Movie Review Monday - Chronicle

For the record, I’m well and truly versed in the geek pedigree, so keep in mind that this movie is being viewed through the “geek filter”.  The reason I say this is because I went to this movie with my wife, Chika, so you’re getting a twofer on this one. Two critiques for the price of one.

Chronicle

I thought this movie was fantastic, but that’s partly because it lit up all the geek pleasure centers in my brain.  I mean, it’s got a geeky, unpopular kid getting superpowers!  C’mon, you know it’s got to be great.

Besides the premise, the movie has a sharp script, tight directing, and cleverly eases into our characters, dropping small hints here and there as to their personalities. These aren’t subtle, but the characters take a good script and make it better with solid acting. Particularly good is Dane DeHaan as the hard-to-like, easy to feel sorry for dweeb.

The movie brings to mind the quote by John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”

I liked that the movie raised larger moral issues about power. Does power corrupt? Do those in a position of power have a responsibility to those without that power? Or do they have no responsibility at all? Admittedly, though the movie does a great job of bringing these issues up, it doesn’t do all that great a job of answering them.

After the movie, and then after dinner this evening, Chika and I continued our discussion.  She had a very different take on the movie. She settled on ★ ½ stars (i.e. she thought it sucked), and thought the opposite of most of my positive comments. Though on one thing we agreed, the “found footage” choice was not all that great. But I think any movie that chooses the “found footage” genre is probably making a mistake. I mean, really, who has a camera on them all the time, even when they’re in the middle of some huge emotional turmoil. That having been said, I think the movie did an adequate job of working within the confines of “found footage”, but probably would have been better without the contrivance.

So, you may want to send your wife or girlfriend to see a different movie, unless she’s a fan of super hero and/or action movies, or as big a geek as me.

Overall, the movie is marvelous, filled with action, super powers and teenage angst. I left the movie feeling that my ticket money was very well spent indeed.

★★★★

4.0 / 5.0