"Chronicle" THREE AND A HALF STARS Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, strong language and underage drinking Running time: 84 minutes Here’s what the director’s pitch to the studio was probably like on “Chronicle” – “It’s `Carrie’ turns into one of the `X-Men,’ except the guy from `Paranormal Activity’ is around to film it.” Here’s my pitch to you:...
In this film image released by 20th Century Fox, Alex Russell is shown in a scene from "Chronicle." (AP Photo/20th Century Fox, Alan Markfield)"Chronicle" THREE AND A HALF STARS
Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual situations, strong language and underage drinking
Running time: 84 minutes
Here’s what the director’s pitch to the studio was probably like on “Chronicle” – “It’s `Carrie’ turns into one of the `X-Men,’ except the guy from `Paranormal Activity’ is around to film it.”
Here’s my pitch to you: See it.
Let me refine that endorsement just a little: “Chronicle” is not a movie for people who hate superheroes, or sneer at sci-fi. It is also guaranteed to drive crazy anyone who has a low tolerance for loud noises or herky-jerky hand-held camerawork.
You know who you are. (Sometimes, I’m one of you.)
But there’s enough here that’s fresh and surprising – mostly in terms of the characters – to keep things interesting. And, at not-quite-90-minutes, the movie gets credit for ending before it’s begun to wear out its novelty, or our patience.
The story starts by focusing on Andrew, a poor, bullied, outcast high schooler with an abusively drunken father and a mother slowly dying of some painful, unspecified disease. Basically, he’s trapped in the AfterSchool Special From Hell.
But then Andrew, his cousin Matt, and big-man-on-campus Steve discover some strange glowing Thing buried in a remote field. And soon discover that it’s given them telekinetic powers. They can move objects. They can levitate things. They can fly.
And, if they lose their temper, they can really, really hurt people.
“Chronicle” has some problems, with tone and with style. Andrew’s father is so over-the-top awful he’s unbelievable; a crime spree that occurs late in the picture is pretty foolish, at least on the part of the criminal.
And the whole tired “found footage” gimmick really needs to be lost for awhile, or perhaps misplaced. It’s not only a contrivance, but a bad bargain; what you gain in immediacy, you lose in art.
On another level, though, the seemingly low-tech approach makes the teens’ powers all the more believable (you expect CGI trickery in a glossy production, not one that seems to be filmed with a camcorder). When these kids jump – and keep going up – we jump too.
Also helping keep things real are the convincingly working-class, Northwest neighborhoods (the film is set in the Seattle suburbs, although mostly filmed in Vancouver) and the fresh-faced cast, including Michael B. Jordan as the smooth-talking Steve.
Particularly good are Dane DeHaan as Andrew – who, unfortunately, does not know that with great power comes great responsibility – and Alex Russell as the cousin who tries to reel him in. Which isn’t so easy when someone is flying five miles high in the sky.
The film ends leaving the door open for a sequel; let’s hope Fox, the most franchise-friendly of studios, doesn’t take them up on it. As a surprise entry in the mid-winter movie doldrums, “Chronicle” was a modest charmer. It would be even more charming – and surprising – if, for once, Hollywood didn’t beat a good idea to death.