should go directly to the media and be as public as possible.  Do impressive yet non-threatening things like rescue some kittens from a fire and talk at length about how much you love your country while keeping as many cameras on you as you can manage.  The government isn't going to disappear a well-loved celebrity who's flying around being all U-S-A! U-S-A!  That person could be distracting voters from their corruption and failures for years; politicians would adore him and all of the news attention he'd be diverting from them.

A broody vigilante trying to be Batman and throwing cars around while beating people up?  Vivisected in under a month.

[pxib]

Absolutely.

One of my favorite heroes that I met on COH back in the day was a brawler tank called Mr. Yes. According to his backstory, he had no secret identity and paid for food and an apartment with endorsements, donations, and speaking fees at schools and company picnics... basically civic duty lectures and workshops. He was always saying things like "Citizen's arrest!" and "Let's get these troublemakers to the proper authorities." It felt distressingly plausible. Kick-Ass, but with the power and abilities to actually back up the dumb threats.

[HaemishM]

NECRO!

Finally watched this tonight. Very well done superhero movie if just a bit predictable. The found footage aspect was interesting but I think it got in a way a little bit towards the end as the writers seemed to keep trying to find reasons for the filming to take place. It would be interesting to see a sequel. I think this guy might just be the right guy to reboot the Fantastic Four franchise.

[Tannhauser]

This is a  criminally under-rated movie.  You're right about the camera but what can you do?  I enjoyed it because it was 'realistic' and the drama was in good measure to the super heroics.  Loved the ending.

[HaemishM]

You're right about the camera but what can you do?

Not do the movie entirely in found footage format? 

In all seriousness, I think there is a place to use found footage as a technique to break up the movie, but having a whole movie rely on it really gets in the way.

[Pennilenko]

I was capable of turning my brain off for this, mostly because this particular story line is almost exactly like my super power fantasy I've had since I was very little. I wanted more out of this movie. I wanted them to compress the drama more and show