Chronicle
There will be spoilers
Fantastic Four is coming to us with an air of mystery. I don’t know about you but I am terribly excited. I feel like I’m the only one. People are a bit dismayed in the first place that there is a reboot in the first place. Not because the first cinematic ventures are amazing, because they are wank. However, nobody was pleased to see the quadrant of heroes return to the screen and especially because the new reboot had shaken up the casting. And then Fox seemed to be holding their cards close to their chest. With no panel or trailer until last month, the film was holding back.
Only isn’t that glorious. To have a film come into our midst without seeing every little second of it before watching the film. That and it’s from the mind of Josh Trank, who made this incredible found footage film and therefore knows his shit when it comes to the human element of superhero films. Chronicle is the 2011 film starring Dane DeHaan and Michael B Jordon. Told through the lens of a camera, owned by Dehaan’s Andrew, the film revolve around three senior teenagers who discover a cave and a rock that give them telekinetic powers.
What’s great about Chronicle is how the story develops. This is not your clearly cut good versus evil storyline but actually an origin of how bad people can be created. The premise of lowly Andrew with an abusive father and ill mother can develop into a darker character has been done repeatedly before. Here it is delicately unravelled. Switching between a quite unassuming Andrew who has a deeper darker rage beneath his surface and then connecting him with friends and allowing him the freedom that adolescence gifts, lays shocking foundations. So much so that when the third act pulls the thread of his brewing anger, all that under-laying insecurity and hate, the story feels feverishly well done and with the right level of depth explored. DeHaan does extraordinary things with this role too - powerfuly extracting the pain, embarrassment and fear that Andrew has to an enormously great effect. This is very much a film about inflict of pressure that teenagers go through only with the extravagance of superhero like power.
Alongside DeHaan is Michael B Jordon as Steven and Alex Russell as Matt. Jordon is the type of actor who is rich with talent. He bounces excitedly but with the right level of concern that he isn’t a stereotype but an actual good-natured human. His roguish ways and uncompromising charm means he is definitely the right (and possibly only) choice for The Human Torch in Trank’s upcoming Fantastic Four movie. Alex Russell truly encompasses that jock persona who has a softer side. Although that has become a whole brand new stereotype, Russell is able to give a fantastically handled performance.
The actors aren’t big stars but they are gradually elevating their status into stardom. Chronicle gave them a launch pad to send them soaring into the stratosphere of epic. The film is well done, moving with fast paced action and slicing it with humanity. A well done found footage film, that fills in chronological gaps with CCTV and audience phone, Chronicle is exciting and energetic.