PG-13, 1 hr. 23 min. Directed By:
Josh Trank. Release Date: Feb 3, 2012.
I had some reservations when I
grudgingly decided Chronicle was
going to bat clean-up on my double feature today. A bunch of teenage boys getting super
powers? Yeah, I’m getting too old for
that. At least, that’s what I told
myself. Really, I shouldn’t have
worried. Chronicle was what the original three X-Men movies should have been: kids learning to redefine their
world once an event beyond their control changes everything in their
lives.
I was frowning until the boys learn
to fly. That single scene started a
major uphill event for me in terms of my appreciation for the movie. It was… perfect. If you’ve ever dreamed of learning to fly,
this will probably look much like the event in your head. Hesitant at first, then increasingly bold in
tricks and abilities, until you’re playing chicken with inbound 747s. I loved the way we see these guys develop
their abilities, and I liked it even more that they (well, at least most of
them) realize that there have to be some sort of boundaries that they couldn’t
cross, a la Abe Lincoln’s “absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But that probably comes as no surprise since
I’m nearly always bitching about how movies a complete lack of moral
consideration.
It’s been a few years since I’ve
found a movie like this, one I’ll call a “super hero” movie, but even I realize
that I had this much fun watching. There
have been a few that I thought were better movies overall, notably X-Men: First Class, but First Class should have been this kind
of fun. I’m a little interested to see
where critics (professional and amateur) come in on this movie.
There are a ton of things to like
about this movie. Personally, I like
that the story line is relatively tight, with the major hole being what happens
between the event that gives the boys telekinetic abilities and the discovery
that they have those powers. It’s not
like you’re just going to attempt to move something using the powers of your
mind. But we go from the event to the
boys clearly having made the discover (and gone forward with some practice) off
camera, which inevitably makes me frown.
I also like that they’ve created the best kind of villain: one we can empathize with. He’s still a crazy mo’fo, but we get WHY he’s
a crazy mo’fo. The only character type I
like better is the tragic hero. I also
like that the fate of these three boys isn’t quite what you might think.
This movie could have been improved
by a better cast, but these three guys were all right. Otherwise, I’m not sure I could complain. I laughed, I got all nervous, and I will be
buying this when it comes out on DVD. You should certainly see this, although the effects won't suffer on your TV at home if you have to wait for video.
