Movie Time: Chronicle

This Week's movie was Chronicle.

with the power of stable camerawork

Ah, another movie I enjoyed a lot, though i sort of expected to like it, seeing how I have a soft spot for found footage movies, superhero movies and such. I found it to be a very interesting take on a popular genre. Without further ado, the review.

In a Nutshell

Three high school students are given telekinesis powers, including one with a very crappy life who films everything.  The film is presented only with footage from cameras in the scene without resorting to "shakycam".

The Rant
Again, I don't have much to rant about negatively, this is gonna be a mostly positive rant. Although, I guess I can start with the negative. I felt uncomfortable about how Andrew, the main character and cameraman, was treated. I really empathized with him, I guess. Some scenes were a bit difficult to watch, even. It made the third act a bit heartbreaking, to see the character grow and then just go in the wrong direction...

First of all, I think the way the movie was filmed is great. Every camera is a physical camera, either operated by Andrew, Casey or just security cams at some points, to follow the action. It's a really neat way to present a movie, at any rate. It's sort of how they should've gone with District 9, all the way. Second thing about the camerawork is that there is very little "shakycam" and some scenes with what looks like standard camera work, framing and such, because Andrew uses his power to operate the camera and does it very well.

I really liked how the characters had nice arcs, were well played, interesting. This was a very good movie acting-wise, I thought.A movie with believable characters that grew, had motivations, were well-rounded... It was nice. There's not a moment where you think "Why would he do that?", everything is presented in a way that makes sense.

One of the problems with the film, though, is the CGI. It was a bit conspicuous at times. It didn't really fool me when they were moving some stuff or juggling. The flying, though, wasn't bad at all, it's mostly when dealing with small objects they had trouble, I thought. Maybe they didn't focus on those as much as the big stuff. It's not a very big flaw, at any rate.

Another thing I liked a bit less about the movie is how it ends, I thought the conclusion could have been a bit longer, a bit more explanatory, but on the other hand, it was well done nonetheless. It was an ending I was not satisfied with but worked for the movie.

Lastly, I think the powers were neat and the way they developed them was cool, it wasn't like you'd see in other similar movies where they basically master the powers off-camera and then use them to fight crimes. This was all about learning how to use them, what they could do, what they couldn't. It's not like other superhero films, and I liked that. It was original, it was really a "What if people really did get powers" sort of deal.

The Score

This is a very entertaining movie with believable, interesting and well played characters, and it's about super powers, something everyone fantasized about. I give it a "Very Entertaining" out of 10 and suggest you see this movie if you like teenagers with powers and don't hate found footage, even without the shakycam. Probably my favorite movie of the year so far.